Help! No Smoke!

[BethV]

Thank you all for helping me and trying to figure this situation out. Fortunately, the meat was great. Slightly over done for our taste but it was still very tasty meat. It was a prime tomahawk that we purchased at Costco and would do it again in a heartbeat.

I will definitely share when I hear back from customer support.

I will try cooking again tomorrow with different pellets and see if that makes a difference.

Have a wonderful Labor Day everyone and thank you again for being there for me.

This forum is the best!!

Beth

 

[charlesrshell]

Thank you all for helping me and trying to figure this situation out. Fortunately, the meat was great. Slightly over done for our taste but it was still very tasty meat. It was a prime tomahawk that we purchased at Costco and would do it again in a heartbeat.

I will definitely share when I hear back from customer support.

I will try cooking again tomorrow with different pellets and see if that makes a difference.

Have a wonderful Labor Day everyone and thank you again for being there for me.

This forum is the best!!

Beth

You have a good one too @BethV

 

[Mikeonthelake]

For some reason, my 590 is not producing any smoke. I use this very often. In fact last night without any issue. Today I set it to 225. For the first time I got a message that it was offline. I unplugged it plugged it back in and it's fine. Howeverr, at 225 there's absolutely no smoke.

I pulled the racks out I lifted the drip pan and the deflector and there is definitely a fire with pellets in the fire box.

I changed out the pellets today but that's something I do all the time. Vacuumed out the ash in the firebox this morning. I only do that about every 5 cooks or so.

There is definitely something wrong and I don't know how to fix it. I have a very large tomahawk steak on there that I don't want to mess up. Aug rate is 3.0

Any ideas? It is 114 degrees but that should not stop it from smoking.

Thanks!

Thanks!

Wow! 114 degrees! Maybe because it is so hot it takes very little fire in the firepot to maintain temp. Wondering if not much fire means very little or no smoke.

 

[BethV]

Wow! 114 degrees! Maybe because it is so hot it takes very little fire in the firepot to maintain temp. Wondering if not much fire means very little or no smoke.

@Mikeonthelake had I not cooked on it yesterday when it was 111, I would think that the temperature outside had something to do with it. Everything was fine yesterday. The only difference today is that I changed pellets. I've used these pellets before but they were both new bags. This is crazy weather we're having in Southern California. Unprecedented. The last thing I planned on doing today was to be outside babysitting my smoker. Especially watching the fire pot and the pellets dropping down into it for a long time. It was hot on hot!

 

[Clm65]

Seems like there were only 2 differences from your previous successful smokes - new pellets and higher than normal ambient temp. I agree with the others, that it sounds like the pellets are the problem. But you may also try running your smoker at night or in the morning, when it is cooler out, to see if I makes a difference and rule ambient temperature out of the equation.

 

[BethV]

Seems like there were only 2 differences from your previous successful smokes - new pellets and higher than normal ambient temp. I agree with the others, that it sounds like the pellets are the problem. But you may also try running your smoker at night or in the morning, when it is cooler out, to see if I makes a difference and rule ambient temperature out of the equation.

@Clm65 that's exactly what I'm going to do this morning using RT pellets. Just to see if I get any smoke. Thanks!

 

[Clm65]

@Clm65 that's exactly what I'm going to do this morning using RT pellets. Just to see if I get any smoke. Thanks!

If it’s not too late, I would recommend trying it this morning before you swap the pellets. And then try again with the RT pellets. Changing only one variable at a time will confirm which was the true cause. Only using different pellets at a cooler temperature will not tell you which one was the problem. Good luck and let us know what happens!

 

[BethV]

UPDATE:
Problem Solved! It's the outdoor temperature that caused it to stop smoking.

I got up this morning (temps outside 73 degrees). I removed all of the questionable pellets except for the small amount that was in the auger. Added RT pellets (just a small amount to make sure I could monitor the auger). Fire box looked normal (took a photo in case I needed it).

Set the temp to LO (180) and within a few minutes there was smoke. A lot of it. More than I would normally expect. And it smelled like pellet smoke. That smoke would be coming from the pellets from yesterday that were already in the auger. The RT pellets never even got to the fire pot. She's back!

I smoked chicken the day before yesterday. It was about 111 degrees when I was doing that and I had no smoke issues. Yesterday it was 114 but my Thermoworks Smoke X said it was 118 where the grill was located (in shade with a ceiling fan going).

In the heat of the day, I was able to turn the grill off yesterday, restart it at LO. I let it run to about 210 and it never smoked (I did this when I was trying to figure it out). So I decided just to cook the tomahawk anyway, I had trouble keeping it under 265 by that time.

So the moral of this story is that it's not in my best interest to smoke when the weather is super high. This is very unusual for Southern California. Thank goodness!! I know many of you live in areas that have these high temps. It just did not work for me.

