Back burning or smoking from the hopper

FF Cory

Well-known member
Messages
237
Location
Cicero, Indiana
Grill(s) owned
  1. Bull
I’ve Had my 590 for a year now. I have cooked everything on it and I have a good working knowledge of it. She gets used 2-3x a week. This issue that I had yesterday puzzles me. After smoking some potatoes at 225 for an hour, I moved to 375 to finish for another hour. When I took the potatoes off I dropped the temp to 225 again to let it cool down and then let it shut down. Once I did that, I had smoke coming out of my pellet hopper. There was no fire but some dirty smoke coming out of the burn box. Has anyone else had this issue and if so, can you explain what happened? Thanks guys!

I apologize I didn’t take pics. Teaching moment and I will make sure to do that on any other issue, if i have one.
 
The pellets in the auger tube started burning/smoldering. Typical causes, too much ash in the firepot or shut down from a high temp cook. Be careful, I've seen a video where the entire hopper caught fire 🔥
 
I have had that happen when I tried to go directly from 375-400 down to 225. I think there are too many pellets in the burn pot feeding the previous high temp. When you turn it down too far in one step they can burn back into the auger tube like @pungo said. I typically turn down the temp in 50 degree increments until I’m at 225-250 then turn it off. Never had a problem since I started doing that.
 
See what the fire pot looks like, you didn't mention when it was last cleaned. All I can think of is ash buildup as you let it cool down to 225 before shutdown.
 
The pellets in the auger tube started burning/smoldering. Typical causes, too much ash in the firepot or shut down from a high temp cook. Be careful, I've seen a video where the entire hopper caught fire 🔥
I am religious about cleaning my 590 every other burn. Still don’t understand the residual burn.
 
See what the fire pot looks like, you didn't mention when it was last cleaned. All I can think of is ash buildup as you let it cool down to 225 before shutdown.
Every other burn is when I clean the whole grill. It’s not neglected. Just found that odd. The other responses have mad me feel a little better about my incident. Thank you.
 
My neighbor has a RT 700 and I have a RT 590. She called my wife a week ago around 12 noon and said their RT 700 was smoking but not plugged in. I went over and the hopper was smoking and almost full of pellets. As soon as I stirred the pellets up and gave them oxygen, they started burning / flaming. I had to pour water on them and scoop them out. They had turned it on the night before and decided not to use it. They just unplugged it and forgot about it. I never cook with mine on high heat but have had mine catch the pellets on fire after cooling down and shutting off also. I just turn it back on for a while on low and let it go thru the shut down cycle and unplug before pellets come out of auger for next cook. I always keep an eye on mine until I`m sure it is completely out. I do not know why the pellets don`t come out of the auger at the start up instead of coming out at the end of the shut down cycle in a hot burning chamber.
 
I have had that happen when I tried to go directly from 375-400 down to 225. I think there are too many pellets in the burn pot feeding the previous high temp. When you turn it down too far in one step they can burn back into the auger tube like @pungo said. I typically turn down the temp in 50 degree increments until I’m at 225-250 then turn it off. Never had a problem since I started doing that.
That is exactly what I did. I was trying to let it cool back down before shutting it off. Thank you.
 
See what the fire pot looks like, you didn't mention when it was last cleaned. All I can think of is ash buildup as you let it cool down to 225 before shutdown.
I completely clean my 590 every other cook. That pot was clean before that particular cook. After reading some responses I took the heat up to a higher temp and then dumped it back to 225. From what I understand, I tried to cool it too fast with a large amount of pellets in the burn pot.
 
My neighbor has a RT 700 and I have a RT 590. She called my wife a week ago around 12 noon and said their RT 700 was smoking but not plugged in. I went over and the hopper was smoking and almost full of pellets. As soon as I stirred the pellets up and gave them oxygen, they started burning / flaming. I had to pour water on them and scoop them out. They had turned it on the night before and decided not to use it. They just unplugged it and forgot about it. I never cook with mine on high heat but have had mine catch the pellets on fire after cooling down and shutting off also. I just turn it back on for a while on low and let it go thru the shut down cycle and unplug before pellets come out of auger for next cook. I always keep an eye on mine until I`m sure it is completely out. I do not know why the pellets don`t come out of the auger at the start up instead of coming out at the end of the shut down cycle in a hot burning chamber.
I’m getting some good responses and they all make sense. I am religious about cleaning my 590 every other cook (unless it’s a really fatty pork shoulder, then it gets cleaned before the next cook). I never completely fill my hopper because I am always watching the temp and pellet consumption.I haven’t unplugged it but to move it away from a high wind day. I believe my issue was turning it up to 400ish and then trying to cool it before I turned it of. As I have read, it seems the pot was full from the high burn and it burnt back when the temp was lowered. Thanks for your response.
 
