Stampede Issues/Disappointment with RT-590 and ReqTeq

[bts316]

Hi Everybody,

This post has been a long time coming and I’m covering several different things, some of which I’ve found in common with other owners via posts on this forum. Here is the abbreviated version:

I purchased RecTeq at a premium with the expectation of superior quality and customer service. I have experienced issues with temp spikes, the drip pan, and workmanship that I will describe further below. In addition I have found that unfavorable reviews of their products are disregarded, which I find to be deceptive and unbecoming the brand. I hate the idea of having to overinvest my time to troubleshoot what I expected to be a Cadillac, not a fixer-upper.​

To begin, I was in the market for a new unit as my gasser was on it’s last legs. A couple of friends highly recommended RecTeq and so I started on my journey down the reviews and YouTube rabbit hole to research my options. While RecTeq was higher in price than competing models I considered, I justified this given the all-stainless drum, superior PID, reputation for service, that it would serve as an all-in-one (sold my electric smoker to offset cost), and of course because they look really cool. I was able to negotiate a slight discount beyond what was already published to the site, and I was on my way.

When my unit arrived last October, I assembled and had my first test runs. Even at low temps, the first couple of runs saw slight spikes over the set point. I’m talking… set at 225 or 250, it would jump 5-10 above, then settle-in after 5-10 minutes. Not a huge deal, and I attributed this to the computer learning and it would probably self-resolve.

When I did my burn-in cook a day or two later, sticking to the guidance of chicken thighs, things got worse. I set a temperature of 425 degrees, and let them go. The grill jumped to at least 477, and coupled with my drip pan issue (described later), created a grease fire. Now I made it through this cook, then continued testing the grill at higher temps without any food. The spikes continued but were not as dramatic, ranging anywhere from 10-20 degrees above set point, all eventually settling back.

I contacted ReqTeq with this information, spent a few days emailing results from the app, etc… with what eventually resulted in the Tech attributing all of this to remnant grease. Probably burnt through a good 20 lbs pellets on tests in the process. While remnant grease may have been somewhat logical, I felt it was a cop out, that they were only interested in identifying something quick and easy to make me go away. As I continue to have the issue, I think my gut was correct.

I’m now ~ 5 months in and continue to experience similar results whenever cooking at higher temps (400 and above). The situation would be more manageable if not for the fact that when tending to the food mid-cook, I need to lift the lid. This results of course in some temp loss, and when it tries to re-establish the set-point, I get another spike. Rinse and repeat.

Moving on to the drip pan issues… I have my RT-590 placed on a level surface, an outside deck. The tilt of the drip pan I assumed would be enough to carry any grease into the disposal without further assistance but this has not been the case for me. Per above, I’ve had issues with grease fires, resulting from the grease simply not making it off of the pan (in combination with temp spikes). I started off lining with foil, and ensured it was as flat and smooth as possible on the pan. I later moved on to elevating the hopper-side of the grill to ensure sufficient tilt. I also tried the overpriced RecTeq custom drip pan liner, which failed after the 1st cook, due to another grease fire. The curious thing to me, is the portion of the pan directly above the pot gets so hot, that at times there is a visible outline in the foil. I’ve even had the foil crumble and disintegrate in a ring shape (matching the shape of the pot) after one use. The damn thing gets so hot that any grease which makes contact, it seems like it just collects there and either sticks creating a mess, or eventually catches fire.

A couple more issues… I noticed on initial assembly one of the screws that fastens the drum to the legs was poorly installed (angled, not flush), leaving a slight air gap from the drum to the exterior. Some heat escapes and has created an anodized look on the stainless portion of the front of my grill. Not huge, but another detractor. Also, the orange-red high temp sealant which was applied across the seams of the drum has all but crumbled away and burnt off. Don’t know if this is something I should be concerned with?

Yet another frustration regarding performance is that I expected the smoke to be significantly more at the low setting, similar to my electric smoker. I have been able to compensate for the most part using a smoke tube, but that was another learning curve.

Regarding the product reviews… I left a deserved 2-star review for the custom drip pan liner over 2 weeks ago. Immediately after I received the automated email reply, stating the contribution would be reviewed. Well… seems like pooey to me. There has been no follow-up, and I am of the impression it will be ignored. Shame on you RecTeq.

