Breaking in the 340, smoldering

Another Joe

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32
Grill(s) owned
  1. Trailblazer
  2. RT-1250
I set up the new 340 today and started it up for the initial burn.
Followed instructions, so the chamber had some pellets.
Set temp to 250 and started getting some smoke quickly. Waited a bit, but smoke billowed so I shut it down, thinking I might be getting the BOOM.
Waited for it to cycle through, then started it again. It came up to temp quickly. I let it go for a bit, then came back and it was at 240. As I stood there, it continued dropping. There was some smoke, but it didn't seem to be burning cleanly.
After it dropped below 200 or so, I shut it down and let it go through the process.
When it was done, I was still getting smoke, both from inside the smoker and under the hopper.
After watching for a bit, I figured there might be some pellets burning in the auger, so I turned it on again. It heated right now and is now running smoothly at 400.

The smoke coming from everywhere is obviously concerning. Anyone experience something like this before?
 

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Sounds like you let the pellets fill, or at least over fill, the fire box when you shut it down before it had stabilized (1st go round). Having a ton of smoke early on is not all that uncommon, I just let it continue on, it's never hurt anything.

FWIW, I've never had the Boom on my 340.
 
I'll probably jinx myself, but I too will often see billowing smoke, but so far, it clears in roughly a minute and I can watch the temp just start climbing nicely after a brief ignition "stall". Based upon posts here, I do now watch from my bunker for a minute or two when firing up the grill.
 
I was more concerned about the smoldering after shutdown. I just shut it down again and it seemed fine.
 
I've had my 340 for over 2 years now and never had a boom. I just plug it in and turn it on. It does smoke more in the beginning of the warm up, but sure that's just normal in getting the pellets to begin to burn. The only time I get smoldering is after I cook at hotter temps and don't set it back some before turning it off. If that does happen, I remove the grate and lift both the drip pan and deflector and break up the smoldering pellets with some tongs and the smoldering stops.
 
I talked to a Recteq tech today. He thinks the chamber filled with too many pellets and that the fan must have stuck and allowed the smoke to just smolder rather than pushing it out. We ran some tests and everything worked fine.
 
I set up the new 340 today and started it up for the initial burn.
Followed instructions, so the chamber had some pellets.
Set temp to 250 and started getting some smoke quickly. Waited a bit, but smoke billowed so I shut it down, thinking I might be getting the BOOM.
Waited for it to cycle through, then started it again. It came up to temp quickly. I let it go for a bit, then came back and it was at 240. As I stood there, it continued dropping. There was some smoke, but it didn't seem to be burning cleanly.
After it dropped below 200 or so, I shut it down and let it go through the process.
When it was done, I was still getting smoke, both from inside the smoker and under the hopper.
After watching for a bit, I figured there might be some pellets burning in the auger, so I turned it on again. It heated right now and is now running smoothly at 400.

The smoke coming from everywhere is obviously concerning. Anyone experience something like this before?
Nice wrap! Hopefully the pit continues to work better!
 
Nice wrap! Hopefully the pit continues to work better!
I put my RT 340 together today and did the burn in and it did the same, but I realized I did not hear the fan, so I went to the online manual and it said to remove the guard and manually spin the fan...what? I did that and the fan would spin two or three turns and seize up. I just kept doing that and eventually it took off. I was very worried that I would have a hopper fire as I removed the pellets twice and the same thing happened smoldering pellets and the auger still dumped more pellets into the firebox. Lucky that I have a lot of experience with pellet grills and realized that the fan was not working. Now hoping that my first actual cook that the fan will keep on working. Stay tuned!
 
I talked to a Recteq tech today. He thinks the chamber filled with too many pellets and that the fan must have stuck and allowed the smoke to just smolder rather than pushing it out. We ran some tests and everything worked fine.
That's exactly what happened to me on my first use of my RT-340. I think my mistake was putting too many pellets in the chamber. Since then no issues, besides making sure to lower the temp to 300 when cooking at higher heats before turning it off.
 

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