Stampede Brand new RT-590 received today - need to call the factory tomorrow (UPDATE: operator error)

[Khollister]

My 590 arrived today about 5:15, pallet got dumped in the yard and I went to work unpacking and assembling. No apparent damage in shipping, got it put together and wheeled it to the garage for burn-in. A couple observations about assembly:
1) Phillips head bolts ?!!!! Really, Recteq? Couldn't find allen head?
2) A printed assembly instruction would be nice. I kept looking for instructions until I figured out there weren't any.

So I loaded it up with Recteq pellets, fired it up and set it to 400. Indicated temp was rising nicely but kept on going right thru 400 to 470, and then went down to about 424-436. My Thermoworks ambient K thermocouple read about 10-15 less, but it was still way off. I let it go for about 45 minutes and shut it down. The minimum auger was set to 30 (3.0%) from the factory.

I'm going to call Recteq tomorrow and see what they say. I figure there are only 2 components that could be dodgy - PID controller board and the auger motor. I am hopeful the factory can get me straightened out.

Other than that, my impression of the smoker is good. The build quality is really nice, the wifi synced up the first try and the app seemed to work OK (no notifications yet).

 

[Pete590]

Hope you get it worked out good luck

 

[Khollister]

Hope you get it worked out good luck

I'm sure I will, could be something stupid I was doing. I'll report back after talking to Recteq.

 

[Khollister]

OK - had a great discussion with Adam @ Recteq this morning. We went through checking several things and then tried another run at 250F. I had cleaned out the firepot and reprimed it, and when I started this run the temp overshot to 285 and then gradually came down to 250 +/- 5 where it remained for 45 minutes to an hour. Adam thinks I may be starting with too much fuel in t he firepot which causes the initial overshoot. When the grill cools down, I'm going to take a pic of the firepot as is after the shutdown and restart to see what happens. If it still overshoots, I will try a start with an empty firepot.

I am texting with Adam through all this. The issue seems to be overshoot at startup and since the controller is clearly modulating the fan and auger duty cycle to maintain temp long term, the only logical conclusion is too much fuel at startup which the controller can't deal with.

As I suspected, this may be cockpit error (my first pellet grill). More after a couple more test runs.

 

[C. Keeper]

OK - had a great discussion with Adam @ Recteq this morning. We went through checking several things and then tried another run at 250F. I had cleaned out the firepot and reprimed it, and when I started this run the temp overshot to 285 and then gradually came down to 250 +/- 5 where it remained for 45 minutes to an hour. Adam thinks I may be starting with too much fuel in t he firepot which causes the initial overshoot. When the grill cools down, I'm going to take a pic of the firepot as is after the shutdown and restart to see what happens. If it still overshoots, I will try a start with an empty firepot.

I am texting with Adam through all this. The issue seems to be overshoot at startup and since the controller is clearly modulating the fan and auger duty cycle to maintain temp long term, the only logical conclusion is too much fuel at startup which the controller can't deal with.

As I suspected, this may be cockpit error (my first pellet grill). More after a couple more test runs.

Sounds like normal operations to me.

 

[JJP]

Sounds like normal operations to me.

That's what I was thinking.

 

[Khollister]

Sounds like normal operations to me.

Is it normal for the temp to overshoot on startup?

 

[KRedman]

Is it normal for the temp to overshoot on startup?

Not typically, but it will if you put too many pellets in there. I think the manual says 1/4 cup maybe?

 

[C. Keeper]

Is it normal for the temp to overshoot on startup?

It is entirely possible. If it settles, I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[chadinsc]

the only time i have ever primed my firepot is the first time i used it. i don’t even do it now day when i clean the firepot out. keep at it bud you will get the hang of the grill and really learn to love it

 

[2bridgetiger]

My 590 arrived today about 5:15, pallet got dumped in the yard and I went to work unpacking and assembling. No apparent damage in shipping, got it put together and wheeled it to the garage for burn-in. A couple observations about assembly:
1) Phillips head bolts ?!!!! Really, Recteq? Couldn't find allen head?
2) A printed assembly instruction would be nice. I kept looking for instructions until I figured out there weren't any.

So I loaded it up with Recteq pellets, fired it up and set it to 400. Indicated temp was rising nicely but kept on going right thru 400 to 470, and then went down to about 424-436. My Thermoworks ambient K thermocouple read about 10-15 less, but it was still way off. I let it go for about 45 minutes and shut it down. The minimum auger was set to 30 (3.0%) from the factory.

