Parts most likely to fail on Rec Tec

[nafod81]

Hello!

So I've been hovering over every Rec Tec review I can find lately.

I took an interest in pellet grills recently after chatting with my neighbor about a Traeger. I was a charcoal fan most of my adult life, and moved over to gas once married for convenient grilling after we both got off work. I acquired a WSM shortly thereafter. As a bachelor I had an offset smoker that I believe I and the roommate really didn't know how to use appropriately.

Started chatting with the wife about a new grill(s) (I was looking into a Stampede or Trailblazer to be complimented by a BGE). She stated her preference was to get rid of the existing grills and go with a single solution.

Sold! Rec Tec Bull it is!

Anyway my one fear is that I'll have a extended family gathering and the grill will fail in some way. I know the warranty and CS are spectacular, but I don't believe I can obtain parts same day. See the WSM is a incredibly simple solution. If I have charcoal it will smoke.

So two questions:

1. Is this even something I should worry about?

2. What part(s) is it? I understand the ignition rod has a finite life, but the fire can be lit manually if needed so ok there. Problem would arise from from Auger/Fan/Controller problems. How likely are these failures? And am I nuts to consider buying spares?

Thanks,

Nafod

 

[Mike]

@nafod81 - first welcome to RecTecForum and thanks for joining.

I can understand your concern about something failing.

The one thing I could see and be most concerned about failing is your power. A storm comes through, someone gets in an accident and hits an electric pole, breaker blows, and now you're without power.

Losing power would most likely be the cause of the grill not working than any one single part on the Rec Tec pellet grill itself.

If always having your grill at the ready is a big worry then I would really consider looking into getting a generator as a backup. This will of course serve two things, a way to grill even in a power outage or disasters, but you could easily power other electronics in such an event as well.

I've owned a Honda EU3000is generator for the last few years, long before I got my Rec Tec and it's served me well many times keeping power to my refrigerator, deep freezer, lights, and TV in the house. Just a couple months ago we had a dump truck lift his bed into low power lines which caused the power to be out for a day. I was able to cook on the Rec Tec Bull with zero issues.

If having parts on hand would make you feel better though, the only thing that really comes to my mind would be the ignition rod and/or fan. That said I don't keep either on hand, just my generator.

In an event where the Rec Tec Bull was down for a couple days to wait for parts to be delivered by Rec Tec's awesome customer service, you could always swing on down to Lowes /Home Depot /Pick-your-big-box-store and buy a charcoal grill - as you know they are super cheap.

 

[wildblue]

I'm with @Mike - I've had my 680 for a year now and it's gotten a good amount of use. Rough guess, I've put 600 pounds of pellets through it. I keep it pretty clean, and it has always been in the barn or garage (with the cover on) when not in use. You should have gotten a spare fuse with yours - hang onto that, I understand those 'fail' often enough that they include a spare
Other than that, I don't see a good reason to keep spares on hand. Their customer service is legendary. If I ever had a real failure, I'd probably just move whatever I had going into the oven to finish. I don't know that I'd want to try to change the controller / fan / auger / whatever in the middle of making dinner anyway.
A generator is a decent idea. I've had a small one since Ike came through here however many years ago and we were without power for almost a week. If you want a cheaper / easier to maintain solution, get a marine battery or two and a little inverter. That should power the grill just fine to cook on.

 

[Robert Marshall]

the norm for electronics is once it cooks in for a few months it will continue to work for years, short of unforsee events. rare for an electic motor to fail short of abuse. You might break a shear pin between the motor and auger but that is the job of shear pins, should be able to find a replacement at any good hardware store. that said Murphy was an optimist and failure is more likely the more critical the operation is.