Bull Free cold smoker is standard on the rt 700!

[chadinsc]

I have burned over 1000lbs of pellets with my grill and have never had this happen. Now it happens on almost every shut down any suggestions? I cool the grill down to 225 or less and my smoke stack is not clogged. Do i just lay some cheese back there and cold smoke it?

 

[Gonefishin]

I’d take a look in the fire pot as soon as the shutdown cycle completes and see where it’s still smoldering. Maybe too much buildup in the fire pot that’s still burning or it’s already back in the auger. A picture at that point would help diagnose.

 

[C. Keeper]

I have burned over 1000lbs of pellets with my grill and have never had this happen. Now it happens on almost every shut down any suggestions? I cool the grill down to 225 or less and my smoke stack is not clogged. Do i just lay some cheese back there and cold smoke it? View attachment 20222

That's what was happening to me, my relay fix resolved it.
If you installed the 3 rpm auger motor, re-install the factory motor.

 

[chadinsc]

I will take the insides out and watch it on shutdown to see what may be happening and take some pictures. I can’t give up my 3rpm lol! I will definitely look into your wire mod. I would prefer no dump at the end also. I have been waiting to see how long i can wait before cleaning the ash out of the bottom, is it possible i found the limit and thats part of the problem? Its not falling back in the hole yet but close.

 

[SmokeOCD]

Hit it with the shop vac and see if your problem goes away. It looks like an easy climb to the auger for the fire, and then not having a full hopper allows airflow instead of trapping the smoke and smothering the fire.

 

[C. Keeper]

I will take the insides out and watch it on shutdown to see what may be happening and take some pictures. I can’t give up my 3rpm lol! I will definitely look into your wire mod. I would prefer no dump at the end also. I have been waiting to see how long i can wait before cleaning the ash out of the bottom, is it possible i found the limit and thats part of the problem? Its not falling back in the hole yet but close.View attachment 20223

Let me know if you have a better fix.
I could always make a plug and play unit. I wanted to make sure it worked before going down that road.

 

[Gonefishin]

Hit it with the shop vac and see if your problem goes away. It looks like an easy climb to the auger for the fire, and then not having a full hopper allows airflow instead of trapping the smoke and smothering the fire.

Ditto, looks like the pile of pellets for the next cycle is half way up the auger opening, if the fire in the firebox isn’t out after the 5 min shutdown that could catch the pellets in the auger. Vac the fire box, the ash in elsewhere shouldn’t matter.

 

[RHEINLEIN]

Just an observation, When enlarging the fire pot photo, The pot looks to be filled with a large solid clinker, It can be seen pulled away from the pot wall as it cooled (shrinkage) It would be interesting to see a picture once it is lifted out.

 

[RHEINLEIN]

 

[Jim6820]

What @RHEINLEIN just said.

 

[Motodad1776]

Looks like a tall pile of ash in the pot as well, but may be an optical illusion.......but everywhere else in the grill I see a big build up of ash. These are not any different than a charcoal grill, you have to keep the ash cleaned out for air circulation and proper fire extinguish.

 

[chadinsc]

I actually did clean out the fire pot before this last hopper smoke show, that picture was taken before hand just to send to my buddy that has a 590. I haven’t cleaned out the barrel in the last 500lbs of pellets im sure. Ray said ash insulated the bottom, i may have take that advice a bit to far lol. I will give her a good cleaning and report back. I did just install a dual band controller vs the original single band and that’s when all this started, but that could definitely just be random.

 

[Motodad1776]

I'm not seeing burnback "black unfully burned pellets" it almost appears that airflow isn't good or something, leading to smoke working it's way back through the pellets?

 

[C. Keeper]

I'm not seeing burnback "black unfully burned pellets" it almost appears that airflow isn't good or something, leading to smoke working it's way back through the pellets?

You mean like an evil spirit

 

[SmokeZilla]

I also have quite a few cooks and leave the ash in the bottom. You are correct, the instructions (when I purchased mine 4 years ago) say it helps to prevent corrosion. I think it may also create a thermal barrier to keep my temps solid as a rock but I don’t have any proof for that theory. My Bull has about 3” of ash covering the entire bottom 1/3rd of the chamber. So far no problems. I do redistribute the ash during cleanings to make sure it doesn’t pile up. FWIW, my unit has the original motor.

 

[TheRicker]

Reading this thread hor me to thinking about something I’ve read on this forum before where a user put rocks in the belly of the barrel up to the level of the fire pot. Someone in that thread suggested to that user that they’re blocking/interrupting the air flow. Now I’m thinking that’s a fact.

I’ve never seen that much ash in the belly of the barrel before. I can’t imagine that being a good thing.

 

[Motodad1776]

I would imagine that amount of accumulated ash would blow around and land on the meat more than we realize?

 

[Grumpy]

I would imagine that amount of accumulated ash would blow around and land on the meat more than we realize?

Read in the forum a little ash is good but that much I don't think so.

 

[SmokeOCD]

eating wood ash has many potential health benefits, including improving digestion, boosting immunity, and providing essential minerals and vitamins.
- somewhere on the internet

 

[okie]

Three things:
1. BEFORE turning the temp down to 250, Close the lid and see if the temp goes up above your setting. If so, wait until it comes back down to the setting, and then turn it down to 250 and wait till it gets there, then turn off. If you have a bonfire in the fire pot before turning it down, you will still have too much pellets to burn when you shut off. If that works then you can avoid burn backs.
2. If the above does not work: Turn down to 250 and when it gets there turn it off, and open the lid. That way there will be no back pressure into the auger.
3. Do this anyway: insulate the top of the hopper all around, so when the lid is down, it will prevent back flow into the hopper.
All the above solved all my back flow problems period. Let me know the results if you will.