Skip to main content

28 replies

FEC Throws Breaker

C chaplainbillMember
Dear Experts. My FEC 100 throws a breaker when I push the start button.

The control board comes on and allows you to set the time and temp, but when you push the start button, you can hear the fan kick up on high and then at the point when the auger usually turns and igniter activates, it shuts down, throwing a breaker.

I cleaned out the auger to ensure any peletcrete had not formed.

To diagnose it, I unplugged the igniter and the smoker did not throw a breaker, so obviously there is a short in the igniter. I had just finished cleaning the smoker, but am pretty sure I did not get any water in it.

Also. The small plastic fan on the auger with four blades had one blade barely hanging on. I removed the one blade and it did not seem balanced when operating with three blades. So I removed the opposing blade to just leave two of the original four blades on the auger fan.



My questions are:

1: the igniter is less than a year old, should it/could it have a short in it?

2: Has anyone experienced this? Please advise. Is the repair to replace the igniter, yet again?

3: Also, should I replace the auger motor due to two blades missing on the four blade fan? It seems to operated smoothly, but obviously will not generate as much air as it did.


I'll call CS tomorrow, but thought I'd give my friends here a chance.
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

C chaplainbillMember
it's an awful little fan to do any cooling. I just went out, pulled the auger and wires out and looked it over real good. All wires are in tact. I plugged it in and left the auger suspended over the door to test it. it worked this time without throwing the breaker. it did put out a little smoke/steam from the place where the wires go into the igniter unit. My guess is that I got some moisture in there when cleaning the FEC. I let it burn a while and it got red hot and quit smoking/steaming and smelled fine. I'm going to let cool, put it all back together and see what I have. Jury's still out on the fan. I searched the forum and didn't find anything on the auger motor fan, or how to (or if to) replace it.
M mbaileyhttps://www.facebook.com/Baile...62518746394/?fref=ts
Can't speak for the FEC yet but I've had a couple of igniter's go bad on the Traeger that did blow the small 250 mv fuse on the board. On the FEC, I would think you could unplug the hot rod wiring and try it to find out whether it was that or not.

When you say trips a breaker, do you mean like a 15 amp 120 volt house plugin breaker or something on the FEC itself? All I was aware of on the FEC was the high limit safety that is supposed to pop at around 425F.
C chaplainbillMember
This just in from Bill at Cookshack. As Smokin said, the GFIs are sensitive to any ground issue, such as moisture in the system. He recommended that I plug it in to a non-GFI plug until it dries out good and then it should be OK. I've got it running now, with an extension cord to a Non-GFI outlet and so far so good.

As far as the auger fan, Bill says that the only reason it is there is that it lets you know when the auger is turning and it will be fine with two blades.
B bigwheelMember
Glad yall got all the electrical stuff thrashed out. My outside outlets are wired to the bathroom on the same GFI. 15 amps. Outside electric can be tricky. Now I have a separate 20 amp non GFI that be easily reached at the man cave no new extension cords needed. Hair dryers run on high in the bathroom makes ours pop. Fortunately some of us do not need any steenken hair dryers. Whats up with that? I can plug my two little wannabe electrics in there and the circuits acts just fine. Its pretty odd. Now this be plugging them in one at a time. Not both at once. Now how many heating elements do this perspective new CS have. Will I need to hook it up to separate circuits. 220 is illegal in our area. Thanks.
B bigwheelMember
Ok..keep forgetting this place is specialized. Kick kick. Can we speak of anything generic common to cooking bbq in general? Yall seem heavily oriented to equipment to the untrained eye. What is up here? Are we process or results oriented? Is the proof of the pudding in how good it tastes or in how you cook it? Yall could drive me crazy real quick.
C chaplainbillMember
Ok, I've ran the FEC like 12 hours on a non GFI outlet, no problem. I plug it back into the GFI outlet and it runs for 45 seconds and trips the GFI. I run other things in the GFI outlet and no problem. I took the plug in on the Cord of the FEC and brightened it up a little, no difference.

So I guess it's possible for the igniter on the FEC to have a bad enough problem, where it kicks the GFI?


I guess my next step is to get a new igniter and try it or else get used to using the extension cord.
andyjandyjMember
quote:
Originally posted by bigwheel:
Ok..keep forgetting this place is specialized. Kick kick. Can we speak of anything generic common to cooking bbq in general? Yall seem heavily oriented to equipment to the untrained eye. What is up here? Are we process or results oriented? Is the proof of the pudding in how good it tastes or in how you cook it? Yall could drive me crazy real quick.


Yes, a LOT of the discussions here are geared toward Cookshack owners. The forum is run by Cookshack mostly for their customers. There is a ton of non-Cookshack specific information here, this is actually the first site I check for generic smoking info since there is probably 15 years worth of posts here, MANY of which are still relevant today.

Some of the forums are dedicated to a specific topic. For example, this forum, the FEC Owners Forum, is geared towards owners of Cookshack FEC smokers that have specific questions about their particular smoker. FEC's are MUCH different than the electric Cookshack smokers, which also have their own specific forums as do the pellet grills. All three are totally different animals. While I might occasionally respond to a generic question in the pellet grill or professional forum, I wouldn't know anything specific about them, so most of the posts I don't respond to. Before I got my FEC, I rarely looked at this forum because most of the posts didn't apply to me.

The more generic forums that are geared towards BBQ in general are listed under the Additional Topics & Additional Smoking Topics. Those are more about techniques and recipes rather than specific questions about a particular smoker.
Last edited by andyj
J joemMember
quote:
Originally posted by Chaplain Bill:
I'll try that, but I'm pretty sure the GFI outlet is good, as it runs the shopvac, and I think that's more amps than the fEC


You're correct on that. I bet the igniter got wet. It may work after a thorough drying but I'd order a new one. Nothing wrong with a spare if the old one starts working. You probably need more FE Rub after that big cook anyway. Wink (I hate shipping charges)!
C coachMember
I had the same issue of my FEC poppin a GFI. Now I know I'm bout to be slapped by the electricity inspector or the electric purists but........... my work around was I took a power strip....ripped the ground post off. Plugged it into the wall or extension cord and no worries since. The amazing thing is my house didn't burn down Wink
B bigwheelMember
quote:
Originally posted by Coach:
I had the same issue of my FEC poppin a GFI. Now I know I'm bout to be slapped by the electricity inspector or the electric purists but........... my work around was I took a power strip....ripped the ground post off. Plugged it into the wall or extension cord and no worries since. The amazing thing is my house didn't burn down Wink


Great plan. I might try this with the light in the cement pond..which we often use to wash of the hog fat after a healthy intake of bbq pushed pork. Thanks. It pops for no reason.
FM Former Member
How do I know the ignitor trips the GFI?

Happened to me. On my deck, ALL the electrical has to run to a GFI (don't ask why) and one of my FE's was tripping.

I "temporarily" replaced the GFI breaker on the one outlet and now it doesn't trip any more.

Just need to remember to go back and replace it one of these days (in case any electrical inspectors are reading the forum) Big Grin

Add Reply

Post

Membership Required

We're sorry. You must be signed in to continue. Sign In or Register
×
Are you sure you want to remove from your Block List?
×
Loading...
×
When you block a person, they can no longer invite you to a private message or post to your profile wall. Replies and comments they make will be collapsed/hidden by default. Finally, you'll never receive email notifications about content they create or likes they designate for your content.
Note: if you proceed, you will no longer be following .
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×