Other information… I have used various reputable pellets and am currently running Bear Mountain. Different pellets have made no difference. I regularly remove ash after every 3rd/4th cook. I have not adjusted the feed rate to this point, but appears this may be a logical next step.

So, to summarize:

• Purchased for superior quality despite higher cost point.
• Over-temp issues combined with drip-pan issues = grease fires.
• Unsure if issue with the screw and sealant are of concern.
• My otherwise beautiful looking grill has to sit on ugly lifters to allow grease to flow, and I am only comfortable using at temps below 400.
• Believe that RecTeq ignores unfavorable reviews.

In fairness, I have not yet invested the necessary time to register my issues with RecTeq Customer Service, as have been languishing the idea of weeks of back and forth as has been reported in other threads. As mentioned above, I was not happy the first time around with Service and don’t want to go through it again. Probably no other choice unless the forum saves me.

I know I’m throwing a lot of complaints here. I really do want this thing to work, but I’m already soured on the experience thus far. It’s frustrating to think it is going to require extensive effort on my part, which is NOT what I expected.

I guess what I’m looking for are any suggestions, consolations, whatever you got. I do not plan on cooking much as I’m currently in the middle of an Ohio winter, about 23 degrees right now. So I appreciate any help but may be a little slow to try suggestions that involve, sending pics, etc.

Thanks gang!

 

[Gonefishin]

Feel better? just so you know RT has nothing to do with this forum, no idea if they actually read these type of posts.

Much of what I quickly read is normal, the temp takes a little to settle in when coming up to temp, changing temp, or opening the lid, in the long run the bumps mean nothing. The red hot drip pan sounds like you don’t have a heat deflector installed.

 

[pungo]

Just so you know, this is far from a "Cadillac" smoker, it's made in China from thin wall materials at a good price point making it affordable.

As far as smoke goes, pellet smokers can't compete with an offset smoker, it's a tradeoff with less smoke for the convenience of using pellets and hands off operation.
Yes, opening the lid will cause temp variations, we're talking pellets on fires here, it's not going to be super accurate, especially when opening the lid.

Maybe you're just expecting too much from this cooking device.

I'm not defending RT, I use mine and cook awesome food and have very few complaints for what I paid for it.

 

[Motodad1776]

I'm a central Ohio Buckeye, been using my 590 non stop for almost 2 years now.......no issues at all like what you are describing and I am using mine as I type this "smoked chili". It just sounds to not be factory sorted out, you gotta tweak the settings a bit to perhaps make it run better if you haven't done so, or maybe Rectec will send you a another display/CPU.

Oh and for the record, I also have "2" buddies with less than 6 month old 590's that run/perform just like mine. I know none of this is helpful, but rest assured most owners aren't having problems.

 

[kstone113]

Some of the issues you are describing like temps overshooting seems like a bad controller to me. Unless the stampede is significantly different than the Bull's controller(which I believe they are the same), I rarely if ever had big overshoots unless I have the grill open for awhile doing something with the food. One thing to note, I do have like a 3 year old Bull which has the 2.0 rpm auger motor so perhaps with the newer faster auger motors, temp overshoots might be slightly normal but I'm not sure.

As far as the drip pan, I'm not sure to be honest. I am a foil pan person but I pretty much exclusively use my Bull for smoking. When I cook chicken wings, I start on low and eventually go up to 375 to 425 and never have a grease fire. I have noticed if I go up to 500 (or close to it), I may get one if that pan has grease on it.

I've worked with RecTeq customer support numerous time and always had a good experience. My Bull has worked as advertised.

I also went down the rabbit hole of finding negative RecTeq reviews and did find some. None enough to scare me away though.

I eventually got the Bullseye because I found while the Bull(or Stamede) can grill, they are a smoker first and grill second. Whereas the Bullseye is a grill first and smoker second. Looking back if I just wanted a grill that can smoke, the bullseye is the best choice and cheaper. But I did want a smoker and a grill.

As far as premimum price tag, I'm not sure what you are compairing to. RecTeq is a different catagory than like a Pitt Boss or Camp Chef or something like that in my opinion. RecTeq is usually compared to Traeger(way cheaper) or like a Yoder(still cheaper). So I am a little puzzled by that comment. I chose RecTeq because of the quality and price point compared to your higher end pellet grills.

I think it is typically a pain in the ass to work with any customer service from any company but I will say that they are my favorite customer serivce to work with.

