Stampede Initial Burn in - fail 2x

[clovistnt]

Assembled my 590 earlier in the week. Using Knottywood pellets. Went to burn it in last night and it took forever to get up to 200 and then after about 30 mins, the app showed "er-2" so I just shut it down. Checked this morning and ran the self test and auger appears to be working. So tonight I start up the test again. Hit 400 after about 5-10 mins, but then about 10 mins later the app started telling me the temp was dropping. Waited about 20 mins and temp is still dropping. Ran self-test sequence and I don't hear auger turning now. I'll call customer service in the AM, but just wondering if anyone had an experience like this and what the ultimate fix was...

-Tim
(the poor sap who was really wanting to use this grill this weekend!!!)

 

[JGW]

Reviews on Knotty Wood pellets seem to run from really good to abysmal. A couple of reviews sound almost identical to your issue.

I recommend you remove them and use a known good quality pellet such as Lumberjack, Bear Mountain or even Traeger (since you can get them anywhere).

 

[clovistnt]

Reviews on Knotty Wood pellets seem to run from really good to abysmal. A couple of reviews sound almost identical to your issue.

I recommend you remove them and use a known good quality pellet such as Lumberjack, Bear Mountain or even Traeger (since you can get them anywhere).

Thanks for the reply. I'll give that a shot tomorrow!

 

[Roaniecowpony]

Recteq should give every grill customer at least 1 or 2 bags of their brand of pellets. If for nothing else but to ensure the customer gets a good machine. Probably save a bunch of customer service calls.

 

[JGW]

Recteq should give every grill customer at least 1 or 2 bags of their brand of pellets. If for nothing else but to ensure the customer gets a good machine. Probably save a bunch of customer service calls.

That could certainly reduce the amount of phone calls from new owners.

 

[C. Keeper]

I think RT should also include a quality steak to be on the safe side.

 

[ol' stonebreaker]

I think the length of pellets makes a big difference on temp control as too long pellets cause bridges in the hopper which will cause wild temp swings.

I've had good luck with Pit Boss pellets. On receiving my 340 I tried I tried traeger pellets and had wild temp swings. Recteq had me send a pic of them and they said they were too long so they sent me a free bag of theirs and it worked great. On our son's recommendation I bought Pit Boss and have had smooth sailing since.

 

[clovistnt]

For what it's worth. Continuing a little deeper into the troubleshooting. I threw some pellets into the firepot this morning. Turned the machine on and the pellets that were in the pot ignited and burned with no issue.

The auger at this point isn't turning when the machine is on normal operation or via the self test. So, I'll pull all the pellets out by hand and more than likely a shop vac and see if I can't get this auger turning. Or should I pull the bottom off of the control panel and check for a loose "yellow" wire off of the control board to make sure that I'm not just dealing with a loose wire that controls the auger.

 

[KRedman]

For what it's worth. Continuing a little deeper into the troubleshooting. I threw some pellets into the firepot this morning. Turned the machine on and the pellets that were in the pot ignited and burned with no issue.

The auger at this point isn't turning when the machine is on normal operation or via the self test. So, I'll pull all the pellets out by hand and more than likely a shop vac and see if I can't get this auger turning. Or should I pull the bottom off of the control panel and check for a loose "yellow" wire off of the control board to make sure that I'm not just dealing with a loose wire that controls the auger.

Definitely won’t hurt to check on any loose wiring. Hopefully that’s all it is.

 

[clovistnt]

Called RT support this morning. No phone tree, great experience so far. Spoke to Alton for a couple of minutes who wound up passing me along to Jamie.

Jamie showed me some tricks on how to look up at the auger motor from under the hopper and there is a white fan on the end that spins that is a good signal on whether the motor is getting power and functioning. The white fan was turning the whole time during self test sequence and during normal run. When we were going through the normal run sequence, the auger started turning after I started using a dowel to somewhat get those pellets crushed down and they started moving along.

His current theory is that the pellets are causing a log jam possibly because some of them are quite long. I grabbed some of them out of the hopper and took the picture attached. I'm now 30 minutes in to burn-in and seems to be going smoother. Looking forward to the weekend now!

 

[KRedman]

Good deal. Those pellets look interesting- almond and plum. May have to check them out.

Can't go wrong with Lumberjack if you have access to them. Half the price too.

 

[Waterboy]

Those are some long pellets! I’ve always had good experiences with Bear Mountain pellets but the last bag I put in had quite a few longer pellets in it. I’ve had to keep a lot closer eye on my cooks with this bag as I’ve had one flameout and a lot more bridging. Size matters!

 

[chadinsc]

dang! not sure i have seen a full 2inch before. thats a log. for a good cheap pellet that easy to get pittboss competition blend aswell as other pittboss flavors are at lowes and walmart. but i agree the flavor of lumber jack is pretty good, hickory is my favorite

 

[Pacman]

The Knotty Wood pellets are interesting. I've used a few bags of the almond and I have a bag of plum, but haven't figured out what to try that on yet. Most likely pork.

I can say that the Knotty Wood pellets seem to burn a little hotter, but also produce more ash than more familiar ones. They actually advertise that because they include bark in their pellets, it's closer to stick burning. I don't know how true that is, but I can confirm that they do not burn as clean. The smoke is a nice mild, but noticeable smoke.

I haven't had any feed issues, but I do have to clean out more residue out of the firepot after longer cooks.

I do like supporting small businesses, particularly those that donate a portion of their profits to veteran programs like Knotty Wood does. Accordingly, while their pellets are a little different than the garden variety stuff, I'll likely continue to keep some on hand in for more RT experiments.

I too have noticed the random sizes of pellets, but I have not had that become an issue...so far.

 

[clovistnt]

The Knotty Wood pellets are interesting. I've used a few bags of the almond and I have a bag of plum, but haven't figured out what to try that on yet. Most likely pork.

I can say that the Knotty Wood pellets seem to burn a little hotter, but also produce more ash than more familiar ones. They actually advertise that because they include bark in their pellets, it's closer to stick burning. I don't know how true that is, but I can confirm that they do not burn as clean. The smoke is a nice mild, but noticeable smoke.

I haven't had any feed issues, but I do have to clean out more residue out of the firepot after longer cooks.

I do like supporting small businesses, particularly those that donate a portion of their profits to veteran programs like Knotty Wood does. Accordingly, while their pellets are a little different than the garden variety stuff, I'll likely continue to keep some on hand in for more RT experiments.

I too have noticed the random sizes of pellets, but I have not had that become an issue...so far.

Yes that company being up in Woodland, CA and the veterans donations also swayed me to try them. I’ll just mash them up more. My neighbor does concrete construction, so maybe I’ll ask him to throw a bag into a concrete mixer to help break them up! ;-)

 

[ol' stonebreaker]

Yes that company being up in Woodland, CA and the veterans donations also swayed me to try them. I’ll just mash them up more. My neighbor does concrete construction, so maybe I’ll ask him to throw a bag into a concrete mixer to help break them up! ;-)

Doubt the mixer will break many pellets but would sure make more dust and would probably help clean his mixer.

 

[aconnell1122]

Recieved my RT-590 last week and used Knotty Wood (Plum) for initial burn as well as two subsequent smokes. No problems encountered, pretty consistent temp and really GREAT flavor. IMHO the flavor from the plum pellets was much better than that of allot of other pellets being used by some of my neighbors and friends. This weekend, I plan to use the Knotty Wood (Almond) pellets and will post my thoughts on this pellet. More to follow.....