RT-1250 First Time RecTeq Owner (My Experience - RT1250)

[instantregret]

Hi,

First time RecTeq owner here and I wanted to share my initial experience. I should also mention that I knew very little about RecTeq, but heard nothing but greatness from friends who recommended them. So, I was assuming the cost would equal quality, maybe kind of sorta? I do not know how to feel at this point. I will group my feedback into sections.

Shipping: My experience with shipping seemed promising at first, but I realized you cannot rely on the tracking progress or text updates. It seems like every day delivery was delayed an additional day. RecTeq sends an email to give a heads up on how the shipping hand-off works. I believe they sent it through a Logistics company called Estes and when it arrives in your town they transfer it to a local company that is supposed to call and schedule drop-off with you. Mine ultimately was transferred to FedEx and they just dropped it off on a random day without notice. Leading up to the delivery I had been very excited to where I could not quit talking about the smoker. So much so that the day it arrived I was so exhausted by the delays that I was no longer excited lol. It was just there and now I had to assemble...

Assembly: You will not need two people during the entire assembly, but it was definitely helpful for certain parts (Just FYI). I was fumbling around between the YouTube assembly video, the online manual I had to search for, and the nuts and bolts with labels on them (Had to find online manual to make sense of where to use each - paper copy would have been nice so I am not fumbling my phone around going back and forth). Very minor annoyances here but overall was not terrible.

Burn-In: For the initial burn-in I prepped a small handful of RecTeq ultimate blends pellets (yes "fresh" and brand new with the smoker order) in the fire pot making certain to not overfill. I then fill the hopper halfway like instructed in the manual. I powerup the smoker, set the temp to 400 degrees, then wait for it to heat up. After about 20 minutes or so, I get near 400 degrees. Hovering around 395 at this point. Then within the next two minutes the temperature drops quickly anywhere from -20 to -100 degrees in variance. Odd - something is up. After running for nearly 40 minutes without temp stability, I shut the smoker off and let it go through the shut down process before unplugging for the night.

Searching the internet for a cause/fix: I spent the rest of the night researching the issue and found this forum. I was noticing a decent number of posts with similar issues. Overall it seemed like RecTeq support was telling many people the same thing that was not resolving their issues. Still trying to give them the benefit of the doubt I continue to research solutions that I could apply myself. Knowing I had fresh pellets and primed the firebox correctly, I was lead to two-three potential fixes on this forum. The first common thing was slow or inconsistent ignition. This seems to be caused by a recessed or even sometimes a flush igniter rod. Tomorrow I am going to see if I can figure out how to adjust the rod and push it out from flush a little bit. The faster ignition is reported to help with the firepot overfilling from auger/dispense speed issues and slow ignition. Another potential issue was old, poor quality, or damp pellets. Since I had fresh RecTeq pellets I ruled this out. The last potential issue that could cause the temp swings would be pellet bridging in the hopper/auger entrance.

Customer Service: So, today I caved and decided to call RecTeq support to see if they know something I was unaware of. The initial call I explained the exact issue experienced, then the rep walked me through the test mode where we successfully verified each component of the smoker is functioning independently. Once they ruled out components they moved straight to pellet questions (what are you using? are they new/fresh? etc. Seems like they are more inclined to blame pellets that are not theirs and verified fresh from what I have seen on this forum - but again trying to give them benefit of the doubt.) At this point the rep tells me to stick a screwdriver or something in the hopper to shift around the pellets in hopes it would clear out any bridging going into the auger. He told me to run it for a little and call back if the issue persists. I would also note the first guy was not super excited to really be on the call. Just a demeanor thing, but again I get it. Customer support jobs suck lol. I ran the smoker for a bit and continued to experience the issue. I call again and update the latest support rep on the full story and his recommendation was to keep running the smoker for a few hours regardless of how significant the temperature swings and call back the after-hours number later if it continues. This guy had a better demeanor but again not super helpful.

Where I stand: I am currently on day two of not even being able to properly burn-in the smoker. I honestly do not even want to use it until it can show stability. Again - tomorrow I am going to adjust the igniter rod in hopes it may help? If not the bridging, maybe at least prevent an overload on the firebox which could cause the lid explosions. If it seems like it is still overfilling after adjusting the igniter rod I will see if there is a way to adjust the feed rate. Overall I am a bit disappointed in the cost to experience ratio, but still hopeful I can get it working.

