Skip to main content

I just posted about the excellent pork butt we did and went out to do some bone-in chicken thighs. I cleaned out the burn chamber, placed perhaps ten pellets against the igniter and turned the grill on. It started to smoke after a couple of minutes, then it blew the GFI circuit. Reset, cleaned burn chamber completely, and restarted. In 5 minutes smoke, glowing pellets, but the fan didn't kick in and then 2 mins later the GFI blew.

Enough so I will bake it, but I can't figure out what is wrong.

Any suggestions?
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Called Tony in Service and was told to plug the PG500 into a non-GFIC and then try again.

Grill acted normally. Tony said that most of the time it is 'water getting into the igniter which is causing a short.' He told me to get the grill to 300 and to let it run for an hour. This was supposed to 'dry it out' and then let it cool off for an hour. Then plug it into the GFIC plug and restart.

Did so and about 6 minutes into start got smoke then the GFIC blew. I forgot to turn off the switch and reset GFIC. Grill immediately began smoking and temp raised to about 120 degrees before it blew the GFIC again. Called Cookshack and left a voice mail. Hope they call before Monday. I have an Alton Brown City ham planned for Saturday and Brisket for Sunday.

Hope you all have a great weekend.
I'm not saying this is safe or meets code, but this is what I did in a pinch with another brand when I experienced your problem just before a large family function. Purchase, beg borrow a 12-14 gauge extension cord that will run to your nearest non-gfi outlet. While the igniter is running mke sure every other item on the circuit Is off. Check your firepot to verify you haven't overloaded it. Hit. The start and you should be good until you get the hot rod ironed out.

If the hotrod won't cause ignition, manually light the pellets with some non-petro based lighter. Good luck!
Well I did reinstall the new igniter.

For anyone who has to do it:
1-Remove the 10 screws on the end of the pellet storage
2-Follow the two white wires. Remove the fan on the bottom to gain access through the round hole on the bottom towards where the fire chamber is
3-With a flashlight and some positioning, you can see where the ignitor is secured by two screws
4-Carefully remove the philips head screws
5-Remove the old igniter. Take the two screws that you removed and thread them into the holes on the end of the new igniter.
6-Hold the screws in place with two pieces of cardboard
7-Replace the assembly in the firepot and tighten the screws in place
8-Replace fan screws, push ends of igniter wires into plug and plug into female plug end.
9-Secure slack and replace screws on end assembly and you are good to go!

Works like a charm

I was told the hotstick starter has some leakage to the chassis.  I ordered a new one an have been starting mine manually until I got a chance to install it.

Finally the day came... Unfortunately, when I checked the NEW hotstick, it had more leakage than the old one.

I have sent a message to support, meanwhile I will put the old one back in... not happy.

Anyone have another source for starter elements that might not have leakage?  

I can break the ground lead but that isnt safe... And yes I will be replacing the GFCI as well incase it was getting old after being reset so many times and tripping easier...

Thoughts please!

Add Reply

Post
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×