Bullseye with wild temp swings

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Same issue here, newbie, first two cooks experienced temp swings, bumped the feed rate to "8.5", seemed to have helped, but is a 25+/- degree swings what everyone puts up with? I want to smoke at 225 degrees, is that not possible with the 380? Come on!!
Smoking at 225 on the Bullseye is absolutely possible. Mine holds fine at all the temps I use on it. As @Jim6820 noted it isn’t the best grill in the lineup for low and slow but it absolutely can do it. I love the way ribs cook on it as long as I set up the grease management correctly.
You didn’t give much info about your temp swings for us to help you. Are you overshooting or undershooting the set temp? Is it at start up or over time during the cook? Are you opening the lid or does this happen when the lid has been closed for a significant time (say an hour)? Temp swings are normal though they don’t usually show on the panel because of averaging the controller does. And finally have you contacted support?
 
I agree, but if 225F low-and-slow cooking is your primary goal, I also think that there are better options.
As an owner of both a 700 and 380X, I have to agree with both @Jim6820 and @Waterboy. I can run at 200-225 on my bullseye deluxe BUT much easier on the Bull. It takes a while for me to stabilize the temperature. It can be done with some patience. On the Bull, it is bam and right at 225 in ten minutes. Having both tools is great.
 
My SIL does low and slow on his 380 not 380x but he gives it a bit to get stable. He has good results but typically he is doing hot and fast and sure does not mind coming my way for low and slow. Which works out great because we love to have him over.
 
As an owner of both a 700 and 380X, I have to agree with both @Jim6820 and @Waterboy. I can run at 200-225 on my bullseye deluxe BUT much easier on the Bull. It takes a while for me to stabilize the temperature. It can be done with some patience. On the Bull, it is bam and right at 225 in ten minutes. Having both tools is great.
I also own a 700 and (my new) 380X. To me, they were primarily designed for different purposes. But you can do low & slow on he 380X…you just need to make accommodations for the grease.

I’m not trying to defend RT and how they dealt with the original member’s post but I can tell you my 380X sounds very different than my 700 when they’re running. And I’m specifically referring to the sound of the pellets. With the 700, I don’t hear the pellets being fed through the auger chamber to the fire pot. And I’ve successfully used a lot of different brands of pellets…including the Kirkland pellets. With the 380X, I often hear a crunching sound of the pellets…and it worries me that I’m going to have a jam. I am currently using Cookinpellets.com pellets (various flavors).

But I used some “special” pecan shell pellets on my 700 recently and they are noticeably harder than other pellets I’ve used. And I did hear some crunching from the 700 when I used those pellets. They weren’t long but were harder. I would be concerned about trying them in the 380X.

When I was pondering my 380X purchase, I viewed a number of YouTube videos about the 380 series. There were a number of them that spoke to clearing auger jams on the 380. (There’s a slightly different method for the 380X.)
With that in mind, and my brief experience with my 380X, I’m wondering if the auger motor, the thickness of the auger, or the design of the auger on the 380X is different from RecTeq’s other cookers. The 700 is solid. The 380X is lightweight…bordering on fragile. (Yes, mine has the sturdier base frame versus older 380s.)
Again, that’s my general impression. But I can envision pellets potentially being an issue. That and grease.

I’ve noticed in my RT app that the factory default feed rate for the 380X is quite different from my 700’s factory default feed rate. Why that is I don’t know. But it is a lower number. Does that mean the auger is going to turn slower? If the auger motor isn’t as strong as my 700’s auger motor, would that result in less torque turning the auger make longer or harder pellets more likely to jam the auger? I’m still figuring it out on my 380X.
 
I also own a 700 and (my new) 380X. To me, they were primarily designed for different purposes. But you can do low & slow on he 380X…you just need to make accommodations for the grease.