I would be interested if anyone else has any similar experiences or solutions. Hopefully next post is about me cooking on the thing and not a ramble..

 

[Jim6820]

Can you hear the fan running? Does it turn on and off intermittently? There have been some reported issues with the fan, caused by improper installation during manufacture. Things like bent blades, loose couplings, disconnected wires, etc.

Once the fire pot is ignited and fully burning, I don't think the adjustment of the ignitor matters that much. The fan blowing air into the fire pot is what keeps the pellets burning and generates the heat.

As for pellets, I've found that the RecTeq Ultimates (the only RT pellets I've tried) had some unusually long ones (2+ inches) and they didn't break easily. I've had some bridging issues with them and don't use them any more because of that. You might look at your batch of pellets and see if they have some really long ones. And, see if they snap in half easily.

If the fan is working properly, I would remove as many of the RT pellets from there hopper as possible (and, while I was in there--you didn't hear this from me--I would remove the so-called safety grid). Then, I'd clean out the remaining pellets in the hopper and auger tube with a vacuum. Finally, I'd find a bag of Bear Mountain, Lumberjack or Kingsford pellets and run through the burn-in again using them. I have had good experiences with all three brands.

Good luck.

 

[PRC]

If the fan is working properly, I would remove as many of the RT pellets from there hopper as possible (and, while I was in there--you didn't hear this from me--I would remove the so-called safety grid). Then, I'd clean out the remaining pellets in the hopper and auger tube with a vacuum.

Good luck.

If you are referring to a safety grid that keeps you finger away from the auger, the1250 doesn’t have one installed.

 

[Jim6820]

If you are referring to a safety grid that keeps you finger away from the auger, the1250 doesn’t have one installed.

OK, didn’t know that. Wonder how they got that one by the corporate legal eagles? My 340 doesn’t have one installed either.

 

[Nerdygrrl]

The position of the heating rod will only impact your starts. With mine, because of the recesses it could not ignite the pellets in the three minute window that is allotted. After that initial ignition period, the heating element shuts off.

Do you happen to have a readout of the temp swings? Are the drops followed by spikes in temp?

20 to 100 degree swings is super abnormal with these units. The only time I saw big swings with the RT was when it was super hot out here and I needed to adjust my feed rate.

As others have mentioned check the fan if RT didn't have you do so. That is another area that has had some issues coming off the line.

It may be worth just running it as is, even if you can't hit your 400 burn in, some folks have stated that it takes a bit for the controllers to get dialed in (I don't know if that is myth or fact, but can't hurt).

I agree that blaming the pellets is pure gaslighting by RT. If it is not the fan, or the controller just needing to adjust itself, you probably have a bad controller.

 

[Motodad1776]

That's a bit suspicious first post "forum name" and write up IMHO.......just sayin.

 

[kstone113]

Have you tried the burn-in again? I believe it is normal to have some sort of a dip when initially doing the burn-in because the pellets have to make their way through the auger since it is the first time. Just as if you let your grill run out of pellets coming and you add them in, it takes a bit for the pellets to work their way through the auger however if you let go for 40 minutes and the grill did not correct itself, something else has to be at play.

Has to be the fans or bad controller. Rarely if ever is it bad pellets. That annoys me when they say that but it seems to be a cemented in troubleshooting by their staff. From a troubleshooting point of view though, I do understand why they initially want to rule that out b/c you could go down deep into the rabbit hole and could(but probably not) be the pellets.

I will say one time I had some older pellets and I was getting temp swings and it did turn out to be the pellets so it can happen. I had these pellets over a year though.

There is multiple fans so make sure you check them both.

 

[Greg Jones]

OK, didn’t know that. Wonder how they got that one by the corporate legal eagles? My 340 doesn’t have one installed either.

My 340 does, and it’s still installed because it’s a handy place to rest a third party thermometer base unit when cooking in the rain. My bullseye had one, which I removed and like the 1250, my 700 did not come with a safety grid.

 

[instantregret]

That's a bit suspicious first post "forum name" and write up IMHO.......just sayin.

LOL yeah... to be honest it was just the first thing that came to mind while I was frustrated I had to engage a community to get better info on troubleshooting. Official support seems copy pasta.

 

[instantregret]

Can you hear the fan running? Does it turn on and off intermittently? There have been some reported issues with the fan, caused by improper installation during manufacture. Things like bent blades, loose couplings, disconnected wires, etc.

Once the fire pot is ignited and fully burning, I don't think the adjustment of the ignitor matters that much. The fan blowing air into the fire pot is what keeps the pellets burning and generates the heat.

