Slicking up the hopper

[DanaM]

Okay, I added the PTFE Teflon adhesive tape and it made a huge difference. See before and after videos below.
Unfortunately, after filling
The hopper I went to preheat to 600 and let it burn the pellets at high rate to test, and the grill started smoking then just stopped at 55 degrees (53 outside). Did a full shutdown, reboot and tried again this time it smoked like crazy got to 75 and just stopped burning again. I waited 30 minutes or so and it finally posted an error ‘Flame not started, shutdown for safety reasons’.
I called Weber for the first time, waited 35 mins for a person to answer, told him what happened, he put me
in hold for about 5 mins, he came back on and said the Smokefire issues/calls are so high they’d have to call me back. Here it is the next day and still no call. I had also emailed them 4 days ago about the pellet hopper issue and still have not heard back other than the auto reply they received my email.

 

[DanaM]

I should have mentioned I watched the auger end inside the grill and there were plenty of pellets, the auger was just barely turning and fan was on high speed based on sound and air flow. Just no burning, ignitor obviously off

 

[SmokeMeister]

Okay, I added the PTFE Teflon adhesive tape and it made a huge difference. See before and after videos below.
Unfortunately, after filling
The hopper I went to preheat to 600 and let it burn the pellets at high rate to test, and the grill started smoking then just stopped at 55 degrees (53 outside). Did a full shutdown, reboot and tried again this time it smoked like crazy got to 75 and just stopped burning again. I waited 30 minutes or so and it finally posted an error ‘Flame not started, shutdown for safety reasons’.
I called Weber for the first time, waited 35 mins for a person to answer, told him what happened, he put me
in hold for about 5 mins, he came back on and said the Smokefire issues/calls are so high they’d have to call me back. Here it is the next day and still no call. I had also emailed them 4 days ago about the pellet hopper issue and still have not heard back other than the auto reply they received my email.

Let us know if you have any issues with heat and the tape. I'm not sure about the bottom, but the side of the hopper facing the grill gets pretty warm.

As far as it not starting, I think they do need to make some software changes. The fan seems to cycle on and off in the beginning to give the pellets a chance to light before cranking up the fan. Well, if the pellets aren't lit by the time it turns up the fan, it seems like they have a difficult time lighting. Maybe they need to slow that process down to make it more reliable?

Also, I'm not sure if you looked at the firebox before trying to restart, but if it is already full of pellets, you need to remove all but maybe a single layer. If it is full, it seems to kind of smother itself and won't light.

Good luck!

 

[GriLLMaRksRseXy]

I just got mine assembled and posted some info in my EX6 Thread along with this......

I removed the finger protection cover (left the 3 screws in) and installed 2 Layers of 3' UHMW "Slick Tape" It is supposed to be a slick as PTFE Teflon but is self lubricating, longer lasting and higher temperature adhesive. Plus its a whole lot cheaper. I just went over the hopper dump door but after testing will cut it out with an exacto knife so it stays functional. I am attaching a pic of the installed tape and a video of the pellets sliding down. So far it looks good but as soon as the rain breaks I will test it out during a burn in and some long term temperature testing.

 

[BIGCHRIS]

I had the same issue using the Weber brand competition blend. I have not tried remove the finger guard yet. This occurred at low temp cooks for me starting ribs at 225 then raising to 275 to finish. I had 3 bridges form during the cook.
When burning end I did not push to 600, but had no trouble holding 500 for 2 hours. I will try to hit 600 just to check it out.
I also did a Turkey Breast yesterday at 375 and had no bridging issues. I also make sure the hopper was full before I started. Cook time was about 1 hour and 40 minutes.

I have sanded the hopper and taken the finger guard out, I also tried Pit Boss comps and did not get to 600, stopped at 550 held that for a while then I took a look in the hopper it seemed ok, then I wanted to look into the grill and the temp went down to 450 and never recovered I shut it down after an hour, it is cold out here -2 or 28 for the Mericans I took another run at 600 later and it shit the bed at 450 and not a degree more I am going to run Traeger pellets Saturday and it well be much warmer I will do a first cook that day.

