Bullseye 380 is back feeding into the hopper

[Bamagrillguy28]

Title explains it. So the fire from the pot is actually backfeeding into the hopper on every temp setting. I noticed a huge plume of smoke this morning after about 15 minutes of starting it up and when I got out there to check it out, smoke was pouring out of the hopper. White nasty smelling smoke. The pellets were brand new out of the bag that I filled it up with as well. The weird thing is there was water dripping from the hopper lid onto my outdoor kitchen floor like it had caught on fire and created its on condensation. Not really a fire but smoldering effect. Turned the grill off and I dipped all the pellets out. Nothing out of the ordinary just a little dust. Auger is not jammed moving fine with a little dust in the bottom but the bottom inch or so was charred black ash and black pellets. I turned it back on with just the pellets in the auger to run everything out. I stuck my back pack blower in the hopper side to even blow everything out and nothing is coming out into the burn pot so it’s totally clean. I put different pellets in it and re primed everything but it’s still back feeding into the hopper. This thing is about 3 months old and just started doing this as well. Any suggestions?

 

[Jim6820]

Have you checked the vents in the lid for blockage?

 

[Buckeye1]

Have you checked the vents in the lid for blockage?

This right here, also scrap the tip lid where it sits on the lower bowl.
Clean out the fire pot.

 

[Bamagrillguy28]

Have you checked the vents in the lid for blockage?

Yes I have. I religiously unblock them about every other cook. It may be just a bad batch of pellets that have too much moisture in them or whatever but I’ve never seen anything like this. They were dry when I put them in the hopper and it was like the condensation swelled them but the root of it was it’s back feeding and lighting the bottom layer on fire or smoldering and creating its on atmosphere if you will. I’ve got a 590 and a 700 that’s never acted line this. Matter of fact they are burning the same batch of pellets with no issues. I pulled the meat off the 380 and lot the 590 with the same pellets in it to complete the cook with not one issue. If you ask the pellets are traeger comp blend which I have never had a problem

 

[Buckeye1]

The bullseye seems to be more sensitive to bad pellets. If they are crumbling I can see them burning back

 

[Greg Jones]

The bullseye seems to be more sensitive to bad pellets. If they are crumbling I can see them burning back

Yes, and pellets that are too long. They bridge over the auger.

 

[SmokeOCD]

Yes, and pellets that are too long. They bridge over the auger.

The pellets from Sam’s are probably the smallest I’ve seen. They’re like 2 maybe 3 cheerios stuck together.(anything but the metric system) it’s not broken and dusty, small on purpose.