I’m not trying to defend RT and how they dealt with the original member’s post but I can tell you my 380X sounds very different than my 700 when they’re running. And I’m specifically referring to the sound of the pellets. With the 700, I don’t hear the pellets being fed through the auger chamber to the fire pot. And I’ve successfully used a lot of different brands of pellets…including the Kirkland pellets. With the 380X, I often hear a crunching sound of the pellets…and it worries me that I’m going to have a jam. I am currently using Cookinpellets.com pellets (various flavors).

But I used some “special” pecan shell pellets on my 700 recently and they are noticeably harder than other pellets I’ve used. And I did hear some crunching from the 700 when I used those pellets. They weren’t long but were harder. I would be concerned about trying them in the 380X.

When I was pondering my 380X purchase, I viewed a number of YouTube videos about the 380 series. There were a number of them that spoke to clearing auger jams on the 380. (There’s a slightly different method for the 380X.)
With that in mind, and my brief experience with my 380X, I’m wondering if the auger motor, the thickness of the auger, or the design of the auger on the 380X is different from RecTeq’s other cookers. The 700 is solid. The 380X is lightweight…bordering on fragile. (Yes, mine has the sturdier base frame versus older 380s.)
Again, that’s my general impression. But I can envision pellets potentially being an issue. That and grease.

I’ve noticed in my RT app that the factory default feed rate for the 380X is quite different from my 700’s factory default feed rate. Why that is I don’t know. But it is a lower number. Does that mean the auger is going to turn slower? If the auger motor isn’t as strong as my 700’s auger motor, would that result in less torque turning the auger make longer or harder pellets more likely to jam the auger? I’m still figuring it out on my 380X.
I use the Kirkland pellets on both of mine. Sometimes I do hear them break up on the 380X but never a jam. I agree 100% on grease management.
 
I recently purchased a Bullseye Black Edition. This is my second RecTeq. The first two cooks went well, with zero issues. Since then, every attempt has been a disaster, with wild temperature swings. I've called RecTeq and they have walked me through troubleshooting twice. Both times the grill has passed all tests with no issues. They cannot tell me why my grill is doing what it is doing. I thought I'd post here to see if anyone has any ideas before I return it. I have lost all confidence in this one.

Here is the scenario in a nutshell. I turn on the grill to 225 to do a low and slow cook. The grill will heat up well past 225, usually somewhere between 400 and 600 degrees. It will then slowly drop temp to 225 and hold for a bit. After about 15 to 20 minutes, the temp starts to drop, It will drop all the way down to around 105 degrees or less and then start to climb very quickly up to around 500 degrees again before settling back down to 225, where it will hold for a brief period before it starts to drop. This cycle will continue over and over until I manually shut off the machine. I have already ruined a couple cooks and have ZERO confidence in this machine. On another occasion I tried cooking some steaks at 500 degrees and the gill kept surging up to 999 degrees during the cook. Very frustrating that this is happening, and even more frustrating tha RecTeq cannot offer a solution, given than the grill appears to work according the to tests they have me run when I call them.

Thoughts?
I’m still new with my 380X but trying to digest your situation against my experience with my RT700 and stuff I read.

First, I’m still puzzled by your grill’s high-temp issue. I know with bigger RecTeqs, like my 700, high initial temps can be caused by leaving the lid open too long at startup. Why? Because the grill is trying to achieve its set temperature while the lid is open…resulting in the controller feeding pellets continuously…possibly more than it needed to reach the set temperature while. But the lid is open and the RTD isn’t able to provide an accurate chamber (ambient) temperature reading. But when the lid gets closed the fire pot is, potentially, raging. Shortly, the RTD will be able to provide an accurate reading…which is higher than the set temperature while. So the controller slows the feeding of pellets and after a period of time, the grill chamber’s ambient temperature will acquiesce to the set temp. During this time the grill’s blower fan may cycle on & off as part of its process of cooling itself down. Again, I don’t know this to be what happened in your situation but it’s what the controller’s logic would do if the lid is open too long.

