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11 replies

pellets mounded up at first comp

FM Former Member
I think it had something to do with transporting the unit to the comp. I started the FE100 on Friday night for our dinner. (It was a Sunday turn-in comp). An hour or so later I noticed extreme white smoke coming from the stack. When I opened the door it was so smokey I couldn't see anything. So I got a fan to extract the smoke. I found a big mound of pellets in the fire pot. I cleaned them out with a leather glove and restarted the unit. Later a team told me to remove the whole end panel to prevent that from happening I looked around and saw a couple other people with the panel off. Is there a problem with air flow? and does anyone else know about this?
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FM Former Member
There have been a couple of posts.

100% of the time, I never walk away from my FE, until I see it's lit and coming up to temp. 99.9% of the time, it lights like a champ. In four years, on an old style, I had a bad igniter.

Try it with the side off and see if that helps. If it doesn't give a call to CS and let them know.
L larryjacobsMember
You had a failure to combust which I've solved by doing the following.
1) Make sure your draft fan is on, mine went bad after 4 months.
2) Start with a clean fire pot plus one handful of pellets on the left side of the firepot.
3) Make sure the bottom cover is not bend up, blocking air to the draft fan.
4) Make sure the draft fan is screwed on tight. the stock factory screws are to short in some cases.
5) Consider using high temp silicone to seal the draft fan and wire hole. This puts more air into the firepot.
FM Former Member
Well, the draft fan works fine. The fire pot was clean at start-up. Except for the fact I cleaned out the hopper to start with fresh pellets. I noticed a lot of wood dust in the bottom of the hopper."That may be a lot of the problem". I have noticed the bottom cover(the one with the holes in it)is bent up about 3/4 inch on the right side. Wonder why its not attached better with screws? Anyway, I think the problem is fixable and I know what to look for now. Thanks
FM Former Member
Yes, the auger had pellets in it. But I didn't put any pellets it the fire pot due to that. I only did that on my first use like the instructions say. Today I lit it and it did it again but it cleared itself up after a while. I wander if the small amount of dust that is left in the pot could cause some of the problems. I'll clean it out real good before starting it again.
R ribdogMember
I don't think the dust would be the problem. When I clean mine out, I just use my hand to scoop out as much as possible before using it again. But I do put a small handful of pellets in the left side of the pot because my ignitor only sticks out into the pot by half an inch. My understanding is that CS has now changed that on the new 100s with the ignitor sticking out almost all the way across the bottom of the pot.

When I light mine up, I just automatically go back to the cooker after five minutes to see if it has lit the pellets. Nothing is perfect so why tempt fate. Just a suggestion.
FM Former Member
quote:
Originally posted by TN PIT CREW:
I wander if the small amount of dust that is left in the pot could cause some of the problems.


It "may".

Depending on which igniter you have (one version is a tube across the bottom; one is about an 1" and stick out into the pot; one, is flush with the pot)

You can actually build up a good amount of ash that WILL solidify around the igniter and reduce it's effectiveness.
FM Former Member
This is the thought that occured to me yesterday when lighting it again. It did it again. This time I kept the door open and watched. It started feeding pellets in and took a while for a tiny amount of smoke to trickle into the pot. after a while, a ton of white smoke rolled out. I looked under the bottom and pulled the panel down and it stayed. A little while later the fire pot flamed up as if it had a gas burner in it then it lit and ran fine. This time I clean it I am going to use steel wool on the igniter in case it is glazed over like posted. Also mine is the one that sticks out almost all the way across the pot. Thanks.
FM Former Member
PROBLEM SOLVED!!!!!!
During the cleaning process, I removed the 2 screws at the end of the firepot. When I pulled it out I found a pile of ashes and a few pellets. This must have been obstructing the air flow around the firepot. Because when I lit it it did GREAT! I'll remember to check that from now on. Thanks guys, and I hope this ordeal helps someone else if they see this happen.

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