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11 replies

Well, it happened again!

S smokeniceMember
This time the exhaust was fully open; the hopper was empty with no dust; new batch of BBQ Delight pellets (hickory and cherry blend) checked for fines and dust prior to filling the hopper. Started at 10pm on smoke with 2 briskets and 2 pork butts on middle shelves. On smoke for 2 hours and then at midnight switched to 250 degrees setpoint and monitored until under control.

Went to bed and got up at 2:30 to make a deposit on the beer that I had rented and checked the FEC. All OK.

5:30am much smoke from the hopper; pellets disintegrating due to moisture; pit temp at 180 degrees; bottom of hopper on fire; removed all the mess from the hopper, to include the paint that had heated and curled up and flaked off, on both the inside and outside of the hopper with a mess running down on the IQ4 control that has made a mess of it.

Got it restarted and back up to temp with fresh pellets and scrambled to try and recover my comp meat which was interesting.

Anyone have any ideas? As an aside, I was told by a pellet manufacturer that the reason no longer using IQ4 was for this type of problem. Multiple hopper fires. I will also be calling Tony on Monday. Thanks for any insite as this is a new one to me and I have been using since 2005.
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N nordyMember
Mack... were you cooking inside or outside?

Sounds like a stupid question... but if you're cooking inside with an exhaust fan running and not enough inflow of air... you can get a partial vacuum pulling air through the hopper rather than out the exhaust. (Ask David Qualls how I got to experience that one...)

What type of exhaust are you using? About all I ever put on mine is a 90degree elbow to slightly direct smoke or deflect wind... and don't ever have a problem... Only time I had anything close to this was when I forgot to take the cap off the exhaust opening when I was first starting the pit...

We know this is an airflow problem... question is what is causing it... We probably need more info about your setup to figure it out...

(Congrats on the qualifier by the way!!!)

Nordy

EDITED to ADD - Just saw your other post on the subject... Check your exhaust. make sure it's not narrowed somewhere else. There's something magical about a 5" flue on these things. Make sure the end cap/vent/whatever you have at the top doesn't restrict airflow OR act like a scoop collecting air if directly in to the wind...

That's all I got...
Last edited by nordy
S smokeniceMember
Spoke with Bill and best conclusion is a back draft caused by wind started some dust accumulation on the slide to burn which caught the hopper on fire.

Two things to try, thoroughly clean the slide and use an extension on the elbow.

Also am upgrading to the FE67 board which has some changes on restart temp settings.

Will implement the above and test at next cookoff and report back.
cal 2cal 2Member
quote:
Originally posted by Smoke'n Ice:

Will implement the above and test at next cookoff and report back.


Well Mack, I guess that's as good of a place to check it out as any place....LOL!

By the way, nice finish and good luck in the next round of the Sam's event. Goes to prove that sometimes comp cooks have to improvise at a contest and the the good ones do it well!
FM Former Member
I know that you guys all use your FEC's more than I do, but I have never had a fire or flameout and I have never seen smoke coming from the hopper. I have a fairly early IQ4 running FE46 firmware, stainless fire pot, and open exhaust. I don't use the igniter, my door gasket is bad on the lower third, and I always keep the hopper fairly full. It always cooked great this way, so I never changed a thing. I've also never seen any issues with pellets crumbling or dust on the ramp.

Everyone focuses on the exhaust, but I wonder if part of the problem is on the supply side. Blockage on the intake, a fan that is not running properly, etc. Have you pulled the firepot and cleaned the air passage?
S smokeniceMember
Cleaned out the fire pot, pellet hopper, air pentium, and the chip slide. Installed a new FE67 control board.

Went with my original configuration of 90 degree elbow, 2 foot extension, 4 to 3 reducer and a dryer vent cap. I have used this particular setup since late 2005 without issues.

Fired it with 20 pounds of BBQ delight pellets at 10pm on smoke for 2 hours and then 250 for the balance of the smoke. Made sure the vent cap was properly oriented for the wind.

Placed briskets on shelf 2 and pork butts on shelf 3. Monitored for most of the night and all was fine. Did note some wisps of smoke coming out of the pellet hopper around 10 am and realized that the wind had shifted and I was getting some back draft. Corrected and no more issues.

Is it fixed, I'll know more after the next contest but for now it is back to normal and functioning properly. As a side note, took 5th brisket, 5th pork and was 6th overall in a 62 team field, most of whom believed that smoke meant burning a forest of mesquite overnight. Thank God the wind was blowing in the 15 to 30 mph most of the night and then got stonger in the am.

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