Bull Another weekend, another problem

[shiner]

Started a cook this morning at 11. Set at 225, came up to temp quickly, and held until just before 2pm. Got an alert that the temp was 50 below my setpoint. Go out to check, it is at 120. Take everything out, no pellets in the fire pot, some in the feed, clear them out, put a handful in to ignite, they did. Temp gets back to 182 and is climbing so I put everything back in and come inside to watch some football. Now, 20 minutes later the temps are crashing again, currently down to 140. About to go check and see what is going on. So far I'm not impressed with the consistency of my Bull

 

[shiner]

Ok, no issues found. Restarted again.

For those wondering....brand new bag of Lumberjack hickory pellets.

 

[ol' stonebreaker]

I'm guessing the pellets are bridging in the hopper. Long pellets will cause that.

 

[Greg Jones]

I'm guessing the pellets are bridging in the hopper. Long pellets will cause that.

My thoughts as well.

 

[shiner]

I'm guessing the pellets are bridging in the hopper. Long pellets will cause that.

Interesting. Couldn't find any jams, it did finish the cook fine after a restart.

A good friend of mine has had a Bull for a couple of years now, and is why I bought one, and has always used the Lumberjack pellets, thus my buying and using them. Are they a known issue? Is there another brand I should be looking at?

Thanks for the replies!

 

[ol' stonebreaker]

When I have long pellets I can hear the auger breaking them.

 

[ol' stonebreaker]

Interesting. Couldn't find any jams, it did finish the cook fine after a restart.

A good friend of mine has had a Bull for a couple of years now, and is why I bought one, and has always used the Lumberjack pellets, thus my buying and using them. Are they a known issue? Is there another brand I should be looking at?

Thanks for the replies!

Long pellets won't jam the auger, they just form a bridge over the auger.

 

[shiner]

Long pellets won't jam the auger, they just form a bridge over the auger.

Ahhh interesting. Thanks for the reply! I'm still learning. Really appreciate all the feeback here.

 

[Beach Bum]

Ahhh interesting. Thanks for the reply! I'm still learning. Really appreciate all the feeback here.

Normally LJ is quite good. That has been my top choice for some time. You might want to examine your hopper. It's always possible you have a bad bag. I would not say this is a common problem with LJ.

 

[Gonefishin]

Don't know if it'd help, but I stir the pellets with my hand whenever I visit the smoker during a cook. I also don't fill the hopper, just guess as to how much I'll need and add during the cook if needed. Haven't had a bridge, yet.

 

[NBK]

I use the Costco pellets and they are super long. I have never had an issue.

 

[Threadcutter]

I use the Costco pellets and they are super long. I have never had an issue.

Samesies. Periodically, I do hear the auger breaking the longer pellets. Never had a stall or a failure though. So far, I'm likin' the Costco pellets.

 

[Wslayer]

Never had the issue with LJ but the Bear Mountain pellets were an issue with mine. They just looked cut longer. Took them out and gave to a friend whom has Traeger

 

[Hawkikr1]

I’ve only ever run Bear Mountain pellets in my 590 and never had an issue.

 

[Grilltreats]

I have been using LJ pellets in my 700 and Bullseye for five years now. I have never had an issue with using them. Maybe you have a bad tooth on the auger motor assembly. I would give RTQ a call.

 

[Chief_USN_Ret]

I’ve only ever run Bear Mountain pellets in my 590 and never had an issue.

I use Bear Mountain almost exclusively, and LJ only once or twice. Never an issue with the BM pellets.

 

[Mozekian]

Noticed my 700 heat deflector, grill is around1 year old, has warped pretty significantly. It won’t sit flush because the sides have warped it to that point.

Reached out to RecTeq and their response was “that’s normal”. And “unless it pushes the drip pan up, it’s fine. And IF it does, send us photos to prove it and then we will send a replacement”.

The fact that all 700s now come with cast iron kind of tells me they know the stainless deflector has issues.

Anyways, not happy with this response, I have stated that in my response back, and wait accordingly for a solution for a still newish grill that should not have parts that wobble because it’s warped to the point it can’t sit flush around the components it’s cutouts are intended to sit flush around.

Ball is in their court.

 

[Motodad1776]

It very much appears it all depends on "who" you get to talk with at Rectec, when it comes to getting the proper action taken.

 

[matjac33]

Noticed my 700 heat deflector, grill is around1 year old, has warped pretty significantly. It won’t sit flush because the sides have warped it to that point.

Reached out to RecTeq and their response was “that’s normal”. And “unless it pushes the drip pan up, it’s fine. And IF it does, send us photos to prove it and then we will send a replacement”.

The fact that all 700s now come with cast iron kind of tells me they know the stainless deflector has issues.

Anyways, not happy with this response, I have stated that in my response back, and wait accordingly for a solution for a still newish grill that should not have parts that wobble because it’s warped to the point it can’t sit flush around the components it’s cutouts are intended to sit flush around.

Ball is in their court.

I was told they upgraded to cast iron along with the new auger motor in order to get to higher heat faster. They told me it had nothing to do with issues. Take that with a grain of salt as it could just be marketing spin but if true then it has nothing to do with issues.

 

[Greg Jones]

It very much appears it all depends on "who" you get to talk with at Rectec, when it comes to getting the proper action taken.

On a lot of issues, that does appear to be the case. On the deflector warping, the discussions I’ve seen here would indicate that the reps handle it the same-‘It’s normal, no replacement unless it raises the drip pan, and send us a picture as proof.’