As for why it went cold during a cook, it’s very possible a pellet jam occurred. And that jam may have been at the base of the hopper as pellets drop into the auger…not necessarily within the auger chamber. In this scenario, the auger would continue to turn but pellets just aren’t getting to the fire pot. Here’s a YouTube video (only 2 minutes 18 seconds) of a guy who had that specific issue with the Costco pellets on a different brand pellet grill. I share this only to show that it can happen. It could be any pellets that are long. You may have gotten a bag that had more than others. I’ve used Costco pellets several times before. So I am not suggesting anyone shouldn’t use them. The price point is too good not to. And if you watch this video you’ll see this guy’s pellet jam was actually in the hopper. That’s one heck of a coincidence to have pellets jam like that. The odds have to be pretty darn low to have a jam like that.

I’ve also seen B380 YouTube videos of people grilling steaks and having these raging fires. I’ve grilled steaks on my 380X twice and I’m cooking at 450F - 500F and I’m flipping often and shutting the lid after flipping. This is my way to try to manage flair ups since any grease is going to be dropping directly on the cast iron deflector. And the higher the heat, the hotter that deflector. That cast iron will glow red in its center, above the fire pot, and that will flare up any grease dripping.

I will continue to experiment with higher temps on my 380X but I’m expecting to find that grilling at higher temps may get to unmanageable flair ups. I know that will tick people off wanting to sear the heck out of their steaks if using “riot mode” is going to be problematic.
 

In this YouTube video, a guy’s 380X turns into a raging inferno. I think reverse sear on a 380 would work if a drip pan is used during the low-temp phase, then remove the steaks, and (carefully and using the appropriate tools & gloves) lift the grate, remove the drip pan, put the grate back in place, and crank up the heat to desired temperature, and close the lid until the set temp is achieved. Then, put the steaks on the high-heat grill and grill to your desired internal temperature. I might suggest frequent flipping and closing the lid in that process.

It was always my understanding that with reverse sear you’re supposed to take the steaks off the grill after “the smoking phase” and let it rest before searing over high heat. I’m not too-well versed with reverse sear but that’s how I’ve been doing it… The thought being to let the meat get through the residual heat of the low-temp cooking before slapping it back over the flames. The guy in this video didn’t do that so all that grease went up in flames when he cranked up the heat.

Seeing this and a couple of other videos of raging fires on 380’s suggests that another handle needs to be put on the 380’s lid. It’s extremely dangerous trying to lift that front-mounted handle knowing there’s a raging fire when you lift it. I’ve seen one video with an additional handle mounted on top and one on a side.
 
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Today I have set my new Bullseye 380 to 250 degrees, let it come to temperature for 60 minutes... I have the feed rate set to 16.5 and it's all over the place.. mainly settling at upper 300's, not sure where to go from here? Is this actually a smoker or grill? or an expensive boat anchor? Is it possible that my temp probe that I've placed in the center of the rack is 100 degrees hotter than what this clunker is reading? What now? Return?

set temp.webp
Feed rate.webp
actual temp.webp
 
Today I have set my new Bullseye 380 to 250 degrees, let it come to temperature for 60 minutes... I have the feed rate set to 16.5 and it's all over the place.. mainly settling at upper 300's, not sure where to go from here? Is this actually a smoker or grill? or an expensive boat anchor? Is it possible that my temp probe that I've placed in the center of the rack is 100 degrees hotter than what this clunker is reading? What now? Return?

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Hang in there my friend, Jim will be here shortly to get you situated.
 
Needs to be disposed of immediately, or dropped off at your local GoodWill or other consignment store. So what is the default feed rate, and these high temp grills must be much different than my 590 as I am at 2.5 feed rate and runs PERFECT.
 
