RT-1250 Does anyone feel like their 1250 is finicky?

[eric_jk]

So I've owned my RT-1250 for about 2 months now and approximately 20 cooks with it. I'm starting to run into a lot more issues with it recently.

For example, yesterday I was making wings, smoked at 225 for 20 minutes and cranked it to 425 to finish it off. After about 10 minutes, temperature wasn't getting higher than 275, yet there was a ton of smoke billowing out and the grill was definitely way hotter than 275. I should have taken a reading with my IR gun, but I was panicking since my wings were burning and smoke was billowing like crazy, but it felt like it was close to 500.

Also, on several occasions, when I start up the grill, temperature won't climb but I see a ton of smoke coming out of the grill. Seems this one is a common problem and is easily fixed by opening the door. Still, I can't imagine this is working as intended, otherwise what's the point of a remote start function on the app?

I'm getting grease leaking out of the cook chamber on the left side, pretty sure the high temp caulk is bad, but RT won't do anything to fix it. They just keep telling me to put ash into that corner to season it.

That joining section on the cook chamber between the stainless steel and black painted section is bubbling up with what looks like the paint or caulk bubbling. I was told this is just cosmetic.

Don't get me started on the uselessness of the app. I've already knew that it was going to suck, but I didn't realize how bad it was before I purchased it.

So I got on the phone with RT today after the wings incident yesterday. They basically ran through some troubleshooting tests and ended up turning down the auger speed (guessing this negates the "benefit" of having the upgraded auger) to address the start-up issue. They also told me to make sure my temperature probe is 3/4" away from the cook chamber (it was) and had me on my merry way. I don't feel like my problems were really addressed at all, maybe I'm just expecting too much for a grill to work without much fuss?

Are all pellet grills supposed to be this finicky? This was my first pellet and I'm contemplating selling it to get something else. It doesn't seem like Recteq thinks my issues are valid.

 

[sdynak]

Careful with the billowing smoke.. the 1250's seem to be blowing up frequently. I would just pull the plug next time and call Recteq again.

They need to start taking interest in these things before someone gets hurt or lose their home. They are pretty good at shrugging off these kinds of things and make you look like it was your fault.

 

[eric_jk]

Careful with the billowing smoke.. the 1250's seem to be blowing up frequently. I would just pull the plug next time and call Recteq again.

They need to start taking interest in these things before someone gets hurt or lose their home. They are pretty good at shrugging off these kinds of things and make you look like it was your fault.

I keep seeing a lot of people with this problem and it definitely seems like something that could fatally injure someone or easily burn down a house. I'm not sure why they aren't more alarmed by it. Honestly, I'm considering selling my 1250 and switching over to Grilla or just go all out on a Pitts & Spitts. A 6 year "horn to hoof" warranty seems kind of pointless if everything is working as intended.

 

[sdynak]

I keep seeing a lot of people with this problem and it definitely seems like something that could fatally injure someone or easily burn down a house. I'm not sure why they aren't more alarmed by it. Honestly, I'm considering selling my 1250 and switching over to Grilla or just go all out on a Pitts & Spitts. A 6 year "horn to hoof" warranty seems kind of pointless if everything is working as intended.

Is it to late for a return? At these costs I would honestly look elsewhere also if I were in the market today. It is just not refined but it does work well for the most part.

Still have the Traeger worries and how I ended up here. I could not even get through a cook on those I had.

 

[eric_jk]

Is it to late for a return? At these costs I would honestly look elsewhere also if I were in the market today. It is just not refined but it does work well for the most part.

Still have the Traeger worries and how I ended up here. I could not even get through a cook on those I had.

I've had it since December, so I'm assuming it's too late for a return. I casually listed my Recteq for sale and actually have multiple people that are interested in buying it for pretty close to what I paid for it.

 

[sdynak]

I've had it since December, so I'm assuming it's too late for a return. I casually listed my Recteq for sale and actually have multiple people that are interested in buying it for pretty close to what I paid for it.

Good luck in whatever you do and BBQ on.. do not feel out of place if you come here and be a part of the amazing group. It goes way beyond a Recteq.

In fact, having other grills would help round things out and others can see how folks feel about other brands.

 

[Pacman]

I'm not sure I'm really adding value to the conversation, but here goes anyway.

