instantregret
Member
- Messages
- 10
- Grill(s) owned
- RT-1250
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..
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..
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