PG500 Arrived, first question!

Congratulations!!! You're going to love the machine.
I have noticed some pellets outside the fire pot, but have never paid much attention to them. There are not, as I remember, that many.
Maybe the pellets haven't learned what they are supposed to do yet.
The Mrs. grilled some big pork chops and beans last evening. Super smoke flavor! She is getting really good at it.

Watching my temp swings right now. Setting at 225. First with factory LHT/HHT setting of 10/100. It had swings of 290-209. I then set the LHT/HHT for 10/30 and now swings are 235-217. Loving the control. Just need to get this thing more seasoned and I am sure the swings will be better.

Already used the pellet hopper dump door to change out fruit pellets to hickory. The door was tucked behind a finish part of the hopper connection so it wouldn't open. Must have settled there during shipping. I was able to tap the bottom of the door with a screwdriver and it released. Now it's where it should be.

Besides foiling the drip pan do you foil anything else?

Getting ready to smoke a marinated tenderloin! Gonna be great when I smoke it, then sear it.

I'd try something like 15/45 for cooking in the 225* range. I don't know why, but I've always use 15 for my LHT setting on the PG500.

The drip slide is the only thing I foil, I use a putty knife to scrape the ash pan every once in a while.

Remember the top of the smoker gets real hot, so use it as a warming plate for anything you want to warm up or keep warm.

Have FUN and let me know if I can help with anything!

Thanks Cal!

Actually if you don't mind. What do you know about the pellets jumping the fire pit? I did a test while it was off and placed some pellets at the top of the chute. When I released them I could seen them hitting the lip of the fire pit. Most made it into the pit. Some jumped accross and landed on the other side where they eventually caught fire. Some bounced and landed in the ash tray. I also noticed that when some are on fire on the other side of the pit incoming pellets sometimes knocked into the on fire pellets on the other side and knoceked those into the ash tray. SO in the ash tray I have a mixture of scorched and unburned pellets. In a 2 hour smoke, I ended up with about 25-30 pellets in the tray. And about 7 or 8 on the opposite side of the fire pit.

It seams like the chute might be off by a millimeter or so. With it being welded, I don't think there is an easy fix. I also don't think it's a huge concern. I just don't think it's supposed to be doing that.

I'm cooking this weekend and I'll try to remember to look about how many I have in the ash tray...but from my memory, I'd guess you may have about twice the amount miss/bounce out as I do. I know I have more in my FEC100 miss than in the pellet grill.

I'm with you on it really not being that big of a deal. I wonder since most of my cooks are with the 15/65 settings, it makes any difference on the bouncing out?

Oh, one more thing. I start the grill by putting a small hand full of pellets over the hot rod. It will get you up to temp faster. It doesn't have to be done, just something I do.

Just went out and checked the grill out, I think I have about 8 hrs of cook time on it and have well over 100 pellets in the ash pan and yes some are part burnt, oh well. I still have around 500 lbs of pellets left to use...LOL!

Good, then it isn't just my unit.

Some other things I don't understand.

Is there a fan that constantly blows? I hear a motor or something. A fan makes sense. With all that heat in the area, I am wondering how frequently if at all that fan will need to be replaced?

How do things ignite? You say there is a hot rod?

How often do I need to clean out the fire pot?

Please don't take this as the word, just passing on what I have learned as an owner....

Yes, constant blowing fan...the old FE's, pre IQ4, had this and I believe there was long usage of them. The fan is straight below the hopper, look for yourself. This will cause a little more drying/convection affect on the product, not a bad thing in my opinion.

Oh, I took the fire pot out this week to check ash build up in the air shoot around the fire pot, there was ZERO amount of ashes, this is nice.

The igniter will stay on until around 130* temp. It gets the pellets hot until you have fire, this is why I put a small handful of pellets on top of it...faster fire, less usage on parts,maybe?

That dang fan will keep the fire pot cleaned out quite well, I do it before every comp, but at home I do it once a month or when I think about it. I try to cook hamburgers on it before a comp to help the grease catch some free blowing ashes.

It ain't fragile so give it a real work out. I grill most of the time at around 300*, start steaks on indirect side for a while an then transfer them to grill area. They sure stay juicy.

Good luck and Congrats again, you'll use it more than you think.

Padre...

Take a deep breath...

Breath in....

Breath out...

It's perfectly normal to look at all the little details, all owners do it, but I have one question.

How was the first cook?

Bouncers happen all the time, what I do after a cook, after it cools down is clean out the fire pot and throw away any pellets on the tray. Don't let them build up. IF you cook really hot, pellets on the tray can ignite. Not a big deal if it's one or two but keep the tray clean, especially on hot cooks.

Don't worry about the fan, any issues (if it goes out) then just call CS.

Thanks Smokin! The first cook and the next 3 have been nothing but spectacular. Great tasting food and I am having so much fun.

Next up! RIBS For NFL Gameday. Should be enjoying them by halftime of the second game.

quote:

Originally posted by Padrefan98:
Good, then it isn't just my unit.

Some other things I don't understand.

Is there a fan that constantly blows? I hear a motor or something. A fan makes sense. With all that heat in the area, I am wondering how frequently if at all that fan will need to be replaced?

Think of your computer, fan on it runs 24/7 for years.