1. Grease leaking out of the left side suggests bad welds in fabrication. We shouldn't have to rely on Permatex to cook. "Shove some ash into the crack," is a total BS response. Dumb question, but is the grill level? The drip tray should be happily dumping everything into the grease channel and bucket on the right side. I can't image anything coming out of the left side of the grill under normal operation unless the grill isn't level or the drip pan isn't sitting in the tracks to properly slope to the right.
   
   
2. I've had some weird startups, but I accounted it to a dirty firepot using "sappier" pellets like Knotty Wood (which I still like for some applications, but are much higher maintenance). On some pellets, I have actually had to chip away the chunks when cleaning out my firepot. I've had the crazy smoke thing a couple of times and thought about pulling the plug, but after a minute or so, the grill settled down and did not go BOOM. In my case, I blame it on my pellets and my cleaning.
   
   
3. Powder coat failing in two months seems wildly unreasonable unless you're making horseshoes at 700+.
   
   
4. I know most folks gush over RT Customer Service. I only called one time as I have not had major issues other than an absurd Estes delivery (no call, no messages, no tracking...just a pallet dumped in my driveway when I was home and not even a knock on the door). I called to complain and got some 12 year old on the phone offering some very lame, scripted lip service aka "Dude, it's out of our hands. Call again if anything is broken."

I am really enjoying my 1250 and hope your get things sorted out so that you can enjoy yours as well.

 

[eric_jk]

I'm not sure I'm really adding value to the conversation, but here goes anyway.

1. Grease leaking out of the left side suggests bad welds in fabrication. We shouldn't have to rely on Permatex to cook. "Shove some ash into the crack," is a total BS response. Dumb question, but is the grill level? The drip tray should be happily dumping everything into the grease channel and bucket on the right side. I can't image anything coming out of the left side of the grill under normal operation unless the grill isn't level or the drip pan isn't sitting in the tracks to properly slope to the right.
   
   
2. I've had some weird startups, but I accounted it to a dirty firepot using "sappier" pellets like Knotty Wood (which I still like for some applications, but are much higher maintenance). On some pellets, I have actually had to chip away the chunks when cleaning out my firepot. I've had the crazy smoke thing a couple of times and thought about pulling the plug, but after a minute or so, the grill settled down and did not go BOOM. In my case, I blame it on my pellets and my cleaning.
   
   
3. Powder coat failing in two months seems wildly unreasonable unless you're making horseshoes at 700+.
   
   
4. I know most folks gush over RT Customer Service. I only called one time as I have not had major issues other than an absurd Estes delivery (no call, no messages, no tracking...just a pallet dumped in my driveway when I was home and not even a knock on the door). I called to complain and got some 12 year old on the phone offering some very lame, scripted lip service aka "Dude, it's out of our hands. Call again if anything is broken."

I am really enjoying my 1250 and hope your get things sorted out so that you can enjoy yours as well.

It is level, I have no idea how grease is even escaping to the left when there is a drip tray leading grease to the right.

I have only used recteq pellets so far and I clean the ash out of my firepot every 2-3 cooks.

So far, every response I've gotten from RT always seems to be that my complaints are non-issues. I had some issues with delivery and they did a wonderful job of making things right then, but now it seems like they are refusing to acknowledge that there are any problems with the grill.

 

[Pacman]

Yeah, I'm sorry to hear about your issues. Mine has been behaving quite well and operation is virtually brainless (right up my alley on long weekend cooks). I hope somehow everything sorts out for you. Keep us up to date. I hate to be a Grim Reaper, but I'd like to plan ahead for any surprises learning from others' misfortunes.

 

[Waterboy]

When these grills are working as intended they definitely aren’t finicky. The temp issue could be a bad bag of pellets (even Recteq pellets can be bad), RTD that isn’t straight, grill grates on the right side next to the RTD or dirty burn pot. There could be a problem with the controller but that isn’t very common. If the RTD isn’t straight up or if you have grill grates (or any metal object) too close to it your controller will go nuts trying to get the correct temp.

If you’ve vacuumed the fire pot, your RTD is straight up and you don’t have a water pan or grill grates on the left side of your grill I’d try a different fresh bag of pellets and see if that helps.