Thank you all for coming to my aid. On a holiday weekend yet!! I truly appreciate it.
Grateful that my grill is healthy and smoking and life again feels normal (sorta).

Happy Labor Day!
Beth

 

[BethV]

If it’s not too late, I would recommend trying it this morning before you swap the pellets. And then try again with the RT pellets. Changing only one variable at a time will confirm which was the true cause. Only using different pellets at a cooler temperature will not tell you which one was the problem. Good luck and let us know what happens!

@clm56. Not too late. There were yesterday's pellets in the auger. Those would have to burn down before it got to the RT pellets. There was smoke within a couple of minutes of turning it on LO.

 

[Mastertech59]

I am new to the pellet world but I am pretty sure there are heating pellets and cooking pellets. Two different breeds. @Mastertech59 help help. Good idea, could be a bad batch too. Help everyone. Is there a way to tell if you have a bad batch of pellets? Some kind of smell test!!

Yes heating pellets and cooking pellets are different, about the only thing they have in common is there made out of wood. Many heating pellets use soft woods that I love for heating, more BTUs per pound of pellets, but would be terrible for smoking and cooking.

 

[charlesrshell]

Yes heating pellets and cooking pellets are different, about the only thing they have in common is there made out of wood. Many heating pellets use soft woods that I love for heating, more BTUs per pound of pellets, but would be terrible for smoking and cooking.

Thanks @Mastertech59. I remembered reading about all your pellets you had for heating. Looks like Beth has figured out the problem.

 

[Fhughes]

I smoked chicken the day before yesterday. It was about 111 degrees when I was doing that and I had no smoke issues. Yesterday it was 114 but my Thermoworks Smoke X said it was 118 where the grill was located (in shade with a ceiling fan going).

I haven’t noticed whether or not the temp is affecting mine. I’m just a few hours north and around 110 today, so I‘ll look when I start mine today

 

[BethV]

I haven’t noticed whether or not the temp is affecting mine. I’m just a few hours north and around 110 today, so I‘ll look when I start mine today

@Fhughes you will probably be fine with that temp. I was. Yesterday was a different animal!

 

[Fhughes]

@BethV my mom lives in Arizona close to Lake Havasu and it gets 120+ over there. She has my old traeger and never has smoke issues.

 

[Beach Bum]

Well that was quite an adventure. Glad things are back to normal this morning. I wonder how warm it was inside your smoker before you lit the fire pot. I know mine was north of 130 degrees inside with an air temperature of close to 100 and partial shade on our patio. Glendale was definitely hotter.

 

[BethV]

Well that was quite an adventure. Glad things are back to normal this morning. I wonder how warm it was inside your smoker before you lit the fire pot. I know mine was north of 130 degrees inside with an air temperature of close to 100 and partial shade on our patio. Glendale was definitely hotter.

@Beach Bum One I hope not to repeat anytime soon. It was brutal. Nothing like standing over the fire box watching pellets drop for what seems like forever in 118 degree heat. That's a good question you are asking. I could have easily measured that with my Smoke X. That may be a good gauge in the future for me to consider before committing to a cook in crazy temps.

 

[TexasManInCajunLand]

I would be willing to bet my paycheck that it had absolutely nothing to do with temp outside and everything to do with the pellets.

I live in SW Louisiana where our August temps range from 110-115 or so and I haven't experienced this issue at all. Even cooking at 275-300 I'm still getting good smoke.

Again, my money is on the pellets being the issue.

 

[BethV]

I would be willing to bet my paycheck that it had absolutely nothing to do with temp outside and everything to do with the pellets.

I live in SW Louisiana where our August temps range from 110-115 or so and I haven't experienced this issue at all. Even cooking at 275-300 I'm still getting good smoke.

Again, my money is on the pellets being the issue.

@TexasManInCajunLand I ran the pellets from yesterday this morning and it started to smoke immediately. That tells me it's not the pellets. Had it not smoked this morning right away, I would have thought the same thing. I didn't even need to try the RT pellets.

@Beach Bum made a good point. I can't even imagine how hot the interior of the 590 was prior to starting it up. Maybe that temp was already so hot that the grill reacted the same way it would if I were running it at 275. Then I would not really expect too much smoke if any at all.

For future cooks on seriously hot days, I will check the internal temp of the grill. And at least keep the lid open to let out some of the hot air. I started that cook yesterday at 3:00 pm. Right at the peak of heat.

 

[charlesrshell]

Have you heard back from RT @BethV?

 

[BethV]

Have you heard back from RT @BethV?

@charlesrshell No Charlie. I did not hear back from them but I'm sure they will eventually get to it. They have the best customer support.