As for pellets, I've found that the RecTeq Ultimates (the only RT pellets I've tried) had some unusually long ones (2+ inches) and they didn't break easily. I've had some bridging issues with them and don't use them any more because of that. You might look at your batch of pellets and see if they have some really long ones. And, see if they snap in half easily.

If the fan is working properly, I would remove as many of the RT pellets from there hopper as possible (and, while I was in there--you didn't hear this from me--I would remove the so-called safety grid). Then, I'd clean out the remaining pellets in the hopper and auger tube with a vacuum. Finally, I'd find a bag of Bear Mountain, Lumberjack or Kingsford pellets and run through the burn-in again using them. I have had good experiences with all three brands.

Good luck.

The fan appears to be working correctly from what I can tell. I am going to test out your pellet advice and see what it will do this weekend. I appreciate the info!

 

[instantregret]

Have you tried the burn-in again? I believe it is normal to have some sort of a dip when initially doing the burn-in because the pellets have to make their way through the auger since it is the first time. Just as if you let your grill run out of pellets coming and you add them in, it takes a bit for the pellets to work their way through the auger however if you let go for 40 minutes and the grill did not correct itself, something else has to be at play.

Has to be the fans or bad controller. Rarely if ever is it bad pellets. That annoys me when they say that but it seems to be a cemented in troubleshooting by their staff. From a troubleshooting point of view though, I do understand why they initially want to rule that out b/c you could go down deep into the rabbit hole and could(but probably not) be the pellets.

I will say one time I had some older pellets and I was getting temp swings and it did turn out to be the pellets so it can happen. I had these pellets over a year though.

There is multiple fans so make sure you check them both.

That makes sense. I am going to try and burn-in again here in a few minutes and see what it does. If it fails I intend on cleaning it all out and testing different pellets this weekend. I will also follow up with some video of the temperature swings.

 

[instantregret]

nitor matters that

Can you hear the fan running? Does it turn on and off intermittently? There have been some reported issues with the fan, caused by improper installation during manufacture. Things like bent blades, loose couplings, disconnected wires, etc.

Once the fire pot is ignited and fully burning, I don't think the adjustment of the ignitor matters that much. The fan blowing air into the fire pot is what keeps the pellets burning and generates the heat.

As for pellets, I've found that the RecTeq Ultimates (the only RT pellets I've tried) had some unusually long ones (2+ inches) and they didn't break easily. I've had some bridging issues with them and don't use them any more because of that. You might look at your batch of pellets and see if they have some really long ones. And, see if they snap in half easily.

If the fan is working properly, I would remove as many of the RT pellets from there hopper as possible (and, while I was in there--you didn't hear this from me--I would remove the so-called safety grid). Then, I'd clean out the remaining pellets in the hopper and auger tube with a vacuum. Finally, I'd find a bag of Bear Mountain, Lumberjack or Kingsford pellets and run through the burn-in again using them. I have had good experiences with all three brands.

Good luck.

Here is the ignition video:

I ran another burn-in for an hour and had some sporadic temperature results. I also noticed a slight noise difference (quieter) when it hits a point where it starts to drop temperature again. I am uploading a longer video of that now and will post when the upload is completed. This burn-in was the highest temperature I hit (490~) which was good, but when it swings back down it swings low. I did not get it all on video as I was going in and out of the house throughout the hour, but at one point I saw it swing down to 280~. Unfortunately I do not have the application data because I cannot get this dual band adapter to connect to my WiFi. Dual band is supposed to support 2.4 and 5ghz wireless, but for some reason it will not connect. I am going to try different pellets this weekend and I will report back when the other videos are uploaded.

 

[Jim6820]

Well, from a cursory observation, it seems like the ignitor and fan are working properly. It did start a little slowly IME. One suggestion; I usually put a modest handful of fresh pellets in the fire pot prior to firing the grill off. That speeds up ignition.

Check the ambient temperature sensor (vertical rod at the left end of the grill) to see if it is bent over or loose. It should be tight and standing straight up; at least if the 1250 is like the RT-340/590/700. Since it is new, the sensor should be clean, but check that too. It should be reasonably clean.

Be sure that the heat deflector is properly installed over the fire pot too.

