Bullseye Bullseye Startup Issues

[Greg Jones]

Greg

What brand pellets were those, I want to avoid them.

These are Lumber Jack Char Hickory. They also are the dirtiest pellets I’ve cooked with. I have two bags left and I think I’ll probably toss them. I’ve also used the Lumber Jack competition blend and the 100% Hickory and I’ve not noticed a problem with either of them.

 

[Buckeye1]

These are Lumber Jack Char Hickory. They also are the dirtiest pellets I’ve cooked with. I have two bags left and I think I’ll probably toss them. I’ve also used the Lumber Jack competition blend and the 100% Hickory and I’ve not noticed a problem with either of them.

You could bust them up and then mix them in with the comp blend maybe 1 part char / 3 parts comp blend

 

[sck77]

I reached out to CS today finally and went through the normal motions: make sure vents are clean, lip clean, plate in proper orientation, temp reading accurate at power up, last vacuuming of hot pot, and last vacuuming of hopper. Well that last one I never have done with the bullseye. First note taken.

She went on to ask about pellets, of course, and brought up what Greg noted on long pellets. Good there. I am using perfect mix cookin pellets this moment. When filling last time some weeks ago I didn’t see any issue there.

As noted in this thread as well, double priming was recommended. Set to riot (lid closed), wait 30 sec, stop. Repeat one more time. It’s 63 F today. RTD read accurate. We waited. Waited some more. 20 minutes in at 79F. 25 min in 79F. 28 min in smoke galore. 31 minutes in 85. 33 minutes in 300F. 35 min in 525F.

it was also made clear they do not recommend lowering to some other temp or what have you before shutting down. Regardless of previous run. So if riot, shut down and don’t worry.

This does point to my pellets having moisture in them at some level being they haven’t been used consistently each week.

She indicated we should make sure this is used at least 1x a week otherwise vacuuming pellets out to avoid catching moisture from air as they sit. Last comment shared by support was if we are after hot cooks go with hickory (which you seasoned pros likely new).

so I’ll be sure to keep this baby running at least once a week and vacuuming the hopper every 3 bags worth. (40lbs?)

play it by ear from here.

Oh and my igniter was little less than ⅛” from surface which they indicated is right where it needs to be. They noted there was a batch that went out where it was greater than ¼” which should be adjusted.

 

[sck77]

I reached out to CS today finally and went through the normal motions: make sure vents are clean, lip clean, plate in proper orientation, temp reading accurate at power up, last vacuuming of hot pot, and last vacuuming of hopper. Well that last one I never have done with the bullseye. First note taken.

She went on to ask about pellets, of course, and brought up what Greg noted on long pellets. Good there. I am using perfect mix cookin pellets this moment. When filling last time some weeks ago I didn’t see any issue there.

As noted in this thread as well, double priming was recommended. Set to riot (lid closed), wait 30 sec, stop. Repeat one more time. It’s 63 F today. RTD read accurate. We waited. Waited some more. 20 minutes in at 79F. 25 min in 79F. 28 min in smoke galore. 31 minutes in 85. 33 minutes in 300F. 35 min in 525F.

it was also made clear they do not recommend lowering to some other temp or what have you before shutting down. Regardless of previous run. So if riot, shut down and don’t worry.

This does point to my pellets having moisture in them at some level being they haven’t been used consistently each week.

She indicated we should make sure this is used at least 1x a week otherwise vacuuming pellets out to avoid catching moisture from air as they sit. Last comment shared by support was if we are after hot cooks go with hickory (which you seasoned pros likely new).

so I’ll be sure to keep this baby running at least once a week and vacuuming the hopper every 3 bags worth. (40lbs?)

play it by ear from here.

Oh and my igniter was little less than ⅛” from surface which they indicated is right where it needs to be. They noted there was a batch that went out where it was greater than ¼” which should be adjusted.

So nearly 3 weeks later and we are back to where we were again with startup issues. Haven’t used in 2 weeks. Can’t get past 160 after two ER 2 codes it finally got to 170 but nothing higher for 1.5 hrs now. So either my pellets are the issue again or feeding issue for me. There are embers flying and fire going but not intense at all. Gunna let it run dry if the pellets that are left and fill fresh and try again. Glad I prepped “Ol’ Unreliable” for dinner now.

 

[sck77]

So nearly 3 weeks later and we are back to where we were again with startup issues. Haven’t used in 2 weeks. Can’t get past 160 after two ER 2 codes it finally got to 170 but nothing higher for 1.5 hrs now. So either my pellets are the issue again or feeding issue for me. There are embers flying and fire going but not intense at all. Gunna let it run dry if the pellets that are left and fill fresh and try again. Glad I prepped “Ol’ Unreliable” for dinner now.

