- Messages
- 59
- Grill(s) owned
- BFG
I cleaned up the grill from the Big Brisket cook and lit it up to just work on some questions I had. At about 150 degrees the temperature started dropping. It dropped back to down and was clearly "out".
I turned the machine off (no fan time needed) and turned it back to start again (set at 350). This time it didn't light at all. No temp increase, no smoke.
I started calling the rec teq service line. No answer so left the phone message.
Cutting to the chase: I pulled the grates, drip trays, and heat diffuser. The pellet burn cup was empty. I got out my manual and went to the auger testing. Auger was turning, no pellets were delivering. I left the auger turning on the test cycle and used my Traeger Pellet Bridge tool (rubber mallet) and banged around on the pellet hopper. This did no good.
Shut down grill and emptied 50 pounds of pellets into plastic buckets with a scoop. I got down to the square feeder drop and it was packed. I banged on it with a rod and it collapsed into the tube and onto the auger.
The auger began to deliver first ash and burned pellets, then a mix of pellets and A BUNCH of pellet dust and crumbled pellets. I continued to let the auger turn on "testing" setting and got a shop vac to suck up the "cr*p" that the auger was delivering to the fire pot. When I started seeing mostly pellets, I shut down the testing mode. Here I made a mistake that I will need to correct this morning. I spun the temperature dial without thinking and changed the Auger Delivery setting number. I have no Idea what the base number (factory setting) should be. I chose number 10 because I didn't want the number 1 and I didn't want the number 20. More on this later.
With the pellets now in the auger, I got out of test mode (again not without issues) and restarted the grill.
The restart went as it should and I was soon at 350. I did some temperature checks between the rec teq probes and my TW Signals probes and came up with one bad rec teq meat probe. One rec teq meat probe and two signals probes were all within one degree. The other rec teq probe was off by 25 degrees. The bad probe was in probe plug 2 position. To verify that it was the probe and not the on board #2 probe plug itself, I switched plugs on the probe. The same probe was still off 26 degrees in the #1 position and the good probe still matched the two signal probes after being moved to the #2 probe position. Conclusion, I have a rec tec meat probe that is reading wrong. I will replace it.
Back to the adventure: I have no idea why the pellet jam occurred. I have burned about 80 pounds of pellets. There was a Bunch of really nasty stuff being pushed out of the tube. I believe that the shape of the pellet hopper may concentrate the pellet dust found in the bags. I don't now. Maybe the traeger pellets are too fragile? I asked the tech I talked to at the mother ship about using traeger pellets (local supply chain issue). I was given the all clear.
I ran the grill at 350 for about an hour with two Signals probes (one air temp and one meat probe in a holder) plus the two rec teq probes in holders to see what I could see. I had the air probe attached to the underside of the top grate which placed it at almost the exact same height as the rec teq grill temp sensor. I actually sat and watched the grill for the whole hour and came to the belief that the rec teq probe was reading correctly. The temperature variance that I found during my brisket cook was still their (almost 50 degrees at times) but during the down times when the fan was not blowing the rec teq readings and my Signals Air probe readings would come up to about 3 degrees of each other. I notice that the Rec Tec grill sensor probe is mounted into a gap space that is open to max air circulation. My Signals probe was at the same height but more centered over the drip trays. Once the Rec Tec reached temperature (sustaining not gaining), the temperature variance dropped to about 25 degrees and during the time that the rec tec fan was cycled off, the temperature variance dropped to 3 degrees or less. Hypothosis: The rec teq probe is reading from the hot air stream (positional) whereas the Signals probe is reading from the grate position over the drip pan. I believe the Signals is getting a "truer" cooking/oven temperature because it is NOT positioned where it would need to be no monitor the heating effect of the pellet burn (if that makes sense). During a very few minutes each fan cycle, these probes matched. During a plus heat cycle (I made this term up) when the fan is pushing and pellets are dropping but still during the "maintenance cook cycle" the variance was less than 25 degrees. At least for now, I don't know if I am going to try to drive a match onto the thermostat settings. I may just choose to run an offset on the rec teq temperature setting.
I also ran the rec teq at the max temp setting (above 500 on the control panel). I chickened out at 550 degrees on the control panel readout and turned it back down to 450. The over run took me to 585 degrees before it began backing down. The Mother Ship rep tells me that I can expect up to 650 degrees safely. I will have to ponder that a bit. A point of interest is that 500 is the last point of temperature control. On the max burn setting, your temp will stop where it will.