 

[Nerdygrrl]

Here is the ignition video:

I ran another burn-in for an hour and had some sporadic temperature results. I also noticed a slight noise difference (quieter) when it hits a point where it starts to drop temperature again. I am uploading a longer video of that now and will post when the upload is completed. This burn-in was the highest temperature I hit (490~) which was good, but when it swings back down it swings low. I did not get it all on video as I was going in and out of the house throughout the hour, but at one point I saw it swing down to 280~. Unfortunately I do not have the application data because I cannot get this dual band adapter to connect to my WiFi. Dual band is supposed to support 2.4 and 5ghz wireless, but for some reason it will not connect. I am going to try different pellets this weekend and I will report back when the other videos are uploaded.

Adjust your heating element to the recommended 1/6 out and that will ignite faster. Had your lid been closed it would not have ignited in the allotted time and you would have just had a smoldering mess.

You shouldn't be experiencing swings like that. It's very uncommon and I seriously doubt it is because of the pellets. I think you may have a bad controller.

Also in the beginning, it looks like this is dumping out black pellets. So you may have had some back burn in there. Typically these augers run for a bit after the cool down cycle so it should have cleared those out. Did you shut it down from a high heat or did you let it cool down some before turning it off.

Just something to be mindful of.

 

[kennethk]

Hi,

First time RecTeq owner here and I wanted to share my initial experience. I should also mention that I knew very little about RecTeq, but heard nothing but greatness from friends who recommended them. So, I was assuming the cost would equal quality, maybe kind of sorta? I do not know how to feel at this point. I will group my feedback into sections.

Shipping: My experience with shipping seemed promising at first, but I realized you cannot rely on the tracking progress or text updates. It seems like every day delivery was delayed an additional day. RecTeq sends an email to give a heads up on how the shipping hand-off works. I believe they sent it through a Logistics company called Estes and when it arrives in your town they transfer it to a local company that is supposed to call and schedule drop-off with you. Mine ultimately was transferred to FedEx and they just dropped it off on a random day without notice. Leading up to the delivery I had been very excited to where I could not quit talking about the smoker. So much so that the day it arrived I was so exhausted by the delays that I was no longer excited lol. It was just there and now I had to assemble...

Assembly: You will not need two people during the entire assembly, but it was definitely helpful for certain parts (Just FYI). I was fumbling around between the YouTube assembly video, the online manual I had to search for, and the nuts and bolts with labels on them (Had to find online manual to make sense of where to use each - paper copy would have been nice so I am not fumbling my phone around going back and forth). Very minor annoyances here but overall was not terrible.

Burn-In: For the initial burn-in I prepped a small handful of RecTeq ultimate blends pellets (yes "fresh" and brand new with the smoker order) in the fire pot making certain to not overfill. I then fill the hopper halfway like instructed in the manual. I powerup the smoker, set the temp to 400 degrees, then wait for it to heat up. After about 20 minutes or so, I get near 400 degrees. Hovering around 395 at this point. Then within the next two minutes the temperature drops quickly anywhere from -20 to -100 degrees in variance. Odd - something is up. After running for nearly 40 minutes without temp stability, I shut the smoker off and let it go through the shut down process before unplugging for the night.

Searching the internet for a cause/fix: I spent the rest of the night researching the issue and found this forum. I was noticing a decent number of posts with similar issues. Overall it seemed like RecTeq support was telling many people the same thing that was not resolving their issues. Still trying to give them the benefit of the doubt I continue to research solutions that I could apply myself. Knowing I had fresh pellets and primed the firebox correctly, I was lead to two-three potential fixes on this forum. The first common thing was slow or inconsistent ignition. This seems to be caused by a recessed or even sometimes a flush igniter rod. Tomorrow I am going to see if I can figure out how to adjust the rod and push it out from flush a little bit. The faster ignition is reported to help with the firepot overfilling from auger/dispense speed issues and slow ignition. Another potential issue was old, poor quality, or damp pellets. Since I had fresh RecTeq pellets I ruled this out. The last potential issue that could cause the temp swings would be pellet bridging in the hopper/auger entrance.

Customer Service: So, today I caved and decided to call RecTeq support to see if they know something I was unaware of. The initial call I explained the exact issue experienced, then the rep walked me through the test mode where we successfully verified each component of the smoker is functioning independently. Once they ruled out components they moved straight to pellet questions (what are you using? are they new/fresh? etc. Seems like they are more inclined to blame pellets that are not theirs and verified fresh from what I have seen on this forum - but again trying to give them benefit of the doubt.) At this point the rep tells me to stick a screwdriver or something in the hopper to shift around the pellets in hopes it would clear out any bridging going into the auger. He told me to run it for a little and call back if the issue persists. I would also note the first guy was not super excited to really be on the call. Just a demeanor thing, but again I get it. Customer support jobs suck lol. I ran the smoker for a bit and continued to experience the issue. I call again and update the latest support rep on the full story and his recommendation was to keep running the smoker for a few hours regardless of how significant the temperature swings and call back the after-hours number later if it continues. This guy had a better demeanor but again not super helpful.

