I belong to several forums devoted to smoking and grilling and have been doing some research on the ash issue since reading this post. Ash is normal. With baffles and heat deflectors in place, very little should reach your food. Several people reported having a lot of ash flying around on very windy days. Also, grill lids/doors not closing properly and open seams allowed more air in contributing to the problem.
They and the manufacturers state that it is important to keep the fire pot clean before each long cook or maybe every other short cook; and to periodically clean the ash outside the fire pot every few cooks. Also, sifting the pellets in a large hole colander before filling the hopper can remove dust and small particles. Quality of pellets is another factor. Seems some pellet brands produce more ash than others regardless of pellet grill brand while some grills (or owners) prefer a particular brand of pellet.
It is not too difficult to find reviews and forums devoted to pellet grills from low end models of a few hundred dollars on up to several thousand dollars. You will find pros and cons on just about every imaginable pellet pooper out there.
I get the itch for a pellet grill every few months and for my money I would go with the PG500 or 1000. Designed by Fast Eddy and all stainless; no paint to chip and no rusting. In the old format forum, there were a lot of postings on these two models with very little reported problems outside of operator error. But that is just me. I hope this helps.