As far as lowering the auger speed that is the minimum rate so you don’t overfill the fire pot at low temps and doesn’t affect the higher temps at all. The controller can always speed the auger up to the 3 RPM for higher temps so that doesn’t negate the benefit of the higher speed auger but could help with too many pellets (and tons of smoke).

The app is extremely limited and doesn’t live up to it’s billing and I wouldn’t hold my breath that will be fixed. It does’t seem to be a priority with them.

I have no idea on the grease leaking from the left side. I never get any grease in the bottom of my barrel so have no clue what that might be.

if nothing else works call back to customer service and talk to a different rep. I had a bad experience with a rep once and called back to talk with someone different. Made all the difference. If you don’t get satisfaction call the owners. That’s why you get their numbers. In the past they have been responsive when all else fails.

Sorry you are having troubles. I hope you can get it straightened out as these are good grills when working properly.

 

[kstone113]

Yeah, these are not normal issues. I have the 700 and haven't had any issues like this. I'm surprised they didn't just ship you some seal for the inside of the grill where it leaks. That is what I've heard customer support do for others.

Maybe you got a lemon. But sometimes it can be a bad controller if pellets are not the problem.

I have read on here a lot about customer support isn't as good as it was but I've had 2 calls lately and both have been up to my expectations from previously.

I still would like to put the upgraded auger into my 700.

 

[waylander]

Mine has been rock solid. I've only cooked higher heat once though, threw on some burgers for my first cook at 500. Wasn't thrilled on how they came out compared to my gas grill - so only lower heat smokes since then.

I do empty ash out of the fire pot every cook, when I change my foil...

 

[eric_jk]

Mine has been rock solid. I've only cooked higher heat once though, threw on some burgers for my first cook at 500. Wasn't thrilled on how they came out compared to my gas grill - so only lower heat smokes since then.

I do empty ash out of the fire pot every cook, when I change my foil...

I clean out all the ash everytime I change the foil too. It doesn't seem like my grill is meant to handle high heat, that's usually when I run into issues.

 

[Waterboy]

@eric_jk have you been careful with the foil to not block the gaps between the drip pan and the barrel of the grill. If the foil flaps up into that space it affects the air flow which could mess with your temps.

 

[eric_jk]

@eric_jk have you been careful with the foil to not block the gaps between the drip pan and the barrel of the grill. If the foil flaps up into that space it affects the air flow which could mess with your temps.

I'm pretty OCD about stuff like this and I am very careful with the foil on the drip pan. It does seem kind of odd that such a small thing could affect the grill though. That's kind of what I mean by it being finicky. I haven't cooked on it since they suggested lowering the auger speed, so I'll give it a few more cooks and see if that solves my problem. As far as the barrel leak goes, they are sending me some sealant. They don't want to do anything about the bubbling powdercoat.

 

[Northbethesda1234]

I've had it since December, so I'm assuming it's too late for a return. I casually listed my Recteq for sale and actually have multiple people that are interested in buying it for pretty close to what I paid for it.

I'm pretty OCD about stuff like this and I am very careful with the foil on the drip pan. It does seem kind of odd that such a small thing could affect the grill though. That's kind of what I mean by it being finicky. I haven't cooked on it since they suggested lowering the auger speed, so I'll give it a few more cooks and see if that solves my problem. As far as the barrel leak goes, they are sending me some sealant. They don't want to do anything about the bubbling powdercoat.

My powder coat bubbled in the same area. Recteq said they would send me paint or a new smoker. I chose to get a new smoker, but had to send the new one back because it was damaged.

PM me if you want the customer service agent's contact information.

 

[Simarti28]

I'm not sure I'm really adding value to the conversation, but here goes anyway.

1. Grease leaking out of the left side suggests bad welds in fabrication. We shouldn't have to rely on Permatex to cook.

This reminds me of when I had my 340. My barrel leaked on the left side. I was already out of the warranty period so didn’t bother calling CS. When I bought my 700 the first thing I did was add an extra bead of Permatex at all seams that had it already.

I totally agree though. We shouldn’t have to rely on Permatex.

 

[eric_jk]

This reminds me of when I had my 340. My barrel leaked on the left side. I was already out of the warranty period so didn’t bother calling CS. When I bought my 700 the first thing I did was add an extra bead of Permatex at all seams that had it already.

