Issues with pellet feed

Barn

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Is any experiencing issues with pellets not feeding or jamming up the auger? I cannot trust this grill to run unattended. I am using the RecTeq pellets that came with the unit. About every few cooks the pellets stop feeding and the fire dies / temps dropped. It's happened few time when I was on an errand cooking some ribs. Other time during shorter higher temp cooks. The only way to resolve it to take a poke at the auger feed with the screw driver in the hopper to get the pellets unstuck,

I have reach out to RecTeq support. They tell me there is nothing wrong with the unit. When I have run a 1 hour cook at 400 with them it has worked fine. Then on the next cook it may jam again. It's happen with 250 and 400 degree cooks. It's very frustrating. Then tell me it must be the pellets either old, moisture or too long. I tell them their pellets so what is the deal.

I am getting very frustrated. It's ruined multiple family meals. I am about ready try to get my money back and try another brand.
 
As a suggestion, it might be helpful to include what recteq grill you are using and what recteq pellets you're using as well. I’ve found the Bullseye series to be sensitive to pellet selection, other recteq grills not so much.
 
Sorry, RT-1070 with RecTeq blend pellets that it was shipped with. Been having this issue since the 3rd cook. Today the support guy said oh your pellets are getting old. Or or you have some long pellets that must be it. Any excuse to make it my fault. Seems like the auger doesn't have enough force to break a pellet if it needs. I can resolve it every time by using a screw driver and poke at the auger feed. I might as well as baby sit a stick burner or green egg.

I didn't know I need to make sure to break up all the pellets into small pieces. I tried some Lumberjack pellets and it did the same. I thought maybe it was those. But it's jammed most of the time with the RT blend.

I keep any opened pellets in the garage in 5 gal sealed buckets. There is no moisture. It's happened when it's 95 or 55 degrees out.

It's been way too high maintenance so far.
 
Had mine since June, never had a jam. I’ve used 200lbs of recteq and another 100 or so Bear Mountain ( so far). I roll down the top of the bag and store it under the grill. Just saying that to show you’re even more careful with your pellets.
I would guess your motor is crap.
 
What do you mean by using a screwdriver to poke the auger feed?
 
Here is an example. I typically scoop out some of the pellets for better access to where it feed the auger. The screw driver will break the pellets and free the jam. Seems like it should have enough force to break normal pellets. About the time I think it acting normal it will do it again on the next cook. Very frustrating. It's supposed to be set it and forget it.


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That's why I say it's got to be a bad motor. Your motor has enough force to push the pellets out when everything is aligned right, but it hasn't got the torque to bust through a pellet jam.
 
I'd tend to agree with @SmokeOCD . When experimenting with different pellets where I saw some abnormally long ones, I also could hear the "crunch" of the auger motor breaking them before feeding normally.
 

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