Bull Did they recently upgrade the RT-700?

[Greg Jones]

It will get higher temps but I wasn't really interested in that. But it will also raise temps a lot faster. If you were you smoking chicken at a low temp and wanted to bump up to like 375 or something, it would take way less time. It no doubt is not necessary but I figured why not.

That’s actually the best reason (for me) I’ve heard for upgrading the auger. I don’t need my RT-700 to cook at 700, but getting from A to B faster has merit.

 

[C. Keeper]

It will get higher temps but I wasn't really interested in that. But it will also raise temps a lot faster. If you were you smoking chicken at a low temp and wanted to bump up to like 375 or something, it would take way less time. It no doubt is not necessary but I figured why not.

That's great! Higher is always better.

 

[matjac33]

FYI I called Recteq today asking questions about the 700 vs the 1250. They said the auger motor, dual band WiFi and all other upgrades are now the same. The only difference being second shelf, light, plug and romex. I asked about the Cast Iron heat deflector and did not get a straight answer. He said that did not make a difference on the 700 degree vs 500 that it was the auger motor. I went ahead saved $500 and went with 700 since those upgrades were made.

 

[Fatcat]

FYI I called Recteq today asking questions about the 700 vs the 1250. They said the auger motor, dual band WiFi and all other upgrades are now the same. The only difference being second shelf, light, plug and romex. I asked about the Cast Iron heat deflector and did not get a straight answer. He said that did not make a difference on the 700 degree vs 500 that it was the auger motor. I went ahead saved $500 and went with 700 since those upgrades were made.

the 1250 also has the front folding shelf and the drip edge on the lid. Is this right?
To me, I’m not liking that front folding shelf just supported by just by a spring loaded plunger. If you’re good at DIY electrical, the wiring and lighting can be added.
The biggest upgrade would be the built in 2nd shelf in stainless And the drip edge. For me, I agree it’s not worth the price. Would rather invest in a larger grill, or a 2nd smaller one (like the great promo going on of getting a 340 for $299 w/ purchase of a larger one. Even better with the sale pricing).

 

[matjac33]

the 1250 also has the front folding shelf and the drip edge on the lid. Is this right?
To me, I’m not liking that front folding shelf just supported by just by a spring loaded plunger. If you’re good at DIY electrical, the wiring and lighting can be added.
The biggest upgrade would be the built in 2nd shelf in stainless And the drip edge. For me, I agree it’s not worth the price. Would rather invest in a larger grill, or a 2nd smaller one (like the great promo going on of getting a 340 for $299 w/ purchase of a larger one. Even better with the sale pricing).

Thank you I forgot about the front shelf, second shelf and drip edge. I was just thinking of the upgrades for higher heat. I got the summer kit so it came with the front shelf. I cant see the difference in cost now for the second shelf and drip edge. I will probably do aftermarket for both. I am just glad they were able to confirm the auger motor and WiFi.

 

[Fatcat]

Cast iron heat deflector from my new RT-700

 

[matjac33]

mine came with all the new updates. It works great when cooking. When shutting down it has backburned the pellets into the auger each time? Last night I did a pork loin on low, after an hour the temp dropped as there were no pellets in the pot. The auger seemed to be blocked at the intake. These were Recteq pellets sent to me with my grill. I had to pull about 30lbs of pellets out of the hopper and move some around to get them moving again. That worked and I restarted and went back to low no problem. After a couple of hours I bumped it to 400 for some grilling, then down to 200 for about 15 minutes. Then I shut it off. I then started to get a ton of smoke from the hopper and could smell fresh pellets burning. I watched it to make sure it didnt catch fire and it finally shut off. This morning I took the guts out to take a look. It clearly burned fresh pellets back a way into the augur. I have a call into Recteq but so far this does not feel like a safe grill. I dont even think a longer cool down would work. The issue is the pellets in the auger are catching fire.

 

[Jim6820]

mine came with all the new updates. It works great when cooking. When shutting down it has backburned the pellets into the auger each time? Last night I did a pork loin on low, after an hour the temp dropped as there were no pellets in the pot. The auger seemed to be blocked at the intake. These were Recteq pellets sent to me with my grill. I had to pull about 30lbs of pellets out of the hopper and move some around to get them moving again. That worked and I restarted and went back to low no problem. After a couple of hours I bumped it to 400 for some grilling, then down to 200 for about 15 minutes. Then I shut it off. I then started to get a ton of smoke from the hopper and could smell fresh pellets burning. I watched it to make sure it didnt catch fire and it finally shut off. This morning I took the guts out to take a look. It clearly burned fresh pellets back a way into the augur. I have a call into Recteq but so far this does not feel like a safe grill. I dont even think a longer cool down would work. The issue is the pellets in the auger are catching fire.

