He's Back! New RT1070

Okie,

Let me start by saying I really like my particular unit and RT has been very supportive and addressed any concern I surfaced. I also think you nailed it with your great suggestion and positive action. I call it the intravenous needle process. Companies may try to put the needle in your arm when it comes to bleeding you dry for revenue, but we as consumers may need to put the needle back in their “arms” when it comes to properly and accurately stating their product’s known capabilities versus any unrealistic advertised capabilities, claimes, and/or puffery. It will be interesting to see what response you receive. Some companies are litigation risk adverse. As such, even if something makes sense, they cautiously proceed to ensure they don’t inherit liability for a pre-existing condition. From my perspecive it fits the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” phrase which in today’s terms means “if it is broke and only a small percentage of recipients/customers are complaining, don’t fix it”. (For those familiar with the ISO 9001 Business/Quality Management System‘s construct, it would be included in the “Customer Focus” and “Customer Satisfaction” sections (and others areas for that matter). This is especially true if/when a retrofit, recall or safety concern has been identified. Considering the mass market appeal of their products, I wonder if they are determining the risk/reward benefit and defaulting to a conservative position to avoid any downstream, unanticipated negative impact. This would be especially true if the new configurations solve this problem effectively. Just my thoughts.
 
Advised tonight that my comments have been referred up the totem pole for consideration and testing if indicated. I am happy with that, and will stay silent until I hear (or don't hear) from RT.
 
Advised tonight that my comments have been referred up the totem pole for consideration and testing if indicated. I am happy with that, and will stay silent until I hear (or don't hear) from RT.
Congrats. It is good to know they are looking at your comments. I am hopeful it works out for our mutual benefit. I hope RT can do some data analytics that show temperature profiles after the shutdown command is issued by the controller. Since all our cook data passes through their servers, they can probably use Microsoft’s PowerBi to extract and create a dashboard for these events. If I were looking into it I would parse the data based on XXXX seconds following issue of the Power Off command and compare the change in temperature (ramp down thermal profile and/or drop) and its decay against the original temperature when the command was issued. If it doesn’t show a normal profile such as a continuous downward slope due to instability (spikes or hanging temperatures) they can evaluate the data further to see if a trend exists. The X factor will be the fuel source, ambient temperatures (initial vs. sequential), post burn of grease or debris on the drip pan, and other issues that will have to be filtered from the data set. I am hopeful they will see a period of slight temperature rise that will indicate some abnormality. Theoretically, it seems that any temperature rise after the drop begins can be attributed to fuel burning somewhere in the smoker and preferably in the firepot (after some period of stabilization). It would be really neat if there is a thermocouple in/near the firepot that sends temperature data to the controller as part of the pellet drop rate calculation that can be used as source in lieu of the temperature sensor we rely on for the cooking chamber.

After all this hyperbole and supposition, if I knew what I was talking about everyone would be buying my grills. Sorry for the speculative ranting and the waste of your time, hehe.
 
Would be nice if the whole thing was open source, like running alt firmware on a router to give you more control (like OpenWRT) . Or if they released the api so people can do their own phone to grill communications. They could have all their tech problems fixed for free by the user community I bet.
 
Would be nice if the whole thing was open source, like running alt firmware on a router to give you more control (like OpenWRT) . Or if they released the api so people can do their own phone to grill communications. They could have all their tech problems fixed for free by the user community I bet.
I agree. If I could bash it an run linux I would do it in a heartbeat.
 