I'm going to call Recteq tomorrow and see what they say. I figure there are only 2 components that could be dodgy - PID controller board and the auger motor. I am hopeful the factory can get me straightened out.

Other than that, my impression of the smoker is good. The build quality is really nice, the wifi synced up the first try and the app seemed to work OK (no notifications yet).

Yea, I can’t understand why anyone still uses Phillips heads! Torq or Allen heads!!!

 

[charlesrshell]

the only time i have ever primed my firepot is the first time i used it. i don’t even do it now day when i clean the firepot out. keep at it bud you will get the hang of the grill and really learn to love it

I always prime the firepot after I have cleaned it.

 

[sdynak]

Two runs might be a bit early to say especially with the manual priming. I also add pellets when I clean my pot. It might take a few runs just to see what it does on its own.

I do have issues after a long heat of it coming down to new set temp when lowered but RecTeq will not address that (separate issue but similar in nature). They just blow me off as if I'm doing something wrong. I have 5 years of warranty still so I'm not worried.

 

[Rhop]

My 590 arrived today about 5:15, pallet got dumped in the yard and I went to work unpacking and assembling. No apparent damage in shipping, got it put together and wheeled it to the garage for burn-in. A couple observations about assembly:
1) Phillips head bolts ?!!!! Really, Recteq? Couldn't find allen head?
2) A printed assembly instruction would be nice. I kept looking for instructions until I figured out there weren't any.

So I loaded it up with Recteq pellets, fired it up and set it to 400. Indicated temp was rising nicely but kept on going right thru 400 to 470, and then went down to about 424-436. My Thermoworks ambient K thermocouple read about 10-15 less, but it was still way off. I let it go for about 45 minutes and shut it down. The minimum auger was set to 30 (3.0%) from the factory.

I'm going to call Recteq tomorrow and see what they say. I figure there are only 2 components that could be dodgy - PID controller board and the auger motor. I am hopeful the factory can get me straightened out.

Other than that, my impression of the smoker is good. The build quality is really nice, the wifi synced up the first try and the app seemed to work OK (no notifications yet).

My 590 did the same thing on initial burn in...shot up to almost 500, then was all over the place above 400. It settled down after the first smoke and hasn't had an issue since. Holds temp perfectly.

 

[Khollister]

So it appears this was mostly my fault for over-priming the firepot initially. I ran a 225 test this afternoon with just the pellets in the firepot left after shutdown this morning - no crazy overshoot and varied between 223-228 with long periods right at 225. Dialed the set temp up to 400 and had 398-405 variance with one short spike to 417 that did not reoccur in 30 minutes. I'm declaring this thing good to go and will start cooking food.

Adam at Recteq was fabulous to work with. Props to Recteq support! I couldn't be happier with my purchase at this point.

 

[Beach Bum]

Well done, sounds like you are good to go. Adam worked me through an issue a few months ago. That one was my user error.

 

[JGW]

This is the only pellet grill I know that:

1) says to prime the fire pot, and
2) primes it when you shut it down.

Not sure if that option can be turned off. If the igniter stays hot for more than a few minutes, priming the pot doesn't do much unless the auger tube is emptied for clean out our something.

If there are already pellets in the auger tube, then pellets will be flowing into the firepot in from the start.

I have actually shut down the grill, and then had to go back out because it was smoking 10-15 minutes after it shut down. Why? Because the grill put more pellets into the firepot before the fire was completely out.

To me, this is a potential fire hazard and a terrible decision on RT's part.

 

[C. Keeper]

This is the only pellet grill I know that:

1) says to prime the fire pot, and
2) primes it when you shut it down.

Not sure if that option can be turned off. If the igniter stays hot for more than a few minutes, priming the pot doesn't do much unless the auger tube is emptied for clean out our something.

If there are already pellets in the auger tube, then pellets will be flowing into the firepot in from the start.

I have actually shut down the grill, and then had to go back out because it was smoking 10-15 minutes after it shut down. Why? Because the grill put more pellets into the firepot before the fire was completely out.

To me, this is a potential fire hazard and a terrible decision on RT's part.

And the 3 RPM auger just adds fuel to the fire

 

[ol' stonebreaker]

I think the after shutdown fire is caused by too much ash buildup in the firepot which retains enough heat to ignite pellets.

 

[JGW]

I think the after shutdown fire is caused by too much ash buildup in the firepot which retains enough heat to ignite pellets.

Perhaps, but I vacuum out my grill out every other cook or so.

However, it still comes back to RT feeding pellets in at shutdown