RT-1250 I experienced the BOOM as well with my 1250

[sdynak]

Mine shook my house when it popped, but the fix is simple, just open the lid.

It’s not wise to start a fire when you’re not present anyway. I’ve seen enough pellet grill malfunction pictures and videos to know that things can happen. Fire is fire.

I like to live life on the edge.. like taking bets when it's gonna blow. Gives me excitement from time to time. Life can be boring at times.. I mean who doesn't like "exploding grill" subject lines?

 

[eric_jk]

I like to live life on the edge.. like taking bets when it's gonna blow. Gives me excitement from time to time. Life can be boring at times.. I mean who doesn't like "exploding grill" subject lines?

I agree that starting a grill away from your house is probably a bad idea. Recteq should probably exclude that as a feature on their advertisements. Also, they explicitly advised me to start my grill up with the lid closed.

 

[Aegixx]

Same issue for me on a new RT-590 (dozen or so cooks). If I don't clean the firepot before each use it smokes like crazy, and I have had 1 explosion as well. Also overshoots by about 100 degrees and I need to wait for it to cool. I'm using Bear Mountain pellets. Now I know to just open the lid so it doesn't explode but thats a pretty poor design... I'm honestly mad as hell that I have to take the grates out and vac before every cook if I want to avoid this, I was expecting a little more turnkey for the price, and that doesnt seem to match with other folks experiences. My last cook yesterday was only an hour @225 (after a fresh vac) and it happened again today when i started it up.

It seems to me like there should be a wait time on the auger in the firmware after a certain amount of pellets are dropped into the pot instead of waiting on temperature input as the trigger to stop adding pellets. The thing basically fills a firepot before it ignites then its fighting down that fire to reach a lower temperature once it gets going.

Happy with it otherwise and it cooks great food, but I don't know of any buds with Traeger/PB/Zgrillls that clean any more frequently that half a dozen cooks. Will see what custy service says, hopefully its a tweakable issue. Just wanted to add another data point.

 

[Waterboy]

@eric_jk have you checked the igniter? Some have had issues with it being somewhat recessed. It should be pretty much flush. I wonder if it is more important that the ignitor is in the correct position with the 3 RPM motor in the 1250. It’s easier to over fill the fire pot with pellets. Just a thought.

 

[Hinkdad]

@eric_jk have you checked the igniter? Some have had issues with it being somewhat recessed. It should be pretty much flush. I wonder if it is more important that the ignitor is in the correct position with the 3 RPM motor in the 1250. It’s easier to over fill the fire pot with pellets. Just a thought.

I should probably look more closely at mine, because from memory I don’t think my igniter is flush.

 

[Gonefishin]

The igniters may differ between your 1250 and my 340, but fwiw the igniter on mine goes in flush with the BACK of the igniter tube as opposed to the fire box end.

 

[Aegixx]

Heard back from custy service... Hoping this app update fixes it for me. I am impressed that they responded so quickly (but that was part of what sold me on this company in the first place!). Hope this helps some of you with the same issue.

Hey Adam,

Thank you for reaching out and welcome to the recteq family. We do apologize you have experienced a couple of lid pops. I know those can catch you by surprise. Yesterday we updated the version on the controller and that will solve your problem. If your app did not automatically update, go to the app store and make sure you get it updated. We have seen this situation with the new 590s and 1250s during colder weather and we have been able to solve this situation with the app update!

Once you update the app, go ahead and clean the fire pot and start it up like you normally would with the lid closed.

We can also double check to make sure your igniter is not recessed or a delayed start up. I can give you a quick test over the phone to check this to make sure everything is in order. What would be a good time to give you a phone call when you can be by the grill?

Best,
Austin

 

[Gonefishin]

One mans pop is another mans explosion.

 

[Chevys10zr2003]

One mans pop is another mans explosion.

This is what I thought of when I read your response.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

I like to live life on the edge..

Maybe pick up one of those DIY blowfish sushi kits. I think it'll be OK. They come with instructions.

 

[SquireJim]

Interesting....Given that all pellet poopers operate in pretty much the same manner, are y'all saying that the issue is centered on the post-cook shutdown sequence (5 minute vs 10 minute on other manufacturer's cookers)??? I'm new in here and waiting on my RT-1250...Please don't tell me I made a mistake!

 

[Hinkdad]

Interesting....Given that all pellet poopers operate in pretty much the same manner, are y'all saying that the issue is centered on the post-cook shutdown sequence (5 minute vs 10 minute on other manufacturer's cookers)??? I'm new in here and waiting on my RT-1250...Please don't tell me I made a mistake!

A recent firmware update for the 1250 looks to have fixed my “smoke pop” issue. I read some update notes somewhere where they mentioned startup in cold temperatures as I was experiencing at the time.

Feedback and tickets opened by users like us helps them roll out fixes like this.

I use mine several times a week. One of the best investments I’ve ever made.

 

[SmokyJ]

I'm going to set up my 1250 initially with no wifi connection, as I don't have any wifi in my current dwelling for the next month and a half. Will that be an issue with updating firmware? I can offer tethering wifi to my phone, if that can work in the meantime.

 

[Pacman]

I can offer tethering wifi to my phone, if that can work in the meantime.

I'm not 100% sure, but that may seems like it would work assuming Recteq does firmware updates the same way many devices do. You use a "client" (your phone) to download the firmware to it and then "push" the update from your phone to the grill over WiFi. If I were in your situation I'd probably try it. Worst case is that you can't update the firmware until everything is connected on conventional WiFi.

 

[SmokyJ]

When I asked RecTeq about the explosions and how to avoid them:

We saw those happening in the early models of the new dual band controllers but have since created a fix through the firmware. Yours should be good to go straight out of the box. If you need to update the firmware, the app will allow you do so through your phone.

If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out to us either through email or over the phone! 706-922-0890 -Drew

recteq® Support

 

[Hinkdad]

When I asked RecTeq about the explosions and how to avoid them:

Precisely what I tagged you in my reply earlier.

 

[Pete6737]

Man I just crapped myself with a lid pop! I didn’t know what this was I until I returned to the forum and found this thread. Not good for sure. I’ll attach a video if I can. This is ridiculous.

 

[Mozekian]

Man I just crapped myself with a lid pop! I didn’t know what this was I until I returned to the forum and found this thread. Not good for sure. I’ll attach a video if I can. This is ridiculous.

Pete, im sorry for the bad luck you have been having between the fires and not the "pop". That is ridiculous

 

[Pete6737]

Thank you. All I can say is I have photos of what the grill looked like before starting, since I’d been sending them to Recteq. We tested the auger, fan etc. I think the messing with those, and adding fresh pellets with burned pellets might have contributed to it. I waited a little over an hour and started it, cooked burgers, and turned it off without issue. Omg what a learning curve!

 

[sdynak]

Thank you. All I can say is I have photos of what the grill looked like before starting, since I’d been sending them to Recteq. We tested the auger, fan etc. I think the messing with those, and adding fresh pellets with burned pellets might have contributed to it. I waited a little over an hour and started it, cooked burgers, and turned it off without issue. Omg what a learning curve!

What was the reason you were messing with it before? Did you do the firmware update and this still happened?

It looks like something was still burning and not just a pop and done.

I like how Recteq call it a "pop" to downplay it. It is in fact an "explosion".