Problems with pellet

Questions:

Could anything be blocking your vent?
Are you positive the auger jam was completely cleared?
Are your pellets dry?
Are you using different pellets?

From your description, it sounds as though you may have two issues involved:
1. Pellets not feed through the auger properly.
2. Pellets not igniting properly.

You'll probably get a better answer from someone else but that's my thinking. Call Cookshack Monday if we can't get you back up and running.

Doncha hate it when things go wrong on weekends?

I cleaned up the overflow right after the pellets cooled down (20 minutes plus). (left the butt on the shelf) Then cleaned out the fire box real good. (I am happy I caught this when I did, I think if I would have been in another room, I would have had a big fire.) I then, Re fired it up, by placing new pellets into the fire box and restarting. It's worked fine all night. I wonder how the butt will taste: the smoke that came out of their almost covered my whole backyard! My wife thought the fire dept was going to be called.

My gut says there is something not right, still. At times when it cycles, the smoke is very thick, seems almost too thick. I have seen it cycle before.

I am using brand new Fast Eddy Pellets, white bags from Cookshak.

Nothing was in the way of the exhaust.

The unit is new, made 2-9-10.

Thanks

Hmmmm...dunno what to tell you.

Pellet overflow is because the fire is out.

I think cleaning out the firepot resolved some of the issue. I'd empty everything out and try it again today, just to see.

My initial guess, don't know, is that you had some problem with the ignitor causing the overflow, but it must work, since you had fire next time.

Troubleshooting thoughts:

Was there ever a fire started? I NEVER (did I say NEVER) walk away until I'm sure the fire starts. You could have an issue with the fan not blowing, the ignitor not working or the auger, etc, etc.

Tip: Always clean the pot out and make SURE no ash builds up around the ignitor. It can heat up to the point it becomes solid.

Tip: Saw you did this one, but wanted to repeat it for the new guys out there. I always clean my firepot out and it's empty, instead of waiting for the auger to catch up, I throw a handful of pellets into the pot to get it started.

Wait until you see smoke and a fire (just smoke isn't good enough).

The other issues can be:

Fan not blowing. You have to listen for it or look for it.

Auger not turning. Just watch and make sure pellets are dropping. If they're not, it could be an auger pin broke or worse, pellet crete.

Smokin, Happy Easter!
Thanks for responding, I hope all is well. The unit is still on from last night. After the first incident, it has held up fine? I think it may have been the fire pot.

Now I did warm up the unit for almost an hour prior to the cook & it was maintaining temps just fine?

I did check out Pellet Crete just now, I don't think thats the issue, but after this cook, I will empty the hopper, vac out & clean the fire pot again.

Now after reading your post, when I cleaned out the fire pot last night, I did see some more larger pieces (solids) coming out of the mess. I wonder if this was my culprit on the fire being out?

I just wrapped the butt at 9am Chicago time, I am hoping that heavy heavy smoke didn't ruin the meat.

In talking with people, just vacuuming the ash out doesn't always remove the ash.

Because of the heat of the ignitor, it superheats some of the ash and it "may" become kind of impacted. I have a cheap spoon I leave with my unit and when I vacuum out, i use the spoon to gentle move any solid stuff.

Just don't try to pry out the ignitor...

You may need to patent "the spoon".

Maybe the angle on the IQ4 doesn't let a vac get tight in there.A coffee spoon seems to work well in mine.

Never had a problem,but can't hurt.

J,you may want to keep an eye on how full the firepot gets with ash,if you run it 24 hrs.

The spoon can also lower the ash level,and seems to burn a little better.

Just a thought.

Agree with the great minds on this one, I find that when I vacum after each and every cook I will run my finger around in the pot and I ussually find a tad bit of crusty ash at about the six o'clock position. I can work it loose with my finger or a small spoon and the I vacum the rest out.

I always vacuum my fire pot prior to starting up my pit. One word of caution, it's a good idea to wait until the fire pot has cooled down prior to vacuuming it out.......... don't ask!

When this happened to me I found the vent fan was bad. It would stop running, the temp would fall and pellets poured in. Had a couple real bad fires before I fixed it. Had to replace the gasket twice. Also burnt a big hole in my cover.

Well the butt came out great! I cleaned the unit real good after the cool down. I got the vac out & got in there real good! I am going to try a brisket in a couple of days.
Last night, I was up every 2 hours checking on the unit. You see the last FEC had a real bad fire. This is my second. I am real paranoid!

Hopefully you have located your problem. Along with smokin's special spoon. something that may help in the cleaning those hard to reach areas. I purchased at my local fireplace store an attachment that fits in the end of shop vac that has a 1/2"x14"long flexable hose. I still use the spoon but this hose allows me to reach some of those spots that are difficult for a shopvac. If anyone is interested I can post a picture. take care

Yes, please post the pic.

What I really need on the end of mine is a 90degree nose so it will get under the ignitor, but the Smokin' Spoon TM works for me...

LOL

I am having trouble downloading a picture to the forum. Probally operator error. I will try again later