Bull BFG auger motor in the RT-700. It's awesome!

[Redeye]

I called rec teq and asked if the faster 3rpm auger motor from the bfg would work in the 700 (2rpm) and was told that it will and that they are actually testing that motor for a future upgrade for the 700. so i ordered one and it was a simple install. my grill now heats up at near gas grill speeds, its incredible. in the pictures of the motors the bfg motor is always on the left. it has a bigger cooling fan and some parts look bigger but fits perfectly. the grill took 2 min to light and at the 21min mark hit 559 and was still climbing fast but thats as far as im pushing my grill. i will be checking to make sure it can still run at 180 soon and let you guys know.

if the faster BFG auger motor heats up grill faster wouldnt increasing the feed rate have the same effect not sure about this but think I'm going to try and experiment and see what happens hope I don't blow up my grill lol.

 

[richdan]

I thought about this as well. Wouldn’t buying the larger motor but slowing down the pellets equate to the stock motor? I‘m certainly not smart enough to know the correct answer. I’ve only had my Bull for just over a week but was annoyed at how slow my temps rose. This has prompted me to purchase the BFG motor and I’ll install this weekend.

 

[C. Keeper]

if the faster BFG auger motor heats up grill faster wouldnt increasing the feed rate have the same effect not sure about this but think I'm going to try and experiment and see what happens hope I don't blow up my grill lol.

No

 

[Greg Jones]

if the faster BFG auger motor heats up grill faster wouldnt increasing the feed rate have the same effect not sure about this but think I'm going to try and experiment and see what happens hope I don't blow up my grill lol.

Like what @Chris_G said. You can adjust the minimum feed rate only. It’s not a linear setting that changes the feed rate over the range of minimum to maximum.

 

[Greg Jones]

BTW, if one is wanting to get any of these grills to a high temp faster, try setting the grill to max instead of your target temp (say 400*). At a target temp setting, the PID algorithm is constantly checking, and at times reducing the the amount of pellets fed to the fire pot, in order to avoid overshooting the target temp. But if you want to babysit the grill and turn it down to the target temp when you are about 25*-50* away, a max setting will feed max pellets to the fire pot until you turn it down. May be worth experimenting with.

Personally, I’ll turn my grills on at least a half-hour to an hour before I’m ready to cook. I figure the small amount of additional pellets used to let it run empty for a short time is well worth the trade off to have the grill fully warmed and stabilized.

 

[C. Keeper]

BTW, if one is wanting to get any of these grills to a high temp faster, try setting the grill to max instead of your target temp (say 400*). At a target temp setting, the PID algorithm is constantly checking, and at times reducing the the amount of pellets fed to the fire pot, in order to avoid overshooting the target temp. But if you want to babysit the grill and turn it down to the target temp when you are about 25*-50* away, a max setting will feed max pellets to the fire pot until you turn it down. May be worth experimenting with.

Personally, I’ll turn my grills on at least a half-hour to an hour before I’m ready to cook. I figure the small amount of additional pellets used to let it run empty for a short time is well worth the trade off to have the grill fully warmed and stabilized.

I agree with the above.

I now start my grill at "FUL" till I get to the desired temperature.

 

[jfjohn77]

Personally, I’ll turn my grills on at least a half-hour to an hour before I’m ready to cook. I figure the small amount of additional pellets used to let it run empty for a short time is well worth the trade off to have the grill fully warmed and stabilized.

I do this also (even with my gone POS Traeger) when switching pellet flavors. That way I know the earlier pellets have cleared the auger and bottom of the hopper where they are hard to get.

 

[C. Keeper]

I do this also (even with my gone POS Traeger) when switching pellet flavors. That way I know the earlier pellets have cleared the auger and bottom of the hopper where they are hard to get.

Traegers have feelings too

 

[jfjohn77]

Traegers have feelings too

I know they do. But since my old one is no longer around, I don't have to deal with them!

 

[C. Keeper]

I know they do. But since my old one is no longer around, I don't have to deal with them!