Hope you get things figured out!

 

[SmokeOCD]

ChatGPT write a Recteq complaint for me....

 

[PRC]

The red hot drip pan sounds like you don’t have a heat deflector installed.

I had this happen once. After vacuuming out the fire pot, I forgot to move the heat deflector back over the fire pot!

 

[LarryCTN]

I have had my 590 since December 2021, but have not experienced most of the issues you have described. I quit trying to use the app early on, based on sage advice all over this forum, and purchased a Signals from Thermoworks. I never had an expectation of a steady, never deviating, temperature from a pellet grill of any brand. I came from the Big Green Egg family. Sorry you have had the issues you have described at length. Hope you will find a pellet grill/smoker more to you likeing.

 

[Jim6820]

Some temperature fluctuation is to be expected; that’s how pellet grills with a PID controller. They just can’t maintain an exact temperature; rather, they maintain an average temperature. So temperature swings of up to 20-30F are very normal. The oven in your kitchen stove works the same way. And, these swings will have absolutely no effect on cooking results.

How are you measuring your grill temperatures? If you are relying on the RT probes, you may find that they aren’t very accurate. That’s why many of us use third-party heat measuring devices rather than relying on the RT probes. A quick search of the forum for “thermometer,” “grill temperature” or something similar should turn up quite a number of choices for heat measuring devices. I like the ThermoWorks Signals or Smoke units, but there are other good choices out there as well.

Do pursue your issues with Recteq. They can sometimes be a bit stubborn, but usually wind up resolving issues to the customer’s satisfaction.

 

[bts316]

Feel better? just so you know RT has nothing to do with this forum, no idea if they actually read these type of posts.

Much of what I quickly read is normal, the temp takes a little to settle in when coming up to temp, changing temp, or opening the lid, in the long run the bumps mean nothing. The red hot drip pan sounds like you don’t have a heat deflector installed.

Yes, this is cathartic. I had zero expectations of anyone affiliated with RecTeq reading or responding. My thoughts were the passionate community may offer help that I would better receive.

Heat deflector is installed, but thanks for the thought.

 

[bts316]

Just so you know, this is far from a "Cadillac" smoker, it's made in China from thin wall materials at a good price point making it affordable.

As far as smoke goes, pellet smokers can't compete with an offset smoker, it's a tradeoff with less smoke for the convenience of using pellets and hands off operation.
Yes, opening the lid will cause temp variations, we're talking pellets on fires here, it's not going to be super accurate, especially when opening the lid.

Maybe you're just expecting too much from this cooking device.

I'm not defending RT, I use mine and cook awesome food and have very few complaints for what I paid for it.

Thanks for the reply. The smoke level was a minor frustration. I don't think expecting consistent performance and functionality is asking too much, but I could be wrong there.

 

[bts316]

I had this happen once. After vacuuming out the fire pot, I forgot to move the heat deflector back over the fire pot!

LOL. Yeah... I should've let it rewrite my post for clarity at least.

 

[bts316]

Some of the issues you are describing like temps overshooting seems like a bad controller to me. Unless the stampede is significantly different than the Bull's controller(which I believe they are the same), I rarely if ever had big overshoots unless I have the grill open for awhile doing something with the food. One thing to note, I do have like a 3 year old Bull which has the 2.0 rpm auger motor so perhaps with the newer faster auger motors, temp overshoots might be slightly normal but I'm not sure.

As far as the drip pan, I'm not sure to be honest. I am a foil pan person but I pretty much exclusively use my Bull for smoking. When I cook chicken wings, I start on low and eventually go up to 375 to 425 and never have a grease fire. I have noticed if I go up to 500 (or close to it), I may get one if that pan has grease on it.

I've worked with RecTeq customer support numerous time and always had a good experience. My Bull has worked as advertised.

I also went down the rabbit hole of finding negative RecTeq reviews and did find some. None enough to scare me away though.

I eventually got the Bullseye because I found while the Bull(or Stamede) can grill, they are a smoker first and grill second. Whereas the Bullseye is a grill first and smoker second. Looking back if I just wanted a grill that can smoke, the bullseye is the best choice and cheaper. But I did want a smoker and a grill.

