Flame out, please talk me down!

[TimA]

There is an idiot in the conversation. That is evident to almost everyone. They removed the wire guard from the new unit. I wonder why they would do that. Hmm.

I’m not saying it’s not possible to have other issues. Certainly you can and many have. The single most obvious physical issue with the Smokefire is the placement of the wire finger guard. As far as proof, it’s self evident. Only you will argue this point. You must truly be a savant. I suggest you leave yours in place and continue to smoosh your pellets. I will however continue to advise all others to remove it. As the gentleman above pointed out, there is no downside to removing it. None.

Buddy, your ego is something else. Take your guard out and shove it up your a**.

Typical little man syndrome.

 

[JpsBBQ]

Buddy, your ego is something else. Take your guard out and shove it up your a**.

Typical little man syndrome.

Just stop. I’m embarrassed for you.

I threw it in the trash once I removed it.

Seems like all your advice is really poor. Not sure shoving things in body cavities is sound advice either. You do you though.

 

[JpsBBQ]

Yeah, I really debated it. First time I’ve left it and as is always the case, problems occurred. I probably won’t do that again unless it’s a quick run to the store. The beauty of this thing should be set and forget, or at least monitor through the app. and be able to run errands etc., but apparently you never do that and sit at home the entire cook. just not what I envisioned when cooking with a pooper. I’ve done many a cook with my WSM and have grown tired of the baby sitting. Honestly, it may be less baby sitting than the Smokefire. For now, I’ve removed the guard and installed the insert. We’ll see on my next cook.

Fwiw, I’ve left mine unattended for hours overnight. It depends on the pellet level and cook temp. If I’m rolling 250 I feel confident at 6 hours plus. As always, you could have an issue, but I personally have not. I would not hesitate to run an errand though. I guess it boils down to what you are willing to accept as a risk level.

Certainly it’s always safest practice to be present during a cook. No doubt.

 

[Goneincognito]

I’m pretty sure it is. We’ve gone rounds, you’ve got your opinion and I’ve got mine.

Cool. Lets leave it at that then.
I wouldn't want to get told to shove a finger guard up my ass too.

Wondered if you guys have installed the shoot insert too? I rec’d one from Weber, but would seem to reduce capacity. I haven’t installed it as of yet. By the way, I removed the finger guard. I don’t see myself sticking my fingers down there for any reason when it’s on, LOL. Nothing to lose.

I took mine out when I took the finger guard out (when I assembled my EX4). It does nothing but reduce hopper capacity.
I can go 8-9hrs without even checking the hopper and most of the time I just look and close the lid again.

 

[iscraig]

Updated my firmware\software to the latest and tried a rib cook. Started it at 215 degrees manually. It was going fine for about 45 minutes and then dropped like a rock to 165 and below. I was away eating lunch, so from my phone tried to turn up the temp to 250 degrees in hopes of recovery. Nope. It finally lost connection. When I got home it was still running\on, but fire had gone out. No error on the display. I took off the ribs and put them in the oven for a bit. I ended up digging out all the pellets, removing the burn pot, auger, etc.. In all, it took me an hour to get it clean again. Started it at 275 and ran the rest of the cook that way. It worked, but so frustrated. This thing does not like to run at lower temps and the smokeboost has caused the same issue. I’m thinking of ridding myself of it, but still debating. Seems Weber will never fix this issue completely. If others have solved it, please let me know. I’ve like this grill, but damn, this gets old fixing thIngs 90 degree weather. Pellets were Lumberjack. I’ve heard lay offs are coming for Weber and they have a new CEO. Customer service is hard to get in touch with now. I don’t like where Weber is going these days. They’ve been my favorite company for years!

 

[Mark.B]

Cool. Lets leave it at that then.
I wouldn't want to get told to shove a finger guard up my ass too.

I took mine out when I took the finger guard out (when I assembled my EX4). It does nothing but reduce hopper capacity.
I can go 8-9hrs without even checking the hopper and most of the time I just look and close the lid again.

Yeah, figure I’ll try it for awhile and take the insert out again if I don’t feel it’s improved anything. By the way, what temp are you cooking at usually on a cook over 9 hrs? Do you use the smokeboost first for a couple hours? Is this a brisket cook?

 

[iscraig]

Ribs try #2. It happened again and I know it’s not me. The grill was perfectly clean as I cleaned it in the morning. About 5 hours into the cook it started losing temperature. By the abundance of pellets on the floor of the grill It appears it kept feeding pellets but would not ignite them. This is my fourth glow plug and second use of it, it has to be something else. Here’s my rant…I have purchased Weber grills for more than 30 years, this is number 6. I will contact Weber, fingers crossed on what they will do.

 

[JpsBBQ]

Just want to clarify my comments on Webers CEO. To the best of my knowledge the guy that has been in charge has only been in charge for a few years. He has overseen a massive failure of a product launch that should have been a huge success had it been ready for market when they pulled the trigger. He has also isolated his outside sales force as well as many in the small business community which built his company for decades. Their sales are way off but to be fair I believe that is industry wide as compared to the previous 5 years. They did react nobly to the huge Smokefire launch blunder but they have damaged their brand with that and quite frankly with their expanded sales in huge box stores where products are sold by untrained high school kids and the like. They devalue their brand when it’s not special or worthy of a sales presentation. I know the internet is powerful these days but some products benefit from a proper presentation. Historically they would sell some products in the box stores but not all. John Deere for instance would do the same. You could get their basic lower end stuff but left the higher quality products to the trainer dealers.