Okay, fair enough.

I was talking about the grill, customer service can KMA.

 

[chadinsc]

the way the minimum feed rate works from my understanding is. the way these auger motors work is they are not really a variable speed motor. they cycle on and off very often, if you strip grill down to just the fire pot you can actually see it cycle on and off to maintain temps. on low temps it will often times only turn 1/4 turn each cycle and may do that 3 times a min. what the feed rate does is tell the auger how often it is allowed to turn at the absolute minimum, because if it was to turn less than your or there determined minimum you run the risk of a flame out, which i have had happen with stock auger at 20 and the bfg auger at 10. the advantage of the bfg auger is when the grill is trying to reach a desired temperature it is allowed to now turn 3 full rpm and dump 50 percent more pellets per minute than a stock grills 2 rpm auger motor. that will allow the grill to heat up much faster and allows it to get to a higher full temp in less ideal weather conditions because of the 50 percent increase in available fuel. now for low cooking the auger has no benefit over stock because it’s going to have to burn the same amount of pellets to reach a low temp as the stock auger, it just will cycle on and off less often because the times that it cycles on it is turning faster and dumping more pellets. thats the way i understand it any ways. if im wrong or you have questions please ask or correct me.

 

[jfjohn77]

Okay, fair enough.

I was talking about the grill, customer service can KMA.

I Was talking about the grill!

 

[Mango259]

roughly how long does the install take??

I’ve had my bull for a month now. Done a few cooks on it. Almost finished my first 40lb bag of rectec pellets... I’m very happy about with everything except max temp and time to reach that temp. I’ve made burgers twice... first time I set it on 400 and it made it there after 45 minutes but then once I put the burgers on it never got back over 340... I only opened to flip them once... second time I set it on FULL and after 45 mins it was still right at 400 not climbing. Cook went the same as first time... I’m going to try different pellets and if that doesn’t help I’ll get this auger for sure. IMO the bull should come with this auger. Sounds like a game changer

 

[kennethk]

roughly how long does the install take??

I’ve had my bull for a month now. Done a few cooks on it. Almost finished my first 40lb bag of rectec pellets... I’m very happy about with everything except max temp and time to reach that temp. I’ve made burgers twice... first time I set it on 400 and it made it there after 45 minutes but then once I put the burgers on it never got back over 340... I only opened to flip them once... second time I set it on FULL and after 45 mins it was still right at 400 not climbing. Cook went the same as first time... I’m going to try different pellets and if that doesn’t help I’ll get this auger for sure. IMO the bull should come with this auger. Sounds like a game changer

About 10 minutes for me included vacuuming it out.

 

[chadinsc]

took me 15 but my 2 year old was helping. feed rate of 15 good for you kennethk?

 

[SweaT-rex]

My BFG Auger motor will arrive tomorrow. It took 40 mins last night to get to 450 degrees with ambient temp of about 90 degrees here in metro ATL. I would be extremely pleased with the results y'all are getting!

 

[fullhouse32]

I was just on the RT website getting ready to place my order for the BFG Auger motor, and I Noticed the BFG RTD temperature probe was smaller then the RT 700.
why? (And yes I’m sure this question could go off the rails)

 

[chadinsc]

probably to fit under the second and third rack. my guess, unless there is a cutout for it to go up

 

[jfjohn77]

Looks to me like the probe comes in from the rear between the lights, so no need to have the length to get to the same height as the 700 by using length. If I'm making sense?

 

[SweaT-rex]

Installed the BFG auger motor this afternoon & fired her up for a test run. The Bull originally took 40 min to reach 450 degrees, but now will do so in 17 minutes. Both runs were done at setting of 450 degrees, not HI. However, the new auger motor fan hits the shroud that covers it & makes an irritating buzzing noise. I may need to use the ol' Dremel on the flange at the top of the shroud/cover. She also purrs along at 225 & then 200 degrees without complaint though the lid had to be opened to drop her quickly from 450.