HOT! Ex 4 caught fire

[PatrickB]

Curious, what brand of pellets were you using? Also, you really need to clean it after each use. No jok

And it exploded under those environmental conditions? I’m just far too skeptical of internet issues. I’ve cooked on pellet grills for years and years. I’ve seen plenty of problems from a variety of brands personally and indirectly, but I have to be convinced of something reported on the internet that doesn’t make sense to me. I can see some aspects of the reported issue happening, but not all of them and not as reported. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I automatically default to a defensive posture about many of these things if they don’t quite add up.

Oh well, good luck trying to solve this one.

Ok: I’ll change “explosion” to “a rapid expansion of hot air sufficient to lift the lid of the cooker high enough to make a clanging noise when it abruptly settled back into its normal resting place. “. I have no agenda. Loved the grill and the high temp capability, but this hopper issue, resulting in Pellet starvation and then a pellet dump on smoldering embers, resulting in rapid ignition of a large quantity of fuel inside the grill) is a real safety issue and Weber should treat it as such. Meanwhile I’m torn between buying another brand or waiting for Weber to fix this….I’m having trouble finding a grill that has the temp range to provide an adequate searing without add on grill plates or side attachments that use gas.

 

[JpsBBQ]

Ok: I’ll change “explosion” to “a rapid expansion of hot air sufficient to lift the lid of the cooker high enough to make a clanging noise when it abruptly settled back into its normal resting place. “. I have no agenda. Loved the grill and the high temp capability, but this hopper issue, resulting in Pellet starvation and then a pellet dump on smoldering embers, resulting in rapid ignition of a large quantity of fuel inside the grill) is a real safety issue and Weber should treat it as such. Meanwhile I’m torn between buying another brand or waiting for Weber to fix this….I’m having trouble finding a grill that has the temp range to provide an adequate searing without add on grill plates or side attachments that use gas.

Well, I’m not a believer.
They are compressed wood pellets not propane or acetylene.
I’ve never seen a fire pit violently have an abrupt expansion of Hot air when someone piles loads of wood top of the fire. As always, I could be wrong, but I cannot even imagine this happening. I can see them suffocating the fire and causing a ton of horrible smoke but bursting into a violent fire? Hmmm.
Removed my wire guard and use Weber pellets. I’ve done hundreds of cooks without a pellet issue. Btw, I never installed the wedge either. Totally unnecessary.
As I’ve said before, I’m naturally skeptical of internet issues that I’ve never seen or experienced. That’s not to say they cannot be real, but they’d have to make complete sense to me. If not I assume dubious motives. Sorry.

Good luck to all involved.

 

[PatrickB]

Agree to disagree. I was there and know beyond a shadow of doubt what I witnessed occur.

It seems that cognitive dissonance is at play in your sandbox.

 

[JpsBBQ]

Agree to disagree. I was there and know beyond a shadow of doubt what I witnessed occur.

It seems that cognitive dissonance is at play in your sandbox.

Sure, that’s fine.

For the record, I do tend to believe in the reality that I know. I also am highly skeptical of internet trolls with horror stories. There are TONS of dubious characters on the inter webs. Maybe yours grill is like the magic grits from the movie “My cousin Vinny”?If that’s not you then great. Good luck.

 

[PatrickB]

Sure, that’s fine.

For the record, I do tend to believe in the reality that I know. I also am highly skeptical of internet trolls with horror stories. There are TONS of dubious characters on the inter webs. Maybe yours grill is like the magic grits from the movie “My cousin Vinny”?If that’s not you then great. Good luck.

“
To quote Shaw, “Never wrestle with a pig. You just get dirty and the pig enjoys it,'”

My vision is 20/20 and I can clearly see you enjoy just rolling in the mud…. There’s another one about not waisting pearls on swine, both are applicable to your position on this incident, in my opinion.


Maybe you’re a “troll” for Weber.

Regardless, Great grill with a defect that I’m sure they will address soon…. At least I hope so.

 

[JpsBBQ]

“
To quote Shaw, “Never wrestle with a pig. You just get dirty and the pig enjoys it,'”

My vision is 20/20 and I can clearly see you enjoy just rolling in the mud…. There’s another one about not waisting pearls on swine, both are applicable to your position on this incident, in my opinion.


Maybe you’re a “troll” for Weber.

Regardless, Great grill with a defect that I’m sure they will address soon…. At least I hope so.

Well jeez, I wished you good luck.