Anyway, I do not believe he will be missed as I’ve heard he’s out. Hopefully they get some great leadership and not just another highly educated MBA type that thinks he can make a company successful by manipulating spreadsheets. Sorry for the rant. The launch of the great Smokefire product is a tragedy IMO.

 

[Mark.B]

Ribs try #2. It happened again and I know it’s not me. The grill was perfectly clean as I cleaned it in the morning. About 5 hours into the cook it started losing temperature. By the abundance of pellets on the floor of the grill It appears it kept feeding pellets but would not ignite them. This is my fourth glow plug and second use of it, it has to be something else. Here’s my rant…I have purchased Weber grills for more than 30 years, this is number 6. I will contact Weber, fingers crossed on what they will do.

At what temp were you cooking them?

 

[JpsBBQ]

Ribs try #2. It happened again and I know it’s not me. The grill was perfectly clean as I cleaned it in the morning. About 5 hours into the cook it started losing temperature. By the abundance of pellets on the floor of the grill It appears it kept feeding pellets but would not ignite them. This is my fourth glow plug and second use of it, it has to be something else. Here’s my rant…I have purchased Weber grills for more than 30 years, this is number 6. I will contact Weber, fingers crossed on what they will do.

It should only ignite them once. Once they are lit and the grill is smoking you should then shut the lid and allow the grill to reach temperature. This should alert you on the phone and the control panel that it has reached temperature. Once it’s ignited the glow plug turns off and the grill operates off the burning pellets and fans. The rtd probe tells the auger and fan when to turn on and deliver pellets and airflow. If the fire goes out for some reason it will likely deliver pellets for a while until it recognizes that the fire is out. This is likely done by a continuous temperature drop that doesn’t recover when they add pellets and air.

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Hope you get it resolved and can enjoy the machine as much as I do. Ribs are my favorite protein to cook. My crazy wife is only a moderate fan of ribs so I don’t cook them every day like I’d wish.

 

[Mark.B]

Just want to clarify my comments on Webers CEO. To the best of my knowledge the guy that has been in charge has only been in charge for a few years. He has overseen a massive failure of a product launch that should have been a huge success had it been ready for market when they pulled the trigger. He has also isolated his outside sales force as well as many in the small business community which built his company for decades. Their sales are way off but to be fair I believe that is industry wide as compared to the previous 5 years. They did react nobly to the huge Smokefire launch blunder but they have damaged their brand with that and quite frankly with their expanded sales in huge box stores where products are sold by untrained high school kids and the like. They devalue their brand when it’s not special or worthy of a sales presentation. I know the internet is powerful these days but some products benefit from a proper presentation. Historically they would sell some products in the box stores but not all. John Deere for instance would do the same. You could get their basic lower end stuff but left the higher quality products to the trainer dealers.

Anyway, I do not believe he will be missed as I’ve heard he’s out. Hopefully they get some great leadership and not just another highly educated MBA type that thinks he can make a company successful by manipulating spreadsheets. Sorry for the rant. The launch of the great Smokefire product is a tragedy IMO.

I agree with this, but my observation too is that Weber has increased prices so drastically it has shut out their core customers ( bread and butter gassers). Especially now with the economic circumstances. I think there are better options at that price point other than Weber these days. I love my Weber products, but they are losing me with the huge price hikes.

 

[JpsBBQ]

I agree with this, but my observation is that Weber has increased prices so drastically it has shut out their core customers ( bread and butter gassers). Especially now with the economic circumstances. I think there are better options at that price point other than Weber these days. I love my Weber products, but they are losing me with the huge price hikes.

Yeah they had a whopping increase of double digits I believe. I will say that everyone outside of the low end producers are raising prices and significantly. There is no doubt these increases coupled with the unease in the economy has drastically slowed sales for Weber and others.

They are also heavily invested in the “smart tech” stuff and some newer products. While I’m not totally opposed to these sorta things and the ideas behind them I would argue they’ve spent way too much time and effort in them in relation to the base functionality of the products and offering real value. It’s gonna be a rough ride for some of the industry giants.

 

[Mark.B]

Yeah they had a whopping increase of double digits I believe. I will say that everyone outside of the low end producers are raising prices and significantly. There is no doubt these increases coupled with the unease in the economy has drastically slowed sales for Weber and others.

They are also heavily invested in the “smart tech” stuff and some newer products. While I’m not totally opposed to these sorta things and the ideas behind them I would argue they’ve spent way too much time and effort in them in relation to the base functionality of the products and offering real value. It’s gonna be a rough ride for some of the industry giants.

I keep thinking this is the year I replace my 18 yr old Summit gasser. Then I clean it and come to the conclusion that I can keep her going for yet another year, though rust is taking over in spots.

 

[iscraig]

At what temp were you cooking them?

250 degrees using Weber hickory pellets.

 

[Mark.B]

250 degrees using Weber hickory pellets.

When I set it to 275 things seem to work a lot better, though I’d like to cook lower for enhanced smoke. It’s when I set temp at 250 or below, I start to experience issues.