Success with New Welded Auger Tube - back to 600

[FredSC]

Yeah I just uploaded those a couple days ago. I'm on my 3rd also. Big differences between the 2. New one is a straighter path, smoother (no fasteners inside) and one piece so there is no seam where compressed pellets can grab and bind slowing down the auger feed rate. The only thing that can prevent you from getting full temperature is a dirty coked up firepot. Keep that clean and good to go. Coking up can screw up a reverse sear though. Even if you clean it to start, by the time you are ready to bump it to the higher temperature it gets dirty and it takes forever to go from say...275 to 600. But clean the pot and go straight to 600 for me is ~18 minutes. I can live with that.

How are you cleaning your fire pot? Wire brush, etc.? Thanks.

 

[Sudz]

Have you guys using the new chute had any problems with pellet packing up during reverse? It appears this should be an issue since driving the pellets back into the feed area must surely have difficulty going against the grain so to speak.

Itching to buy a EX6 but still holding back hoping Weber will clean things up a bit first. The welded chute looks promising. The feeder ramp is a bandaid at best it appears. The uneven temps are a concern. The app and software, well its software. Not surprising. But still not clear if any of the recent updates fixed anything??

 

[Brad S]

How are you cleaning your fire pot? Wire brush, etc.? Thanks.

No I have a shop vac in my garage - I do a quick once over to make sure no coke buildup is blocking the air flow or the igniter.

 

[FredSC]

No I have a shop vac in my garage - I do a quick once over to make sure no coke buildup is blocking the air flow or the igniter.

Great, that’s what I do as well.

 

[bbq4ever]

And I do exactly the same, I like my grills to be clean ready to use for another cook. (so not only my ex6, but also my master-touch GBS and master-touch GBS Premium)

 

[FredSC]

My new auger and welded tube arrived yesterday, installing tomorrow after the clean up from smoking butts today.

 

[FredSC]

My new auger and welded tube arrived yesterday, installing tomorrow after the clean up from smoking butts today.View attachment 719

Installed the new chute and auger Friday and got to 600F in about 15 minutes!! Searing some Ahi tonight I will update if I have issues hitting 600F. Before it took almost an hour to get to 600F.

 

[Fastpeter BBQ]

Hello FredSC,

How about the cooks/ will it constantly reach 600 F and also fast (about 20 min) and can it keep low & Slow 250 F
Thanxs i hope it solves the real problem

 

[rrudloff]

Have you guys using the new chute had any problems with pellet packing up during reverse? It appears this should be an issue since driving the pellets back into the feed area must surely have difficulty going against the grain so to speak.

Itching to buy a EX6 but still holding back hoping Weber will clean things up a bit first. The welded chute looks promising. The feeder ramp is a bandaid at best it appears. The uneven temps are a concern. The app and software, well its software. Not surprising. But still not clear if any of the recent updates fixed anything??

I installed and used the new auger this weekend. This was also my third one. I had a problem with maintaining set temperature and was told this would fix the problem. I was skeptical of being told that but it seems to have fixed the problem when I smokes ribs yesterday.

 

[FredSC]

Hello FredSC,

How about the cooks/ will it constantly reach 600 F and also fast (about 20 min) and can it keep low & Slow 250 F
Thanxs i hope it solves the real problem

Low and slow has never been a problem with my smoke fire. I've run at 225, 250, 275 with no issues. Also grilled fine at other temperatures. Before the auger change it took about 40 minutes to get to 600F, Before the firmware update the, the best I could do as far as high temperature was about 525F, but still it grilled great.
I baked some crab cakes last night at 225 smoking for about 25 minutes, then raised to 400F and continued baking for 20 minutes on top rack, Then pulled those and ran temp up to 600F to sear Ahi Tuna steaks. See attached pictures.

 

[Brad S]

I did another test to 600 with the welded auger tube using Pit Boss Charcoal Pellets. So far it's still holding out since first posting this.
65 degrees ambient temperature
Full clean out prior to start
20 1/2 minutes to 600
Turned down to 250 so I could put my pizza stones on without cracking.
Back up to 500 from 250 with stones took 10 minutes. Held 500 for 12 minute cook no problem.

 

[abmet]

Low and slow has never been a problem with my smoke fire. I've run at 225, 250, 275 with no issues. Also grilled fine at other temperatures. Before the auger change it took about 40 minutes to get to 600F, Before the firmware update the, the best I could do as far as high temperature was about 525F, but still it grilled great.
I baked some crab cakes last night at 225 smoking for about 25 minutes, then raised to 400F and continued baking for 20 minutes on top rack, Then pulled those and ran temp up to 600F to sear Ahi Tuna steaks. See attached pictures.

That all looks fantastic!

 

[FredSC]

Seared some steaks tonight 21 minutes to 600F from selecting the temperature on the knob.

 

[JetRanger]

I received and installed my welded chute tonight. Ran into a problem while converting the auger. Upon disassembly of the auger I found the cotter pin had sheared, elongated the hole on the auger rod, and tweaked the motor shaft. I could not get the auger off the drive shaft. I called Weber, got a call back in around 30 minutes and they are sending a new auger motor assembly and a complimentary bag of pellets for my troubles.

Once I knew I had the new parts coming I took some real tools to the auger shaft and was able to beat/pry/finesse it apart. I had to dress out the high spots around the cotter pin hole with a file before I could get the adapter plate off and the new parts assembled. I put it in the EX6 and gave it a shot and she lit up to 600 degrees in 11 minutes with a 3/4 load of Pit Boss pellets. I did a quick cook and all seems well. It may be mental, but the ole seat of the pants meter tells me that temps are recovering quicker now after opening the lid and for the first time ever, I did not have a temp roll back while lighting off the grill.

What I am most curious and quite frankly concerned about is how that cotter key sheared. It's obvious the auger jammed at one point, maybe more... But the elongation of the holes and deflection of the material around the auger motor shaft cotter key hole really got me. It takes a lot of torque to cause that kind of damage. Why didn't the controller sense that and shut down to protect itself? The CS rep seemed to think it may have happened during shutdown when the auger reverses. They felt any jam while running in normal operation would have caused a shut down and error code.

 

[Brad S]

That shows how much force was being applied by the compressed pellets as they bite into the seam where the gasket is on the old chute assembly, slowing down the auger and thus the feed rate of pellets. To me the cotter pin may be causing the problem. It sticks out preventing pellets from escaping the auger and breaks them into powder which then compresses. If that were replaced with a flush fastener would that stop the pellets from compressing?