 

[FredSC]

I just got mine assembled and posted some info in my EX6 Thread along with this......

I removed the finger protection cover (left the 3 screws in) and installed 2 Layers of 3' UHMW "Slick Tape" It is supposed to be a slick as PTFE Teflon but is self lubricating, longer lasting and higher temperature adhesive. Plus its a whole lot cheaper. I just went over the hopper dump door but after testing will cut it out with an exacto knife so it stays functional. I am attaching a pic of the installed tape and a video of the pellets sliding down. So far it looks good but as soon as the rain breaks I will test it out during a burn in and some long term temperature testing.

View attachment 186

Looking forward to hearing how it works.

 

[FredSC]

Darn, I hope you can get it to light up.

 

[FredSC]

Just thinking........ One of these (up to 23min off, if my math is right)
View attachment 178
and these (2) :
DC12V 2300RPM Black Plastic Shell Massager Magnetic Vibration Motor
View attachment 179
Total $19.00
Thoughts?

Clever idea, where are you ordering these from?

 

[FredSC]

I just got mine assembled and posted some info in my EX6 Thread along with this......

I removed the finger protection cover (left the 3 screws in) and installed 2 Layers of 3' UHMW "Slick Tape" It is supposed to be a slick as PTFE Teflon but is self lubricating, longer lasting and higher temperature adhesive. Plus its a whole lot cheaper. I just went over the hopper dump door but after testing will cut it out with an exacto knife so it stays functional. I am attaching a pic of the installed tape and a video of the pellets sliding down. So far it looks good but as soon as the rain breaks I will test it out during a burn in and some long term temperature testing.

View attachment 186

Wow that was slick!!! Well done!

 

[woodsum]

Clever idea, where are you ordering these from?

Looks like you can get it all on amazon.

If you dont want the on/off timer you can just wire it direct and have the vibration run the whole time.

You can use a 12v battery, or a laptop power supply to get the 12VDC if you're going to use those same motors.

 

[FredSC]

I took a small fan motor and put a small weight on one side of the shaft, this of course makes the motor vibrate. put a Velcro to the underside of the hopper. plugged it in and problem solved. Little noise but I'm working on that.

Clever! Pictures?

 

[FredSC]

Looks like you can get it all on amazon.

If you dont want the on/off timer you can just wire it direct and have the vibration run the whole time.

You can use a 12v battery, or a laptop power supply to get the 12VDC if you're going to use those same motors.

Thanks!

 

[woodsum]

There's also http://timers.shop/ out of Pennsylvania that sells timers that look relatively waterproof, small, programmable and best of all cheap.

Can be used with this power supply

I think I'm going to attach a power bar under the side shelf, add the power supply then just need to wire the massage motor(s) to where I need them. Should we relatively waterproof in the end.

 

[FredSC]

I just performed the seasoning on my EX4. It ran great for about a half hour, then the temperature started dropping. I stirred up the pellets in the hopper and it went back up to 600 degrees. Evidently the pellets were no longer feeding. There were plenty of pellets in the hopper so my problem wasn't about pellets not sliding down. The pellets seem to get jammed up in the opening to the auger. I am using the Weber pellets. Some people on this forum suggested removing the wire guard over the auger opening. I think I will try to remove it and see if that solves the problem.

How did you make out with removing the wire guard?

 

[DanaM]

I just got mine assembled and posted some info in my EX6 Thread along with this......

I removed the finger protection cover (left the 3 screws in) and installed 2 Layers of 3' UHMW "Slick Tape" It is supposed to be a slick as PTFE Teflon but is self lubricating, longer lasting and higher temperature adhesive. Plus its a whole lot cheaper. I just went over the hopper dump door but after testing will cut it out with an exacto knife so it stays functional. I am attaching a pic of the installed tape and a video of the pellets sliding down. So far it looks good but as soon as the rain breaks I will test it out during a burn in and some long term temperature testing.

View attachment 186