SmokeFire Won’t Start

[SteveSpy]

It's 4 screws to take the cover off, another 2 to detach the motor and a cable to unplug. The motor ans attached auger slide right out.
Literally takes 5min and is something I do every couple of weeks.

Whoa... dude... yer blowin' my mind here. Why are you doing this every couple of weeks?? Please don't tell me that this is what is needed?? I have never removed that since I bought the grill last April. Are you telling me that it needs to be removed and cleaned regularly???

 

[Goneincognito]

Whoa... dude... yer blowin' my mind here. Why are you doing this every couple of weeks?? Please don't tell me that this is what is needed?? I have never removed that since I bought the grill last April. Are you telling me that it needs to be removed and cleaned regularly???

2 weeks for me is about 17-18 cooks.
There is usually nothing in there unless I get a bag of pellets that has sat for a while and gone a bit dusty.
Cheap insurance given it takes 5min.

 

[SteveSpy]

2 weeks for me is about 17-18 cooks.
There is usually nothing in there unless I get a bag of pellets that has sat for a while and gone a bit dusty.
Cheap insurance given it takes 5min.

There is hope for me after all... I have cooked at least 30 times since I bought it if you count both the slow-cooked briskets I've done and the regular grilling... so this has got to be the way to resolve these issues for me... Man am I ever thankful for this forum. Y'all have breathed life back into me...

 

[Goneincognito]

It could well be.
But seriously though, take the finger guard out too.

 

[SteveSpy]

It could well be.
But seriously though, take the finger guard out too.

Well the way I see it is if I’m going to start tinkering with my toolbox and taking shit apart, yea, I may as well remove the useless finger guard…

 

[Goneincognito]

Well the way I see it is if I’m going to start tinkering with my toolbox and taking shit apart, yea, I may as well remove the useless finger guard…

That's exactly why I have been satying to take it out. It's useless and is only held in by 3 screws (which you need to put back in).

 

[SteveSpy]

That's exactly why I have been satying to take it out. It's useless and is only held in by 3 screws (which you need to put back in).

I just went to look at it but there are too many pellets in the hopper now, I can't see shit, ima have to remove the pellets from the hopper before I can do all this other crap but right now I have no time... I'll check back here later tonight.

 

[Goneincognito]

I just went to look at it but there are too many pellets in the hopper now, I can't see shit, ima have to remove the pellets from the hopper before I can do all this other crap but right now I have no time... I'll check back here later tonight.

Yeah, it's right at the bottom so the hopper will need to be empty.

 

[DUSMO]

Sorry for the delay, work still gets in the way of grilling sometimes.

To catch back up, when starting everything appears or sounds normal, just no fire. Fan - good. Auger - good (no bridging, fellas). Screen and temperature setting - good. Wi-Fi and app on phone - good. Fire pot nugget of whatever - not present. Weber brand pellets- only, always, dry and good. Plug - hot for a few seconds and then cool to the touch. Fire - not present.

I assume the plug is no good. Weber sent me a new one - good on their customer service. I’ll replace it this weekend and try again. But, back to the reason I joined here… my experience with this contraption is limited. If this doesn’t work, I’m out of big ideas. Help would be appreciated.

 

[Goneincognito]

Sorry for the delay, work still gets in the way of grilling sometimes.

To catch back up, when starting everything appears or sounds normal, just no fire. Fan - good. Auger - good (no bridging, fellas). Screen and temperature setting - good. Wi-Fi and app on phone - good. Fire pot nugget of whatever - not present. Weber brand pellets- only, always, dry and good. Plug - hot for a few seconds and then cool to the touch. Fire - not present.

I assume the plug is no good. Weber sent me a new one - good on their customer service. I’ll replace it this weekend and try again. But, back to the reason I joined here… my experience with this contraption is limited. If this doesn’t work, I’m out of big ideas. Help would be appreciated.

Hot for just a few seconds? That doesn't sound right. I would put a hose clamp on the glow plug to ensure the ground connection is good.

 

[OGauge4Me]

Looks OK to me

Same here. I wish someone made Stainless Steel favorizer bars and fire pots for these grills. I also wish I had started welding 45 years ago so I would be able to fabricate the parts I need around the house. LOL

 

[SteveSpy]

Here we go.

