Bull My RT700

SMiller84 · Jun 30, 2021

Grill back burned over the weekend while smoking two big pork butts, filled the pellet hopper full of flames, Rectec says the grill got to much air causing this, grill was on when it happened, they say there is no issue and I need to use simple green and pressure wash it out, the orange caulk has lifted, all the paint burned and flaked off, entire grill smells like a burned house, pork butts ruined,, there was a light wind on Saturday but nothing that should have caused a issue, when I turned the grill off it continued, I did not spray water in it as I didn't want the pellets to turn to concrete. They spent two days going back and forth only to say it's not there problem and there is nothing wrong, grill is only a couple months old, no grease in it, clean, no mods of any kind, I am livid, I have told everyone to buy a RT700, had friends over that have bought them, been a huge fan boy...

Should have bought a shitty $300 smoker if I would have known it was going to be like this, so much for customer service...

mooncusser2k · Jun 30, 2021

Sorry to hear you had issues. You may want to call Ray.

chadinsc · Jun 30, 2021

did it flare up after you took the picture of the smoking hopper? it doesn’t look like the paint is damaged up high in that picture like your other one. if i ever see smoke in my hopper she is getting hosed down good them cleaned out fast before it drys. sorry to see all that damage on your grill. you should be able to remove the hopper and strip it and paint it back to look pretty dang close to factory and i think the red sealent is just rtv but it could be something else that food grade? also im not passing judgment with this statement atall so dont take offense but if your hoping to get a reaction from recteq with this post they don’t actually come on this forum officially they are on facebook.

C. Keeper · Jun 30, 2021

SMiller84 said:
Grill back burned over the weekend while smoking two big pork butts, filled the pellet hopper full of flames, Rectec says the grill got to much air causing this, grill was on when it happened, they say there is no issue and I need to use simple green and pressure wash it out, the orange caulk has lifted, all the paint burned and flaked off, entire grill smells like a burned house, pork butts ruined,, there was a light wind on Saturday but nothing that should have caused a issue, when I turned the grill off it continued, I did not spray water in it as I didn't want the pellets to turn to concrete. They spent two days going back and forth only to say it's not there problem and there is nothing wrong, grill is only a couple months old, no grease in it, clean, no mods of any kind, I am livid, I have told everyone to buy a RT700, had friends over that have bought them, been a huge fan boy...

Should have bought a shitty $300 smoker if I would have known it was going to be like this, so much for customer service...

Okay, how does too much air get in? I don't buy it for a second.

I would guess you had a flame out (pellets stop feeding) when the burn back occurred.

I / we have noticed that sometimes when the grill is shut down at a high temp it will try to burn back.

Hopefully you can return the grill and move on. Sorry for the problems.

jfrosty27 · Jun 30, 2021

Wow. That really sucks. I am stunned by the response from Recteq. Too much air? Sounds fishy to me. Anyway, good luck with it all

Waterboy · Jun 30, 2021

I would definitely either call again or call Ray. Every now and then you get a CS Rep that doesn’t want to hear what you are saying. Call back and talk to someone else.
They are typically more helpful than that even if it is user error. I’m not saying your situation is user error, rather if they help with user error issues they should help with this.

ol' stonebreaker · Jun 30, 2021

With forced draft how can it get too much air?? I'm not buying that either. I agree with the flameout because with temp drop the feed was trying to catch up and got a big pile of pellets in the firebox before they finally ignited.

JGW · Jun 30, 2021

Did you talk to them on the phone? Send an email and include the pictures.

sdynak · Jun 30, 2021

Yes.. call Ray directly. I call BS as well. Do not settle please. It will set a precedence.

chadinsc · Jun 30, 2021

incase you lost there number

JGW · Jun 30, 2021

It IS possible in wind to have have wind coming in via the chimney, but a light wind shouldn't cause a downdraft like that - ESP when you are cooking.

My old traeger would occasionally have smoke coming up through the hopper, but it never actually set the hopper on fire. While this case is extreme, there are certainly enough complaints across all brands of smoke in the hopper (your first clue that things are not exactly going to plan). I always keep the lid open when I am shutting down though, so I guess that helps.

Personally, I think the shut down cycle on the RT could use some improvement. 300 seconds doesn't seem to be enough. I think my traeger has like a 20 minute shutdown (as do some other brands).

Saw this on another site:

Ways to minimize an auger tube fire.
1. Drop to a low temperature, i.e. smoke mode, for about 15 to 20 minutes before shutting down. This burns off the excess fuel that is piled up at the end of the auger.
2. Use the shutdown mode if you have one. It burns most, if not all, of the fuel in the burn pot.
3. Open the lid when you shut it down. This allows the heat to escape much quicker. The faster the heat is removed from the fire pot, the quicker the flame fizzles out. It also adds a new source of fresh air so fresh air being pulled through the auger tube is minimized.
4. A full hopper will reduce the amount of air that can enter the auger tube via the natural convection. Although I think it is helpful, I don't think it is nearly as important as the other 3.

SMiller84 · Jun 30, 2021

Small update and a few thoughts, they called me today after posting my story, talked with a different guys, we were both very nice however he said the other guy was wrong and do NOT pressure wash the inside of the hopper, he said to scrap and paint and it would be fine...

The kicker is he blames it on the pellets, the same Pitt boss competition pellets I have been using, no dust, moisture, or issues, absolutely bs that they want to say pellets caused this.

I have seen others say they had smoke come out of the pellet hopper and I would agree with 3min. not being a long enough cool down as anytime I go from a high temp to off I get smoke out of the hopper, enough that I will turn the grill back on to a low temp for a while to being the temp down before shutting down.

JGW · Jun 30, 2021

I guess, like anything, is if you are happy with the response?

I also understand their take....they cannot control everything a customer does, and there are a lot of variables.

You haven't shown pictures of the auger motor etc. Are the fans intact? Did the blades melt? Is the motor damaged? Is there anything else other than paint and silicone that needs to be fixed?

Kamikazee494 · Jun 30, 2021

So I’m guessing the warranty doesn’t cover something like this. I thought these had a 6 year warranty. I have not really read what the warranty covers or doesn’t cover though. Just curious.

ol' stonebreaker · Jun 30, 2021

I've been using pit boss competition blend pellets for over a yr and have had no problems other than I have had a couple of auger fires but just let it keep running to get the burning pellets out of the tube. Instead of 500* I set it to 450* and haven't had anymore auger fires.

chadinsc · Jun 30, 2021

when i bought mine at recteq they said 6 year bumper to bumper. but did say that excludes paint. thats what my sales man said.

SMiller84 · Jun 30, 2021

I will see if I can get Ray to call me, while the two guys I talked to were nice they definitely just wanted me to go away, I have stood up and pushed to many RT700s for them to get shafted here...

Hell have cooked for two guys and had them both order ones the following week, I have done my part, time for them to do theirs, if I did something wrong I would gladly own it.

JGW · Jun 30, 2021

ol' stonebreaker said:
I've been using pit boss competition blend pellets for over a yr and have had no problems other than I have had a couple of auger fires but just let it keep running to get the burning pellets out of the tube. Instead of 500* I set it to 450* and haven't had anymore auger fires.

The fact that you are having ANY auger fires is concerning.

chadinsc · Jun 30, 2021

mine will occasionally catch the auger on fire if i shut it off from 500 without running it in low until the temp drops. now days i just set temp to low and shut it off when under 250

C. Keeper · Jul 1, 2021

chadinsc said:
mine will occasionally catch the auger on fire if i shut it off from 500 without running it in low until the temp drops. now days i just set temp to low and shut it off when under 250

I've had the same issue.

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