Today I have set my new Bullseye 380 to 250 degrees, let it come to temperature for 60 minutes... I have the feed rate set to 16.5 and it's all over the place.. mainly settling at upper 300's, not sure where to go from here? Is this actually a smoker or grill? or an expensive boat anchor? Is it possible that my temp probe that I've placed in the center of the rack is 100 degrees hotter than what this clunker is reading? What now? Return?

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Stop messing with the feed rate. Set it back to factory. Call support. It's free.
 
Stop messing with the feed rate. Set it back to factory. Call support. It's free.
Right out of the box, feed rate at like 3 or something, and temp swings were more wild... I can't believe that a 'quality' pellet smoker is this off.. do Tragers or Weber's do this? I did contact CS, and they recommended increasing the feed rate.... so now what do I do?
 
Right out of the box, feed rate at like 3 or something, and temp swings were more wild... I can't believe that a 'quality' pellet smoker is this off.. do Tragers or Weber's do this? I did contact CS, and they recommended increasing the feed rate.... so now what do I do?
I messed with calibrating the feed rate after an email from customer service. It was still doing weird stuff though; not consistent. Today, I left my feed rate set at 2.5 and adjusted my actual temp offset. I wasn't really trying to get it to match my 3rd party probe. I just thought that this probe was what it was using to engage or disengage the auger. After a couple burns. I settled on +17. I was holding between 200 and 250 when set to 225. So, that is good enough for me. I ran out of pellets, but was curious to see how it holds 350 now. I'm afraid I will have to fiddle with it there to get it dialed in too. My thought is that if I figure out the correct offset to get to hold close to the set point when at 225 and 350, I can just set it up prior to my cooks with those settings depending on whether I am smoking or grilling. Maybe I'm all wet, but it worked at the low temp today, and I don't think that controller learns. So, you should be able to find the sweet spot for low and high cooking and just set it there.
 
I messed with calibrating the feed rate after an email from customer service. It was still doing weird stuff though; not consistent. Today, I left my feed rate set at 2.5 and adjusted my actual temp offset. I wasn't really trying to get it to match my 3rd party probe. I just thought that this probe was what it was using to engage or disengage the auger. After a couple burns. I settled on +17. I was holding between 200 and 250 when set to 225. So, that is good enough for me. I ran out of pellets, but was curious to see how it holds 350 now. I'm afraid I will have to fiddle with it there to get it dialed in too. My thought is that if I figure out the correct offset to get to hold close to the set point when at 225 and 350, I can just set it up prior to my cooks with those settings depending on whether I am smoking or grilling. Maybe I'm all wet, but it worked at the low temp today, and I don't think that controller learns. So, you should be able to find the sweet spot for low and high cooking and just set it there.
absolutely ridiculous, this is not a 'quality' smoker
 
absolutely ridiculous, this is not a 'quality' smoker
I can't fight with you on that one. I have to keep in mind that it is the cheapest model they sell. I love grilling on it! For serious smoking though, my Weber Smokey Mountain is my go-to; rock steady. It is messy though, and the Bullseye can get close enough to justify not cleaning up a charcoal/wood smoker in the winter! I've toyed with the idea of buying one of their real smokers, but it's just me and my wife now and the Weber is perfect. Maybe if I find $1000 in the sofa I will spring for one. Seriously though, if I can find the right temp offset that allows me to have controlled temps at each end of the spectrum, I will just adjust it before my cook and be ok with it.
 
Checked my new settings at 375 today and after 30 minutes it was stable in the +/-25 degree range. At 40 minutes it was +/-5. So, no more fiddling.
 
absolutely ridiculous, this is not a 'quality' smoker

You're right......it's not a smoker, its an intended high temp grill. My 590 will keep whatever temp I dial in with ease, as it's a pellet grill with low and slow intentions literally in it's design. Sucks you either have a lemon or perhaps bought the wrong model or brand, however Recteq does build some quality units and they sell a shit ton of them with many satisfied owners. Good luck with whatever ends up happening.......hope it works out for you.
 

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