I’ve Had my 590 for a year now. I have cooked everything on it and I have a good working knowledge of it. She gets used 2-3x a week. This issue that I had yesterday puzzles me. After smoking some potatoes at 225 for an hour, I moved to 375 to finish for another hour. When I took the potatoes off I dropped the temp to 225 again to let it cool down and then let it shut down. Once I did that, I had smoke coming out of my pellet hopper. There was no fire but some dirty smoke coming out of the burn box. Has anyone else had this issue and if so, can you explain what happened? Thanks guys!

I apologize I didn’t take pics. Teaching moment and I will make sure to do that on any other issue, if i have one.
I have had the same issue many times. I always step down slowly from a 400+ cook and I still get back burn in the auger. My grill is always clean so like you I ask "What's up with this?" Sometimes I think it's the cast iron deflector and auger bow holding residual heat but can't prove it.
 
This issue seems to pop up pretty often. I have yet to sear at 0ver 430 degrees and not get a bunch of smoke coming out of the hopper. Have tried everything, Clean the ash pot before every cook and always step my temp back down slowly before shutting the grill off. I only use bear mtn. and pit boss pellets so they should not be leaving residual "tar". Like I said above. Could it be the wonderful cast iron deflector holding heat or does the fan need to run longer?
 
I have had the same issue many times. I always step down slowly from a 400+ cook and I still get back burn in the auger. My grill is always clean so like you I ask "What's up with this?" Sometimes I think it's the cast iron deflector and auger bow holding residual heat but can't prove it.
I haven’t had that issue again. I have made sure to back down the temp from a high temp burn and it seems to be in check. Maybe that was a fluke thing? I’m not sure. I’m sure there are some seasoned vet on here that can explain it better for us to understand.
 
This issue seems to pop up pretty often. I have yet to sear at 0ver 430 degrees and not get a bunch of smoke coming out of the hopper. Have tried everything, Clean the ash pot before every cook and always step my temp back down slowly before shutting the grill off. I only use bear mtn. and pit boss pellets so they should not be leaving residual "tar". Like I said above. Could it be the wonderful cast iron deflector holding heat or does the fan need to run longer?
I use only Lumberjack pellets. I have very, very little dust in the hopper. I have very little dust left after a high burn in the cooking chamber. I’m very curious to see if someone comes up with a good answer.
 
I only post this to make a point that it doesn't happen to everyone. I did chicken thighs today - 400* and when I was done - I hit the power button. That's it. I have a 1070 - so is it due to my hopper being in a different spot, a stronger auger motor, different firmware - I don't know. I am actually now purposely just doing the shutdown this way, going against all advice here, trying to see the issue myself. Only thing I do for sure is keep the hopper full so oxygen isn't getting into the auger tube from the pellet box side.
I've had it up to 783* - hit the power button - smooth shutdown....
 
I only post this to make a point that it doesn't happen to everyone. I did chicken thighs today - 400* and when I was done - I hit the power button. That's it. I have a 1070 - so is it due to my hopper being in a different spot, a stronger auger motor, different firmware - I don't know. I am actually now purposely just doing the shutdown this way, going against all advice here, trying to see the issue myself. Only thing I do for sure is keep the hopper full so oxygen isn't getting into the auger tube from the pellet box side.
I've had it up to 783* - hit the power button - smooth shutdown....
How did you hit 783? Was your 1070 in the direct sun? That seems very hot?I haven’t seen much past 550 and mines kind of in the direct sun.
 
How did you hit 783? Was your 1070 in the direct sun? That seems very hot?I haven’t seen much past 550 and mines kind of in the direct sun.
I have a picture of it in another thread. Actually took the picture for a different reason, the hopper lid warps when you go that high, thought I may have to call reqtec for parts - but it shows the grill hitting 783*.
I didn't do anything special, just crank the dial all the way and see what happens. If it was gonna break I wanted it to happen as soon as possible from the delivery date.
 
I also clean out the ash out of my firepot every other cook. But I also run a clean burn to insure that any ash left in the auger tube is cleaned out. Every 200 lbs of pellets is what RT recommends to run the 590 until the hopper is empty and the temp goes down. I usually leave a small amount of pellets in the hopper and run the 590 at 400 degrees.
 
Every 200 lbs of pellets is what RT recommends...
Been meaning to do that since about 300 lbs ago. I will maybe get around to it this weekend. I actually appreciate the reminder.
 
My philosophy on the post shut down pellet feed is to partially clear the anger of potentially smouldering pellets into the fire pot.
 

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