First of all, thanks to all of you who kept on my dumb ass in this thread when I was ready to quit and get a Traeger.

Second of all, here are the results of my work today.

After I removed the finger guard I finally understood what my problem was. That whole tunnel was full of dust and clogging the entire chute. Of course I had issues. As soon as I removed the finger guard and removed all of the contents of that chute then I proceeded to removing the auger and the motor and a whole slew of other dust and crud came out of that chute. See attached pics. I think my smoker is now restored to being fully functional again. We’ll see what happens this week on my next cook…

 

[OGauge4Me]

Here we go.

First of all, thanks to all of you who kept on my dumb ass in this thread when I was ready to quit and get a Traeger.

Second of all, here are the results of my work today.

After I removed the finger guard I finally understood what my problem was. That whole tunnel was full of dust and clogging the entire chute. Of course I had issues. As soon as I removed the finger guard and removed all of the contents of that chute then I proceeded to removing the auger and the motor and a whole slew of other dust and crud came out of that chute. See attached pics. I think my smoker is now restored to being fully functional again. We’ll see what happens this week on my next cook…

Glad you found the problem. Your problem is why I use a cat litter scoop to sift my pellets before placing them in the hopper. It does take a little more time, but I have been running without issues since last December. If you are not already using one a drip pan is your friend for smoking meats that render out fat. The basic design of channeling grease towards the burn pot is not a good design. As with a lot of things in life you need to look at the end result. The SF does produce some really tasty meals without a lot of fife management. You still have to cook but you have to cook with any grill you use.

 

[SteveSpy]

Glad you found the problem. Your problem is why I use a cat litter scoop to sift my pellets before placing them in the hopper. It does take a little more time, but I have been running without issues since last December. If you are not already using one a drip pan is your friend for smoking meats that render out fat. The basic design of channeling grease towards the burn pot is not a good design. As with a lot of things in life you need to look at the end result. The SF does produce some really tasty meals without a lot of fife management. You still have to cook but you have to cook with any grill you use.

That's a great idea (cat litter scoop). In fact, when I re-loaded the hopper I used a large spoon with small holes in it to try to get rid of as much dust as possible, now that I understand exactly what my issue is. I will no longer be pouring the pellets into the hopper from the bag, I'm going to buy a cat litter scoop myself, it's the perfect tool because it's large enough that you don't have to load 100 scoops to fill the hopper. Interestingly, I discovered that the metal slide on the right side of the hopper (as you face the grill) was not properly installed by the guys that assembled the grill for me at Ace Hardware. They omitted 1 screw at the top, so the slide was shifted slightly to the middle and not butting up against the hopper's inner wall, which caused pellets to get stuck between the slide and the side of the hopper. I fixed that issue now as well...

My confidence is now restored. I'm going to be enjoying smoking meats for a long time now. Actually, if anybody has a good pizza recipe, please share! I've been putting that off forever, time to smoke a PIZZA! LOL

 

[Goneincognito]

That's a great idea (cat litter scoop). In fact, when I re-loaded the hopper I used a large spoon with small holes in it to try to get rid of as much dust as possible, now that I understand exactly what my issue is. I will no longer be pouring the pellets into the hopper from the bag, I'm going to buy a cat litter scoop myself, it's the perfect tool because it's large enough that you don't have to load 100 scoops to fill the hopper. Interestingly, I discovered that the metal slide on the right side of the hopper (as you face the grill) was not properly installed by the guys that assembled the grill for me at Ace Hardware. They omitted 1 screw at the top, so the slide was shifted slightly to the middle and not butting up against the hopper's inner wall, which caused pellets to get stuck between the slide and the side of the hopper. I fixed that issue now as well...

My confidence is now restored. I'm going to be enjoying smoking meats for a long time now. Actually, if anybody has a good pizza recipe, please share! I've been putting that off forever, time to smoke a PIZZA! LOL

You may as well take that slide out of the hopper.
All it does is reduce capacity.
I took mine out at at the same time as the finger guard.