FEC 100's leaking pellets

Please call Tony/Bill @ Cookshack & let us know what they say/do. Mine is the same age.

That shouldn't happen. Do as Joe suggests.

quote:

Originally posted by Joe M:
Please call Tony/Bill @ Cookshack & let us know what they say/do. Mine is the same age.

Tony says if the auger isn't aligned properly this can happen or if moisture gets on the tube it can rust causing this. These have always been in the garage so I know it's not from rain or something like that.

One unit had the auger drive motor come loose but the other didn't so that's not consistent.

It doesn't appear to have any rust on the outside of the tube but one thing I was thinking about is since the spot is between the hopper and the smoker box could it be possible for some condensation to form on the inside of the tube in the winter time after you shut it off? After you shut it off you all know how much moisture there is in there. Could this be working up the tube and then when it gets to the outside of the box the cold pipe makes it condense causing a little moisture in the tube causing rust? No rust on the outside but if there was some on the inside the pellets would be taking it off when it ran again.

Just ideas as I really don't know for sure here???? I do use mine a lot in the winter time though.

Just for reference last year I used approximately 4.5 pallets of BBQ delight pellets through the 2 machines. Probably half that the year before. 1120# per pallet, we could probably get and estimated hours of run time from that?

By my estimate, that's 210 24 hour runs per unit per year! Now that's smoking! You never let those things cool long enough for condensation to be a factor! It looks like the auger slowly chewed away at the tube. What is the fix? How can we avoid the same problem? I'm checking mine this weekend. Thanks for the you tube. If a picture is worth a thousand words, your video is worth a million! Please keep us updated. I would hope it's an isolated problem but lightning struck you twice!

We run them pretty hard but definitely not that hard. I would say half of that amount may be close I guess.

I believe we could cut/grind the welds off of the pipe and angled pieces that funnel the pellets into the auger and possibly replace the tube. I think I will just put a sleeve over the tube for now but eventually it will have to be replaced.

It wouldn't have been to hard to make the tube replaceable so hopefully they will consider this in the future. If you put a couple of flanges on the bottom of the hopper it could be bolted in pretty easy.

I'm leaning toward a somewhat normal wear issue that possibly was accelerated do to condensation building on the inside of the tube after it was shut off especially in cold weather but who knows for sure???

Nothing has been done yet but I'll be sure to pass on what we end up doing.

I've never seen that, but my guess would be that somehow the auger was wearing part of that pipe away as it turns. Given how much you've put through them, a little wiggle could cause that possibly.

Just recommend a call to CS, they guys can look at the video and you can describe the issue so they can see what might be the cause.

Sounds like one unit is still under warranty so they are planning on sending me a new hopper assembly on that one and just the auger feed tube on the other one since I bought it slightly used from another guy.

There are 4 small welds holding the feed tube on that can be ground off then I will tack weld in the new tube. I hope they change this design so that part is just bolted in on future models. It would be a lot easier to replace then.

I think I'll start leaving the door cracked on the unit after a cook to help get some of the moisture out of the cabinet. They also suggested hitting the RESET button at the end of the cook and letting the fan run for about 10 minutes or so before completely shutting it down.

New hopper assembly came yesterday so I swapped out the electronics this morning and put one unit back together. The new hopper is all stainless which will hold up better. I had to drill a few holes which is always fun on stainless but I've got our brisket for tomorrow on that unit and everything seems to be working fine.

I just got a replacement auger feed tube for the other unit so I'll have to cut about 6 small welds to get the old tube out and weld the new one back in. I think I'll wait until I can take it to a buddies shop since I don't have a TIG welder for the stainless.

I think the tube replacement will be easier and a simpler job than swapping out the whole hopper. I had about 3 hours in it by the time I got it all done. Much of that was sharpening drill bits to get through the stainless steel though.

For those of you that have the steel auger feed tube and use yours a lot like I do I would just plan on doing this update in the future. As usual I always think about pics of the process after I'm done.