Fresh and new pellets did same thing. 44 deg F outside. It just isn’t feeding enough into the fire pot. Put a handful in there before each cook and all is well. Not what I was hoping to have to do each use but there I have it.

 

[Hilbe]

I'm seeing this as well. Takes a while to get the fire going/up to temp. I vacuumed out the fire pot this past time and dropped a handful of pellets in manually. Seemed to help a bit. Going to do the double prime next time.

 

[mpshev]

Check to see if your igniter rod is even with the tube it sits in. Mine was about 1/4” inside and having issues igniting. Pulled it flush with the opening and can be at 400 in a few minutes now.

What tool did you use to pull the igniter?

 

[Greg Jones]

What tool did you use to pull the igniter?

It‘s not a simple as that. You have to remove the fire pot, loosen the two retaining screws with a 2.5MM hex wrench, and then the ignite is free to pull out by hand.

 

[mpshev]

Ok thanks for letting me know.

 

[sck77]

I'm seeing this as well. Takes a while to get the fire going/up to temp. I vacuumed out the fire pot this past time and dropped a handful of pellets in manually. Seemed to help a bit. Going to do the double prime next time.

Got Tired of loading handful each time so called them up again for same issue. They immediately suggested their newer controllers. I had first batch of official releases before they accounted for cold weather effects. Needless to say since replacement controller all has been well thus far. Been nearly a month now. It was sitting for at least a week and a half and temp here outside dropped to 30’s yesterday. Fired up and got to temp of 400 in about 15-20 minutes. Progress. Fingers crossed it continues to come through.

 

[Hilbe]

Got Tired of loading handful each time so called them up again for same issue. They immediately suggested their newer controllers. I had first batch of official releases before they accounted for cold weather effects. Needless to say since replacement controller all has been well thus far. Been nearly a month now. It was sitting for at least a week and a half and temp here outside dropped to 30’s yesterday. Fired up and got to temp of 400 in about 15-20 minutes. Progress. Fingers crossed it continues to come through.

No issues since I did the controller swap. Fires up quick and gets mega hot.

 

[aws]

Recently ordered the Bullseye and waiting for it to be delivered. Wondering if it will ship with the new controller by default or if they're only replacing them as needed.

 

[mpsantos]

Recently ordered the Bullseye and waiting for it to be delivered. Wondering if it will ship with the new controller by default or if they're only replacing them as needed.

It will. I ordered mine a couple of months back and it came with the new controller. No issues at all. See my other posts about time to temp. So far I am very satisfied with the unit. One thing I would recommend when the grill is new is to season the deflector plate. Mine has rusted already after a handful of cooks. I also keep mine covered at all times when not in use.

 

[C. Keeper]

It will. I ordered mine a couple of months back and it came with the new controller. No issues at all. See my other posts about time to temp. So far I am very satisfied with the unit. One thing I would recommend when the grill is new is to season the deflector plate. Mine has rusted already after a handful of cooks. I also keep mine covered at all times when not in use.

How do you season the deflector plate?

 

[kstone113]

Hey all - I got my Bullseye in the 3rd batch of releases so I do not believe I have the newer controller.

I also had some startup issues and perhaps a new controller would fix my issues but here is what I do.

Every time I go to cook, I take out the grate and heat deflector. I usually only do high heat cooks so the pellets usually are burnt up. I scoop out by hand all ash I can. Then I had one to two hand fulls of pellets to prime the pot. I start up with the lid open and on riot mode. I usually let the grill get in the 500 to 600's before turning down to the desired temp like 425. You will get some smoke at start up but this works every time.

Some may feel this is a pain....I don't really. It takes an extra maybe 1 minute to do this. I think I vacuumed out my Bullseye once during the winter. The winter is over and I need to again but grill is running fine so it isn't like you need to vacuum out very often. I cook on my Bullseye throughout the winter two to 4 times a week so I cook often. Priming the firepot definitely helped a lot in the winter as I would still be up to temp within 15 minutes.

Perhaps the controller should account for all of this and prime the pot better? Maybe....and I have heard the newer controllers allow the display to go over 749 which mine stays there when it gets to there. So while I won't mind a new controller as other have said it helps a ton, what I am doing above has been working and did this all winter and into the spring time we are in now.

I will say also I had more issues when I had "longer" pellets which I thought the pellets might have gone stale but sounds like from reading this thread it was the length was at least a factor. I use cookin pellets perfect mix most of the time. In my Bull, I mostly use either 100% hickory by cookinpellets or 100% cherry by cookinpellets. I used to use lumberjack a lot but haven't tried in my bullseye. I know my dad has used competition blend of lumberjack in his bullseye and had zero issues. My dad had some start-up issues also but I told him to always prime the pot before each cook like I do and no issues since.

Hope this helps some folks.