I totally agree though. We shouldn’t have to rely on Permatex.

They are sending me some high temperature caulk to see if that fixes it.

 

[Dubs]

I have had my 1250 for about 6 months or so, had a few minor issues, mostly adjusting to the way it operates. I’ve used Lumber Jack pellets exclusively, up until my sister in law gave a bag of RK pellets. Never had any issues with starting before them, once they gave me the excessive smoke that worried me, I mixed in some other pellets all has been fine. I clean my fire pot maybe every 15 cooks depending on the length of the cooks. The RK brand seem to be a dirtier burning pellet though. For the grill grates mine were from my old 590, supposed to be the same size for the 1250, however, I use mine running left to right. Tried it the normal way, but had some grease spillage on the front of the barrel, and it didn’t seem to allow the lid to seal properly. I think the issue is the added grease control strip on the lid, but anyway, love them. You might have grease dripping off the ends of the grates which is wider that than the drip pan. I use the scrapper method for the drip pa, just can’t see the tinfoil hassle.

 

[smokeythebear]

It is level, I have no idea how grease is even escaping to the left when there is a drip tray leading grease to the right.

I have only used recteq pellets so far and I clean the ash out of my firepot every 2-3 cooks.

So far, every response I've gotten from RT always seems to be that my complaints are non-issues. I had some issues with delivery and they did a wonderful job of making things right then, but now it seems like they are refusing to acknowledge that there are any problems with the grill.

Eric, I have an RT-700 and also had some grease leakage. I agree, we shouldn't have to rely on gasket sealer, the barrel is tack welded and some areas have larger gaps. I had to wipe down the inside after a few cooks to apply more Permatex - quite annoying. Walmart carries the stock Permatex for a reasonable price. I used two extra tubes because I sealed the hell out of every seam possible.

Also, when I assembled the smoker I put the gasket sealer on every bolt and washer. Even then, I noticed that some grease had dripped under the barrel and ended up on my concrete driveway, it was a pain to clean. Needless-to-say I was very annoyed. I chased the source to the rivets on the back side of the barrel, which are riveted to the inside rail that holds the cooking rack in place. The only way to remedy this was to use a small dab of Permatex (Black) on the outside and cover up the rivets, I ended up doing this to all of the rivets on the back, so far my deliberate use of Permatex is working, but I don't think I should have had to do this on a new smoker.

To suggest that one pile up the ash in the corner is a hack and a bad idea, the ash soaks up grease and on higher temp cooks the grease will liquefy and eventually find any holes or leaks in the gasket and work it's way out.

The warping stainless heat deflector is another rub, mine makes a very loud banging sound when it warps that's startling. The first time it happened I thought something had blown up inside the smoker. After the cook it returns back to almost flat. I have a 1/4 stainless plate on the way that I ordered online, I'm going to reinforce it with several bolts. This should definitely fix the issue and possibly help with a bit of heat retention. I saw one gentlemen post a pic of his cast iron heat deflector that had cracked. I think moving from stainless to cast iron only created different problem, hopefully I'm wrong. I imagine the intense heat from the burn pot will crack the cast iron deflectors over time because of the extreme heating and cooling cycle.

This is off topic, but I think the 1250 barrel should have been ovalized to better utilize the upper rack. I read some people that posted that there's not much room up top. I have an after market 2nd rack that's about 3/4 the depth of the stock rack and I mounted mine a bit lower for this reason and I have no issues cooking a large brisket on top with plenty of clearance. I suspected this would be an issue based on the promo videos before the 1250 was released.

Some folks might interpret my post as a total rant, which it is not so I'll end on a positive note. Besides the minor annoyances that I've experienced the smoker overall has been very performant and reliable. The temps have always been rock solid for me and I love that I can start it remotely. The two piece rack is easy to clean, no rusting or paint peeling. The updated app is well laid out and intuitive, no wifi issues, I've never had the auger clog even though I keep pellets in the hopper - I do store the smoker in the garage.

If I had to buy it again I would, but it would have been nice to know about these potentials earlier before my first cook as I still would have sealed with extra Permatex and reinforced the heat deflector right away. It does make me think though, they should better justify the price increases with higher quality, I'm OK with paying more as long as there's quality to match. I wonder if having private equity investors is starting to have a negative effect because it's more about the bottom line now?