I have been lurking on this thread and it has been quite interesting. There seems to be two distinct camps. Those that have the issue and those that don’t. I have a 2+ year old Bull with the old auger motor and the “as issued” firmware. This combination has not given me any problems (knock on wood) and I cook at various temps (high and low) with different pellets, weekly. I think it would be helpful if those with problems could let us know the firmware, settings, and hardware configuration for your units. If RT is monitoring this concern, that may help further, especially for the RT1250 and RT10XX series of smokers. Also, if/when you are having problems, and trying to cool your grills, do any of you open the cooking chamber to allow excess smoke an easy point of escape instead of relying on the fan exclusively? Just wondering since I do both, leave it closed and wait for the fan to do what it is designed to do, and use the express method with it open so I can put it away sooner. My gut feel is that the “new and improved” units may not consistently behave. Any feedback is appreciated so I know what signs to look for.
I am not the smartest when it comes to the firmware stuff and programming but I understand the science behind fire and what it can do. I had the issue once earlier in the year, with the smoking hopper, and after following this forum for so long I took the advice of the masses and backed down the temp. I have not had the issue again. I have made it a practice in leaving the hood open on my 590 during cooldown and have had no issues. I believe that RT has this new technology and they’re trying to work through some issues. It’s like cell phones from inception to current, they have developed a program pretty quick and may have missed some things. They don’t know what they don’t know and we are trying to do their job figuring it out. I think collectively we have a good jump on what we want the system to do and how it should react. We need RT to listen to the concerns and implement them into the newer models and help out those that already have their product. That’s my 2 cents.
 
I am not the smartest when it comes to the firmware stuff and programming but I understand the science behind fire and what it can do. I had the issue once earlier in the year, with the smoking hopper, and after following this forum for so long I took the advice of the masses and backed down the temp. I have not had the issue again. I have made it a practice in leaving the hood open on my 590 during cooldown and have had no issues. I believe that RT has this new technology and they’re trying to work through some issues. It’s like cell phones from inception to current, they have developed a program pretty quick and may have missed some things. They don’t know what they don’t know and we are trying to do their job figuring it out. I think collectively we have a good jump on what we want the system to do and how it should react. We need RT to listen to the concerns and implement them into the newer models and help out those that already have their product. That’s my 2 cents.
FF…,

I appreciate the feedback and I agree. In my end of industry (Aerospace, Space & Defense, (including manned and unmanned space flight, missiles, and ordinance depoyment), we do exhaustive thermal cycling and demonstration/validation testing based on probability, likelihood and impact (amongst other things). I wouldn’t expect RT to have similar capabilities but based on feedback on this forum and others, hopefully they are receptive to simulating the high temp shutoff concerns with units they have at their factory. They seem (based on their YouTube channel and training forums) to use the equipment often, it would also seem logical that they have seen it first hand. I can’t wait to find out what they (and others) conclude.
 
Great comments . I am still waiting for a response from RT.
 
FF…,

I appreciate the feedback and I agree. In my end of industry (Aerospace, Space & Defense, (including manned and unmanned space flight, missiles, and ordinance depoyment), we do exhaustive thermal cycling and demonstration/validation testing based on probability, likelihood and impact (amongst other things). I wouldn’t expect RT to have similar capabilities but based on feedback on this forum and others, hopefully they are receptive to simulating the high temp shutoff concerns with units they have at their factory. They seem (based on their YouTube channel and training forums) to use the equipment often, it would also seem logical that they have seen it first hand. I can’t wait to find out what they (and others) conclude.
Holy Crap! I followed about half of what you do till i faded out. I’m just a firefighter. Lol! Your job sounds pretty intense. I assume you would have a job with RT when you retire. Have a nice day
 
Holy Crap! I followed about half of what you do till i faded out. I’m just a firefighter. Lol! Your job sounds pretty intense. I assume you would have a job with RT when you retire. Have a nice day
Or a job at Traeger, GMG, and many of the others who have same complaints registered. Seems that auger tube burn back is common in that design. That's why pellet drop grills were developed. But even they have troubles that are unique to them. I'd be happy to just improve the RT's we own. I imagine each variation of the basic design has some effect on the burn back situation. Slowing down the shut down may help or perhaps make it worse? I am anxious for a reply from RT. If any is coming. You can bet that they are aware that this is more common than they admit to. Meanwhile I am cooking.
 
Holy Crap! I followed about half of what you do till i faded out. I’m just a firefighter. Lol! Your job sounds pretty intense. I assume you would have a job with RT when you retire. Have a nice day
FFC,

There is no comparison between our careers. You guys run into what my guys run away from. Thank you for what you do and for saving lives.
 
Well I cannot contribute to this conversation in any technical way as the above have.( holy cow there are alot of smart people here) what if the people in this forum just message or call receq about this issue individually. Wouldn't that make it a larger problem than just a very small group and hopefully make them look into this seriously? I will be trying this to help add to people complaining and hoping it stirs up some action from recteq.
 
