Bull Had my first fire/lid pop…

[BullSmoker83]

Well, just fired up my 700 and noticed the temp wasn’t rising, at all, for like 5 minutes. Then all of a sudden, 84, 121, and boom!!! Lid blown up. Just cleaned everything out with a vacuum about two smokes ago. Only thing I can think of is that it did drop very cold where I live lately, so perhaps it froze up the pellets inside the auger??? Really not sure. Couldn’t get the fire to go down inside the box for a long time, was actually afraid it was going to start the pellets in the auger on fire and go up to the hopper so I used some baking soda. So, now I’m waiting for it to cool down and will vacuum out and put a handful of pellets back in the box and try again…

 

[hput2]

If you figure out what happened let us know!

 

[BullSmoker83]

Well, I let the ashes cool down a bit - then used a spoon to dump in a container of water. Vacuumed out the fire box really well- re started, and everything is working normally. I really just think the extreme cold weather and temps messed with the pellets and possibly gummed up the auger

 

[hput2]

Hope that’s a it was.

 

[BigDan]

Happened to me before same exact thing on my old 590. Never had it happen on my 1250. When it occurred it was extreme cold weather, only thing I could ever figure out was the cold weather and maybe moist pellets. Scared the out of me when it happened though

 

[Motodad1776]

When the pellets smolder "black sooty smoke" and it's not a clean ignition.......KABOOM!!!!!! Of course if you start up with the lid open, you'll never get a KABOOM.

 

[Greg Jones]

recteq has always said start with the lid closed. The drill for my Yoder says to never start with the lid closed. Always keep the lid open until you start seeing clean smoke. I expect there are other manufacturers that have similar instructions.

 

[edmoiler13]

recteq has always said start with the lid closed. The drill for my Yoder says to never start with the lid closed. Always keep the lid open until you start seeing clean smoke. I expect there are other manufacturers that have similar instructions.

after having this happen to me once, I now always start with the lid open. I wait for the temp to start rising at least 5-10 degrees before I close it. The extra few minutes to get to temp is worth the piece of mind to me

 

[dosmas2xs]

Well, just fired up my 700 and noticed the temp wasn’t rising, at all, for like 5 minutes. Then all of a sudden, 84, 121, and boom!!! Lid blown up. Just cleaned everything out with a vacuum about two smokes ago. Only thing I can think of is that it did drop very cold where I live lately, so perhaps it froze up the pellets inside the auger??? Really not sure. Couldn’t get the fire to go down inside the box for a long time, was actually afraid it was going to start the pellets in the auger on fire and go up to the hopper so I used some baking soda. So, now I’m waiting for it to cool down and will vacuum out and put a handful of pellets back in the box and try again…

It goes without saying but I'll say it anyways, always start with lid open

 

[Motodad1776]

I use a simple wood shim and I put under the lid until full ignition, allows enough air in/out and works like a champ.

 

[SmokeZilla]

Thanks for posting what happened. May I ask which version of the RT Bull you have? Also, what firmware version are you using. I keep seeing posts about this concern but haven’t been able to determine/isolate it to a particular time/version of the Bull. For reference, I have many years (~3) of cooks on a Generation 1 RT700 (with single band Wifi) and haven’t seen this symptom.

 

[Greg Jones]

I keep seeing posts about this concern but haven’t been able to determine/isolate it to a particular time/version of the Bull.

I’ve not seen it on my grills either, but it came close to happening once on my Bullseye. Many posts on the subject here over the years-here’s One where a security camera captured video of a 590 blowing its lid. I also recall where years ago someone posted pictures of a 680 that was so bad the fire department was called.

 

[okie]

Thanks for posting what happened. May I ask which version of the RT Bull you have? Also, what firmware version are you using. I keep seeing posts about this concern but haven’t been able to determine/isolate it to a particular time/version of the Bull. For reference, I have many years (~3) of cooks on a Generation 1 RT700 (with single band Wifi) and haven’t seen this symptom.

I've never had a kaboom either. But see no negatives to the open lid theory.

 

[Rjnelson21]

I think there could be multiple reasons for it but I believe I had two experiences with it in the last month due to a slow blower fan. I received my grill in October and love it. I’m in Minnesota. I experienced the lid pop twice, called RT after the second one. It started when the cold snap hit (-0° and below).My fan was very slow, lubricated with WD-40 and voila, no more lid pops!

 

[SmokeZilla]

I think there could be multiple reasons for it but I believe I had two experiences with it in the last month due to a slow blower fan. I received my grill in October and love it. I’m in Minnesota. I experienced the lid pop twice, called RT after the second one. It started when the cold snap hit (-0° and below).My fan was very slow, lubricated with WD-40 and voila, no more lid pops!

Interesting. Does that mean you have the latest version with the larger motor and auger? If so, that may narrow RT‘s containment efforts if others have your symptoms and hopefully preclude any potentially dangerous mishaps. Just my thoughts.

 

[Shooter]

I always start with the lid open. No particular reason just preference.

 

[Rjnelson21]

Interesting. Does that mean you have the latest version with the larger motor and auger? If so, that may narrow RT‘s containment efforts if others have your symptoms and hopefully preclude any potentially dangerous mishaps. Just my thoughts.

I do have the 3 RPM auger, updated controller running firmware ver. 2.1.2 and cast iron heat deflector. Its interesting to me that Traeger folks (my neighbors on both sides have Ironwood 885's) talk about always keeping the lid OPEN on startup and RT folks are adamant that the lid is closed. I can say that as a Boy Scout leader we always taught that a good fire needs three things. Oxygen, fuel, and ignition, therefore if my fan was sluggish or not spinning that would potentially be a big problem.

 

[SmokeZilla]

I do have the 3 RPM auger, updated controller running firmware ver. 2.1.2 and cast iron heat deflector. Its interesting to me that Traeger folks (my neighbors on both sides have Ironwood 885's) talk about always keeping the lid OPEN on startup and RT folks are adamant that the lid is closed. I can say that as a Boy Scout leader we always taught that a good fire needs three things. Oxygen, fuel, and ignition, therefore if my fan was sluggish or not spinning that would potentially be a big problem.

Rj…,

Excellent points. I haven’t heard of a lot of the older models like mine having the “Boom” mode. I will continue to track it in hopes of better understanding the failure mode. Perhaps others will post their configurations if/when they have similar issues so RT can be made aware of this issue. I don’t think it would hurt the smoker but I fear someone will be passing a grill when it happens and drop brown poopsicles or pull a muscle flinching. lol.

 

[umami mami]

Dang....just got my brand new RT700 for Christmas and I'm doing my second cook on it now. Good to know!

 

[SmokeZilla]

Dang....just got my brand new RT700 for Christmas and I'm doing my second cook on it now. Good to know!

U A Mami (hehe),

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your purchase. I am hopeful you will find this site filled with good people and great tips. You can think of it as the repository for ideas and ways to more efficiently and effectively use your Bull.

May all your cooks lead to great memories.