Having a hard time getting my FE-100 getting up to 375^

I use Fast Eddy's hickory pellets. No problem reaching 435*

I'm sure it is not the pellets or your FE. The 40 minutes is based on the cooker being preheated to 275. The time the door is open for loading will determine the amount of heat loss you will have. Try an experiment. Stablize the cooker 275 and crank it without opening the door. See what the temp is after 40 minutes. Return the cooker to a stabilized 275 but open the door for approx. the time you take to load your chicken. Note the temp when you close the door and after 40 minutes. I really think that how long the door is open has the big effect on your final temp. I too got bitten last weekend by rubbery skin.

Hope this helps,

We did a test cook on Friday before the competition. We had the cooker at almost 300* and had the chicken on pie cooling racks loaded prior to opening the door. The chicken took all of 20 seconds to place in the cooker since we had the chicken already placed on a rack, and then placed the rack in the FE. The cooker never reached 350* during our test cook. I am wondering if the pellets are not getting the the burning chamber fast enough. Is the auger set properly to the temp?

During the competition, I had removed just about all the pellets to make sure the auger did not hang up. I found a few times that the auger stopped due to a very hard pellet, so I begin breaking the pellets into small pieces. After the smaller pellets begin loading in the auger, the temp begin to go up. We almost got to 400* with the small pellets (maybe 1/4" max). More pellets could get through to the fire, thus more heat.

I have some Traeger pellets that I am going to try. We did consider the door opening, and measured the temp loss which was only about 20*.

Thanks for he input!

Charles,
At the risk of Candy Sue getting on me again for saying this, I agree with you that inconsistant pellet size effects the volume of pellets fed to the fire. Acook who has had considerable success in competition on pellet cookers told me that he sifts his pellets through a 3/8 inch wire mesh.

How was the power source at the contest? Does it preform the same on home power? If voltage is low, it will slow the auger as well as reduce its power so it jams more easily.

I have used Eddy's, Trseger, and BBQ Delight, and have found no difference in consistancy of size or performance.

The wire mesh sifter is a good idea. Wouldn't keep the fines (dust) out though. Maybe a 1/4" mesh scoop to the leave the dust behind? Too much dust/pellets increases ash and, I suspect, can cause auger jams. I always slam bags of pellets on the concrete to break up long ones. Great way to work out frustrations!

After blowing a fuse, and burning out my igniter at the Shelby NC competition last year running on A/C, I now cook at competitions running a 750Watt power converter off my RV batteries. I was wondering if the voltage might be the problem there? What can I do to check it out? Should I put a meter on the converter and see what the voltage is? What should the FE-100 be running on at a minimum? Ever since I have been cooking on battery, I have not lost power. It is a reall bad night if the power goes off and I am sleeping until 5AM when I turn up the heat.
Thanks!

On my FE I have to cut it down to cool down for chicken after I turn it up wide open It will get too hot . From 275 to 400 in 15 minutes . You must be doing something wrong or the cooker is not burning right . I use any kind of pellets and do not see no difference .They all cook the same in my FE . Hope this helps .

charles,
today i seasoned in my fec100. followed the book and candy sues advice. held 300 for 1 hour per the book and then cranked it to 450. hit that temp no problem. think the beating the pellets must work. these were trager pellets but i sure feel candy is on to something.
as a point of reference. i wasnt used to the long time it took to draw the temp down so opened the door and let temp fall to 180.
good part is the wings came out great as the locksmith gave my wife a discount when he came out to unlock the trailer. she had both sets of keys in her purse so i had to drive her home (about 15 miles) from where the trailer is so she could call (cause the cell phones were guess where)
she offered the locksmith some wings and he gave her a discount so by golly i love pellets lol
jack
2 Greyhounds....SMOKIN!!!!!

It really matters how long you have the door open. I had a problem at the Royal with the rack getting stuck....the door was open too long and that resulted in only reaching 375, the skin was not crisp. It still scored 11th in the invatational. Also be sure to point the exaust out of the wind. Nice seeing you all at the Royal.
There is always next year.
Bill