As far as premimum price tag, I'm not sure what you are compairing to. RecTeq is a different catagory than like a Pitt Boss or Camp Chef or something like that in my opinion. RecTeq is usually compared to Traeger(way cheaper) or like a Yoder(still cheaper). So I am a little puzzled by that comment. I chose RecTeq because of the quality and price point compared to your higher end pellet grills.

I think it is typically a pain in the ass to work with any customer service from any company but I will say that they are my favorite customer serivce to work with.

Hope you get things figured out!

Thanks, found this helpful. I was comparing to a boatload of models from various manufacturers that I would categorize as a grade below the 500. For example, non wifi, +/- 20 degree holds, etc. I don't remember all the different ones I considered, I trashed the comparative excel file I made at the time. What I meant to say, was that of hose I considered with the competition generally being lesser models, I talked myself into the 590 for the perceived quality.

 

[mikeporter616]

Just my $0.02, but I find the 590 to be an excellent low and slow cooker. I'm not into a big smoke flavor, so I don't find that an issue. I didn't have much luck with the hot and fast cooks on it and bought a Bullseye that excels in that kind of cooking. If most of my cooks were a 400 and above, I'd definitely want the Bullseye and not the Stampede.

 

[bts316]

I'm a central Ohio Buckeye, been using my 590 non stop for almost 2 years now.......no issues at all like what you are describing and I am using mine as I type this "smoked chili". It just sounds to not be factory sorted out, you gotta tweak the settings a bit to perhaps make it run better if you haven't done so, or maybe Rectec will send you a another display/CPU.

Oh and for the record, I also have "2" buddies with less than 6 month old 590's that run/perform just like mine. I know none of this is helpful, but rest assured most owners aren't having problems.

O-H... and thanks. Chili sounds great, what time we eating?

 

[bts316]

Some temperature fluctuation is to be expected; that’s how pellet grills with a PID controller. They just can’t maintain an exact temperature; rather, they maintain an average temperature. So temperature swings of up to 20-30F are very normal. The oven in your kitchen stove works the same way. And, these swings will have absolutely no effect on cooking results.

How are you measuring your grill temperatures? If you are relying on the RT probes, you may find that they aren’t very accurate. That’s why many of us use third-party heat measuring devices rather than relying on the RT probes. A quick search of the forum for “thermometer,” “grill temperature” or something similar should turn up quite a number of choices for heat measuring devices. I like the ThermoWorks Signals or Smoke units, but there are other good choices out there as well.

Do pursue your issues with Recteq. They can sometimes be a bit stubborn, but usually wind up resolving issues to the customer’s satisfaction.

Temps I've referenced are ambient through the app. Haven't had any issues with the probes, and also use some wireless probes (don't remember the manufacturer). In my case the factory ones perform fine for my standards.

 

[bts316]

Just my $0.02, but I find the 590 to be an excellent low and slow cooker. I'm not into a big smoke flavor, so I don't find that an issue. I didn't have much luck with the hot and fast cooks on it and bought a Bullseye that excels in that kind of cooking. If most of my cooks were a 400 and above, I'd definitely want the Bullseye and not the Stampede.

I want it ALL, LOL. No... that makes sense and is consist with my experience.

 

[bts316]

Thanks to everybody so far. As expected, I think I may be gearing up for troubleshooting with RecTec. Not what I want, but seems inevitable if I want resolution.

Hoping to see a few more comments. Maybe someone has had similar experiences?

Any thoughts on the screw that is not flush and the sealant burning off? Seems minor but I'd hate for it to lead to problems down the road.

 

[Jim6820]

Temps I've referenced are ambient through the app. Haven't had any issues with the probes, and also use some wireless probes (don't remember the manufacturer). In my case the factory ones perform fine for my standards.

Sorry to say, but my experience with the app has left me not believing anything I see on it. I no longer even try to get it connected. IMO, it is probably the biggest failure in the Recteq line.

 

[bts316]

Sorry to say, but my experience with the app has left me not believing anything I see on it. I no longer even try to get it connected. IMO, it is probably the biggest failure in the Recteq line.

Interesting, might be something I test in that case. Even if somewhat inaccurate, I suspect it would still be fairly precise? In my case, I do know temp spikes occur, it's just a matter of how sever. I think RecTeq claims +/- 5 degree fluctuation control, whereas others have commented to expect closer to 20, which is a figure I have seen claimed by other manufacturers.