Try a different brand of pellets; Bear Mountain, Lumberjack, Kingsford, etc. I’ve had problems with the RT pellets feeding properly; some of them are 1.5” long and jam in the auger feed. The other brands I mentioned seem to be more uniform in size and I’ve had no issues since switching to them.

 

[matjac33]

Try a different brand of pellets; Bear Mountain, Lumberjack, Kingsford, etc. I’ve had problems with the RT pellets feeding properly; some of them are 1.5” long and jam in the auger feed. The other brands I mentioned seem to be more uniform in size and I’ve had no issues since switching to them.

Thanks, I will but I also just got 200lbs of pellets..... Customer service thought there was a chance I got too much dust in the hopper which then got in the auger and could be causing the issues. I am going to clean everything out tonight, remove the auger and make sure the tube is clean. Then I will shake my pellets through a screen to remove dust and try again. If that doesnt work they will walk me through some other things. I will let everyone know the outcome.

 

[Beach Bum]

Thanks, I will but I also just got 200lbs of pellets..... Customer service thought there was a chance I got too much dust in the hopper which then got in the auger and could be causing the issues. I am going to clean everything out tonight, remove the auger and make sure the tube is clean. Then I will shake my pellets through a screen to remove dust and try again. If that doesnt work they will walk me through some other things. I will let everyone know the outcome.

If you think you have dust built up in the auger, just shove a shopvac hose on the end. That will suck out any dust. Taking out the auger may be more work than needed.

 

[matjac33]

Quick update, I vacuumed everything out and made sure it was clean. I made sure the pellets I put in weren't dusty. I then turned it on with the griddle and set it 400. When I was done cooking in stepped it down 50 degrees at a time until it hit 200 them shut it off. It went perfectly. Its a pain to step it down like that but since I will mainly use it for smoking I won't have to do it often. Hopefully it was just excessive dist and the step down isn't needed but I am not ready to test the theory.

 

[PRC]

If you think you have dust built up in the auger, just shove a shopvac hose on the end. That will suck out any dust. Taking out the auger may be more work than needed.

You can just use an air compressor and put the nozzle in the pellet bin side and blow it out towards the firepot,

 

[RTFfan]

mine came with all the new updates. It works great when cooking. When shutting down it has backburned the pellets into the auger each time? Last night I did a pork loin on low, after an hour the temp dropped as there were no pellets in the pot. The auger seemed to be blocked at the intake. These were Recteq pellets sent to me with my grill. I had to pull about 30lbs of pellets out of the hopper and move some around to get them moving again. That worked and I restarted and went back to low no problem. After a couple of hours I bumped it to 400 for some grilling, then down to 200 for about 15 minutes. Then I shut it off. I then started to get a ton of smoke from the hopper and could smell fresh pellets burning. I watched it to make sure it didnt catch fire and it finally shut off. This morning I took the guts out to take a look. It clearly burned fresh pellets back a way into the augur. I have a call into Recteq but so far this does not feel like a safe grill. I dont even think a longer cool down would work. The issue is the pellets in the auger are catching fire.

I have the 1250. Sometimes it will do that but never to that extreme anymore. After about 50 cooks it's basically stopped. I cooked homemade pizzas today and had it at 450. Cleaned out the firepot before I started it( cleaned out the ash) after I was done I just turned it off. What I see now is the pellets that get sent into the firepot after shutdown will partially burn or sometimes not at all. Anyway having a clean firepot before your cook starts will help alot. When it is new it will do it alot more often. This is for me. I only have o e 1250. My 340 dosnt do this at all.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

I'm an "experimenter" at heart. I love to try new things and get them to work. But, I don't have a lot of enthusiasm to get my 700 to run hot. It stops making smoke above about 300F anyway. After that, it effectively becomes an oven. Since our kitchen oven can go to 550F and my pizza oven can go to 1000F, I just don't have the inclination to mess with the 700 much to make it run hotter. My only use is smoking at relatively low temps. So low temp stability is my primary requirement.

But the "experimenter" in me bought the true 2 rpm motor and I did run back to back tests on how long it took to run to max temps. I've never cooked anything anywhere near that high on the 700. I have a gasser, and a komado as well as my "blast furnace" pizza oven, for duty that requires anything other than low and slow.

I get it. Some people want one device that can do it all. But to me, there are better results to be had using multiple types of cookers.