 

[Goneincognito]

If its happening as much as you say, you have all the updates, parts are installed correctly and Weber cant resolve it (please call them if you havent yet) I say cut your losses and send it back. This is exactly what return windows are for.

 

[PatrickB]

If its happening as much as you say, you have all the updates, parts are installed correctly and Weber cant resolve it (please call them if you havent yet) I say cut your losses and send it back. This is exactly what return windows are for.

Well…..Weber customer service has been fantastic, and I’ve been persuaded to give the EX4 another try (I know! “Fool me once, shame on you—twice, shame on me”), but I love everything about the grill with the exception of the pellet starvation issue due to the hopper design. I will only ever run Weber pellets and I’m removing the guard right away, plus, I’m going to make sure the hopper never drops below the low pellet indicator.

Also, if I get a low temp alert, I’m pulling the racks so I can see what is going on before too many pellets can be dumped in.

Weber suggested doing a shut down whenever the low temp warning was received, but that’s a long drawn out process…but maybe that’s the proper response.

Anyway, I’m going into this second grill with a higher skill set (thanks to this forum) and maybe, cross fingers, I just had a lemon with that first grill.

Weber has assured me that I have the 100 day return policy on this second grill……praying I don’t have to use it. Also, I’ll have a bag of flour ready this time to put out any fires! Using a fire extinguisher was a bad idea as it ruined the grill.


Thanks for all the guidance and support.

 

[JpsBBQ]

Well…..Weber customer service has been fantastic, and I’ve been persuaded to give the EX4 another try (I know! “Fool me once, shame on you—twice, shame on me”), but I love everything about the grill with the exception of the pellet starvation issue due to the hopper design. I will only ever run Weber pellets and I’m removing the guard right away, plus, I’m going to make sure the hopper never drops below the low pellet indicator.

Also, if I get a low temp alert, I’m pulling the racks so I can see what is going on before too many pellets can be dumped in.

Weber suggested doing a shut down whenever the low temp warning was received, but that’s a long drawn out process…but maybe that’s the proper response.

Anyway, I’m going into this second grill with a higher skill set (thanks to this forum) and maybe, cross fingers, I just had a lemon with that first grill.

Weber has assured me that I have the 100 day return policy on this second grill……praying I don’t have to use it. Also, I’ll have a bag of flour ready this time to put out any fires! Using a fire extinguisher was a bad idea as it ruined the grill.
Thanks for all the guidance and support.

So, are you actually just now saying you have not removed the wire guard that obviously will impede the pellet flow????
Oh my gosh! Why do waste our time?
You also didn’t do a shut down as it instructs you to do if this issue arises?

Like I’ve said a million times, you rarely ever get the true story. At least without dragging it out of them.

 

[Goneincognito]

So they are sending another grill out?
I would use the BLIT app and make sure everything is assembled correctly before you do ANYTHING else with it.
If you do it yourself them you have a better change of knowing when something is out of place now or later on.

Shutting down (or just powering off if unable to shut down for some reason) when a low temp alert occurs is not the ideal situation as in a perfect world it should recover but this will save any potential fires like you have had previously.
If you power it off it will actually be better as you wont have the fan blasting and things should just fizzle out.
It will just crack the sads and run a "shutdown process" when you power it back on. No biggie.

There is nothing wrong with giving things a second change. These things are great.
I have had my Gen2 EX4 since their Australian release last December and have not had a single issue.
I use it as a replacement for my gas grill, indoor oven and as a replacement for my offset, WSM and Weber Kettles.

You know enough now to work through the problems.
If you run into them again, give Weber a chance to make it right but know when to cut and run.

 

[PatrickB]

So, are you actually just now saying you have not removed the wire guard that obviously will impede the pellet flow????
Oh my gosh! Why do waste our time?
You also didn’t do a shut down as it instructs you to do if this issue arises?

Like I’ve said a million times, you rarely ever get the true story. At least without dragging it out of them.

The guard was removed the last time I had the pellet issue when there was a fire. Your quite the joker, bet you get a real kick out of yourself, alone there with your Precious grill. It’s clear who the real Troll is. Go climb back under your rock loser.

 

[JpsBBQ]

The guard was removed the last time I had the pellet issue when there was a fire. Your quite the joker, bet you get a real kick out of yourself, alone there with your Precious grill. It’s clear who the real Troll is. Go climb back under your rock loser.

Okay boss.

 

[bbqking]

Ok fellas..getting a little out of hand. Let’s not resort to name calling. Take a moment…step back…everything is going to be fine.