This was yesterdays adventure.
Thanks to all that make this forum great.
v/r r
I turned the machine off (no fan time needed) and turned it back to start again (set at 350). This time it didn't light at all. No temp increase, no smoke.
I started calling the rec teq service line. No answer so left the phone message.
Cutting to the chase: I pulled the grates, drip trays, and heat diffuser. The pellet burn cup was empty. I got out my manual and went to the auger testing. Auger was turning, no pellets were delivering. I left the auger turning on the test cycle and used my Traeger Pellet Bridge tool (rubber mallet) and banged around on the pellet hopper. This did no good.
Shut down grill and emptied 50 pounds of pellets into plastic buckets with a scoop. I got down to the square feeder drop and it was packed. I banged on it with a rod and it collapsed into the tube and onto the auger.
The auger began to deliver first ash and burned pellets, then a mix of pellets and A BUNCH of pellet dust and crumbled pellets. I continued to let the auger turn on "testing" setting and got a shop vac to suck up the "cr*p" that the auger was delivering to the fire pot. When I started seeing mostly pellets, I shut down the testing mode. Here I made a mistake that I will need to correct this morning. I spun the temperature dial without thinking and changed the Auger Delivery setting number. I have no Idea what the base number (factory setting) should be. I chose number 10 because I didn't want the number 1 and I didn't want the number 20. More on this later.
With the pellets now in the auger, I got out of test mode (again not without issues) and restarted the grill.
The restart went as it should and I was soon at 350. I did some temperature checks between the rec teq probes and my TW Signals probes and came up with one bad rec teq meat probe. One rec teq meat probe and two signals probes were all within one degree. The other rec teq probe was off by 25 degrees. The bad probe was in probe plug 2 position. To verify that it was the probe and not the on board #2 probe plug itself, I switched plugs on the probe. The same probe was still off 26 degrees in the #1 position and the good probe still matched the two signal probes after being moved to the #2 probe position. Conclusion, I have a rec tec meat probe that is reading wrong. I will replace it.
Back to the adventure: I have no idea why the pellet jam occurred. I have burned about 80 pounds of pellets. There was a Bunch of really nasty stuff being pushed out of the tube. I believe that the shape of the pellet hopper may concentrate the pellet dust found in the bags. I don't now. Maybe the traeger pellets are too fragile? I asked the tech I talked to at the mother ship about using traeger pellets (local supply chain issue). I was given the all clear.
I ran the grill at 350 for about an hour with two Signals probes (one air temp and one meat probe in a holder) plus the two rec teq probes in holders to see what I could see. I had the air probe attached to the underside of the top grate which placed it at almost the exact same height as the rec teq grill temp sensor. I actually sat and watched the grill for the whole hour and came to the belief that the rec teq probe was reading correctly. The temperature variance that I found during my brisket cook was still their (almost 50 degrees at times) but during the down times when the fan was not blowing the rec teq readings and my Signals Air probe readings would come up to about 3 degrees of each other. I notice that the Rec Tec grill sensor probe is mounted into a gap space that is open to max air circulation. My Signals probe was at the same height but more centered over the drip trays. Once the Rec Tec reached temperature (sustaining not gaining), the temperature variance dropped to about 25 degrees and during the time that the rec tec fan was cycled off, the temperature variance dropped to 3 degrees or less. Hypothosis: The rec teq probe is reading from the hot air stream (positional) whereas the Signals probe is reading from the grate position over the drip pan. I believe the Signals is getting a "truer" cooking/oven temperature because it is NOT positioned where it would need to be no monitor the heating effect of the pellet burn (if that makes sense). During a very few minutes each fan cycle, these probes matched. During a plus heat cycle (I made this term up) when the fan is pushing and pellets are dropping but still during the "maintenance cook cycle" the variance was less than 25 degrees. At least for now, I don't know if I am going to try to drive a match onto the thermostat settings. I may just choose to run an offset on the rec teq temperature setting.
I also ran the rec teq at the max temp setting (above 500 on the control panel). I chickened out at 550 degrees on the control panel readout and turned it back down to 450. The over run took me to 585 degrees before it began backing down. The Mother Ship rep tells me that I can expect up to 650 degrees safely. I will have to ponder that a bit. A point of interest is that 500 is the last point of temperature control. On the max burn setting, your temp will stop where it will.
This was yesterdays adventure.
Thanks to all that make this forum great.
v/r r