Well I cannot contribute to this conversation in any technical way as the above have.( holy cow there are alot of smart people here) what if the people in this forum just message or call receq about this issue individually. Wouldn't that make it a larger problem than just a very small group and hopefully make them look into this seriously? I will be trying this to help add to people complaining and hoping it stirs up some action from recteq.
RTF…,
Let me start by saying I am a fan of RT but also acknowledge their equipment shortcomings (based on feedback here are elsewhere) should be acknowledged. Further, I think your suggestion would stir a reaction at RT if they are/were doing any kind of trend analysis using the 5-Why, 8-D, or similar tools. Or if they have a preventive action team assigned to monitor social media sites and the plethora of independent sites such as this one. However, based on other issues I have seen on this forum, I am inclined to think they monitor/lurk behind the scenes but may not have a basis for launching a corrective action campaign until they get specific triggers versus our general comments. Examples of this would be trying to fishbone diagram causes and effects on the number of people with the backdraft fire shutdown issue that are contributed to improper maintenance and cleaning versus the actual number of issues that occur on a perfectly clean, well maintained smoker, layered with a subset of the numerous forum participants experiencing mini “lid lifting” explosions that are using non-RT authorized or lower quality pellets versus the owners that use RT’s blend or Kingsford, which they seem to endorse that have issues. As you can see from that somewhat overly dramatic scenario, narrowing down the true root cause may be difficult. In a perfect world companies/we would react to every negatively impactful scenario but from a business perspective, they may be focused on the risk model that includes safety, probability [e.g., the 80/20 rule, wherein 80 percent of a company’s problems come from 20 percent of their customers)], likelihood and impact, layered with the things that bring negative press, optics, or devalue the company, as most enterprises typically do. To counter “industry's best practices, we should attempt to ensure clear communication of our concerns, details regarding the actual events that were present and we feel induced the undesirable condition (full disclosure good and bad) and perhaps add a polling question to see if others have seen our exact scenarios. I feel that method (along with the calls as you suggested) would show up as a larger ”blip” on their radar screen and help the RT management family with their focus in performing their diagnoses and correction of errant conditions.

I look forward to any additional ideas you may have (along with other participants). Based on the traffic this site receives, perhaps RT will continue to assist us (incognito) with good preventive strategies through their numerous posts. Heck, even better, maybe this can become another sanctioned site they include as they incorporate improvements to their products, a win-win for us all.

Sorry for any typos or hanging commas. It’s early on the West Coast and I shouldn’t post while sleeping.
 
Feel like Cho Cho San waiting for Pinkerton.
 
Feel like Cho Cho San waiting for Pinkerton.
Wow. That's pretty dark. 🤣 As long as recteq dosnt leave us all for another family and take care of their kid (grills) on our own I think we will be good.
 
Perhaps a little inappropriate humor on my part.
 
Received a reply from RT tech today about my concern over auger tube burn back during shutdown from hot cooks. In summary they said that they have had the present shutdown algorithm for some time, and that the issue I am concerned about does not generate significant attention to warrant a change at this time. He thanked me for my interest and time. etc. Very nice reply.
I am thankful for the attention that was given, and their willingness to listen. I appreciate all the good comments made on this forum about this issue and have learned much about the high tech savvy on our forum. Meanwhile I am cooking on!
 
Received a reply from RT tech today about my concern over auger tube burn back during shutdown from hot cooks. In summary they said that they have had the present shutdown algorithm for some time, and that the issue I am concerned about does not generate significant attention to warrant a change at this time. He thanked me for my interest and time. etc. Very nice reply.
I am thankful for the attention that was given, and their willingness to listen. I appreciate all the good comments made on this forum about this issue and have learned much about the high tech savvy on our forum. Meanwhile I am cooking on!
I agree that a response was very nice and consistent with good customer service. I would rather have a response (positive or negative) than to be ghosted. I thought it was a little interesting that they said they have “…had the present shutdown algorithm for some time…”, as it seems there are several firmware versions released. Absent their changelog, that is just speculation on my part. It is however consistent with the results another more knowledgeable poster on this site reports:
https://www.recteqforum.com/threads/bfg-auger-motor-in-the-rt-700-its-awesome.3823/
 

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