Where I stand: I am currently on day two of not even being able to properly burn-in the smoker. I honestly do not even want to use it until it can show stability. Again - tomorrow I am going to adjust the igniter rod in hopes it may help? If not the bridging, maybe at least prevent an overload on the firebox which could cause the lid explosions. If it seems like it is still overfilling after adjusting the igniter rod I will see if there is a way to adjust the feed rate. Overall I am a bit disappointed in the cost to experience ratio, but still hopeful I can get it working.

I would be interested if anyone else has any similar experiences or solutions. Hopefully next post is about me cooking on the thing and n

Where are you located? Maybe a RT user is near by that can help?

 

[Jim6820]

Also in the beginning, it looks like this is dumping out black pellets. So you may have had some back burn in there. Typically these augers run for a bit after the cool down cycle so it should have cleared those out. Did you shut it down from a high heat or did you let it cool down some before turning it off.

This Is a very good point! Proper shutdown is important in order to avoid back burn. That means reducing grill temperature to less than 250F before initiating the shutdown.

After a high-temp cook (actually pretty infrequent for me), I turn the set temp to 200F and give the grill a few minutes to cool down. When grill temp is down to 200F, I then press the power button to initiate the shutdown sequence.

 

[SmokeOCD]

I was wondering if side feed vs front/back feed could have been the issue. Went to the site and looked at the pics - nope. Maybe I've just never noticed (I don't video the ignition sequence) - but I constantly just hit the power button from a high heat cook. If it is catching, a full(ish) hopper should catch enough smoke to kill the fire.

 

[Nerdygrrl]

I was wondering if side feed vs front/back feed could have been the issue. Went to the site and looked at the pics - nope. Maybe I've just never noticed (I don't video the ignition sequence) - but I constantly just hit the power button from a high heat cook. If it is catching, a full(ish) hopper should catch enough smoke to kill the fire.

Not if the rod is recessed like they have been coming off of the line. The element is not touching the pellets and it takes more than the allotted three minutes to cleanly start. Mine was very hit and miss starting until we adjusted the rod as instructed in the RT video.

His only ignited because he had the lid open. Otherwise it would have smoldered a good bit.

The latest firmware update from RT I guess reduces the numbers of pellets they feed in to help with the smoldering, but it doesn't address the Ian issue, of the recessed rod.

 

[instantregret]

This Is a very good point! Proper shutdown is important in order to avoid back burn. That means reducing grill temperature to less than 250F before initiating the shutdown.

After a high-temp cook (actually pretty infrequent for me), I turn the set temp to 200F and give the grill a few minutes to cool down. When grill temp is down to 200F, I then press the power button to initiate the shutdown sequence.

Yes this is good info. I do not recall the exact temperature, but I fully read the manual prior to using and it only indicated that I should not interrupt the shutdown process/timer (which I have not). It did not mention anything about the high temperature pre-caution prior to triggering shutdown. I will give this a shot. When I get home from work I am going to clean it all out, adjust the igniter rod, and try it all again. I will probably setup a full video recording throughout the process. If I end up needing to replace parts, I would like to have a full recording for ReqTeq support to reference. As usual - I will report back here with additional information. Was hoping I could use it this weekend, but that may not be an option.

 

[instantregret]

Not if the rod is recessed like they have been coming off of the line. The element is not touching the pellets and it takes more than the allotted three minutes to cleanly start. Mine was very hit and miss starting until we adjusted the rod as instructed in the RT video.

His only ignited because he had the lid open. Otherwise it would have smoldered a good bit.

The latest firmware update from RT I guess reduces the numbers of pellets they feed in to help with the smoldering, but it doesn't address the Ian issue, of the recessed rod.

Is there a guide somewhere on how to adjust the igniter rod? Also - can firmware upgrades only be applied by RecTeq or is this a function in the app? I work in IT so I very familiar with the technical components, but I have not been able to get it to connect to my WiFi where I could use the app yet. I appreciate the info!