Rec Tec 340 problem holding lower temps?

JP 1150

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  1. Trailblazer
Recently purchased a Rec Tec 340, had a chargriller akorn forever and wanted something "easier," heard great things about Rec Tec and the 340 was in my price range.

Had a question about lower temps on the grill, mainly 225-250. If you are looking at the grill, the hotspots are on the right side and along the front and back edges... no biggie, figure the heat shield is pushing hot air to the edges and around the drip pan.

If the grill is set to 250 the far right edge is around 300-310, front edge 280ish, middle of grill around 265ish. Nothing scientific on my part, just maverick thermometer and the two that came with the grill. Several cooks verified right side cooks faster... again no biggie I can rotate the food or keep stuff on the left.

Did a brisket when I got the grill, wanted it 250 so I ran the grill at 225 to offset the fact certain parts of grill are hotter. 5 hours into the smoke, the grill just flamed out. Saw temperature was dropping well below 200 and only thing I could hear was the fan. Took everything out and saw the firepot was empty. Turned off the grill, cleaned out the interior, turned it back on and ran it at 250 rest of the way.

In a week since having the grill done several cooks around 350-500... burgers, chicken, steak... no problem.

Picked up a pork shoulder and wanted to run it lower, 225, so set the grill to run at 215 ... that kept the very middle of the grill around 215-240. 2 hours in, I see temp drop and check on the grill and can only hear the fan.

Turn grill off, take everything out, and see fire pot is empty. Clean everything out... throw some pellets in the pot and turn it back on. Auger barely spins and I can see that there are no visible pellets in the auger. Auger spins maybe a full turn and then stops, just hear the fan. Turn the grill on and off several times, still no pellets come out and the igniter rod is not getting hot at all to ignite the pellets in the pot.

Begin checking the hopper to see if there is any type of jam, but unable to check everything because of the metal grate about 3/4 of the way down.

At some point, 10-15 minutes of the grill running and just hearing the fan, the auger starts spinning and puts pellets in the pot... takes a while for the igniter rod to turn on but eventually it does. Driving me crazy, trying to troubleshoot what caused grill to flame out, why the grill did not want to start again, and then all of a sudden it decides to start working.

I was using B&B wood pellets that I grabbed at Kroger. I realize there are differences in pellets, but B&B is a big brand and I did not see any obvious obstructions and they were dry when I put them in the hopper.

Outside temp was mid 60's, a little windy, grill on a covered patio and turned it so neither the front or back is directly in the wind.

Has anyone had similar issues with the 340, if so how did you fix it? I changed the settings on the auger feeder from default of 60 to 40, will see if it helps on the next long cook.

Had the grill a total of one week, so pretty frustrated ... I realize things have issues and its a pipe dream to chase a constant temp for 12+ hours, but I want to figure out if it is something I can fix or if this grill cannot maintain 225ish for an extended amount of time. Sorry for the long initial post, just a buzzkill having some issues with brand new grill.
 
I would recommend calling RecTec
Screenshot_20200509-055925_Chrome.jpg
 
Recently purchased a Rec Tec 340, had a chargriller akorn forever and wanted something "easier," heard great things about Rec Tec and the 340 was in my price range.

Had a question about lower temps on the grill, mainly 225-250. If you are looking at the grill, the hotspots are on the right side and along the front and back edges... no biggie, figure the heat shield is pushing hot air to the edges and around the drip pan.

If the grill is set to 250 the far right edge is around 300-310, front edge 280ish, middle of grill around 265ish. Nothing scientific on my part, just maverick thermometer and the two that came with the grill. Several cooks verified right side cooks faster... again no biggie I can rotate the food or keep stuff on the left.

Did a brisket when I got the grill, wanted it 250 so I ran the grill at 225 to offset the fact certain parts of grill are hotter. 5 hours into the smoke, the grill just flamed out. Saw temperature was dropping well below 200 and only thing I could hear was the fan. Took everything out and saw the firepot was empty. Turned off the grill, cleaned out the interior, turned it back on and ran it at 250 rest of the way.

In a week since having the grill done several cooks around 350-500... burgers, chicken, steak... no problem.

Picked up a pork shoulder and wanted to run it lower, 225, so set the grill to run at 215 ... that kept the very middle of the grill around 215-240. 2 hours in, I see temp drop and check on the grill and can only hear the fan.

Turn grill off, take everything out, and see fire pot is empty. Clean everything out... throw some pellets in the pot and turn it back on. Auger barely spins and I can see that there are no visible pellets in the auger. Auger spins maybe a full turn and then stops, just hear the fan. Turn the grill on and off several times, still no pellets come out and the igniter rod is not getting hot at all to ignite the pellets in the pot.

Begin checking the hopper to see if there is any type of jam, but unable to check everything because of the metal grate about 3/4 of the way down.

At some point, 10-15 minutes of the grill running and just hearing the fan, the auger starts spinning and puts pellets in the pot... takes a while for the igniter rod to turn on but eventually it does. Driving me crazy, trying to troubleshoot what caused grill to flame out, why the grill did not want to start again, and then all of a sudden it decides to start working.

I was using B&B wood pellets that I grabbed at Kroger. I realize there are differences in pellets, but B&B is a big brand and I did not see any obvious obstructions and they were dry when I put them in the hopper.

Outside temp was mid 60's, a little windy, grill on a covered patio and turned it so neither the front or back is directly in the wind.

Has anyone had similar issues with the 340, if so how did you fix it? I changed the settings on the auger feeder from default of 60 to 40, will see if it helps on the next long cook.

Had the grill a total of one week, so pretty frustrated ... I realize things have issues and its a pipe dream to chase a constant temp for 12+ hours, but I want to figure out if it is something I can fix or if this grill cannot maintain 225ish for an extended amount of time. Sorry for the long initial post, just a buzzkill having some issues with brand new grill.
Did you check your feed rate? It’s usually stock at 6.5% but I had to adjust mine down and had the exact same issue you did on the 590.
 
I agree with the above. Check the feed rate first, mainly because RT will have you do that first off more than likely.Then if it still give you issues, call them. I hear they have great CS. Fortunately, I haven't had to use them.
 
I have run my 340 at 225 on pork shoulders and ribs several times and have not had a single problem. I am using RT pellets. I have not changed any settings.

I would call or email RT. I would also try to re set feed rate to factory defaults
 
Just giving an update... yesterday pork shoulder had grill set at 215 to keep inside 225-250, ran 2 hours and then died. Had to power it down, then for some reason took 30+ minutes to get going again... just fan blowing, igniter rod and auger never turned on and then it all of a sudden it starts, when i start it usually its 10ish min and its getting pretty hot. Made me think the brain or little elf that lives in the grill is double checking stuff to make sure it works before it starts again?

Eventually turns back on, 4 hours after that same thing... temp crashes, fan is on, but grill never fires back up... turn it off, 30 min to get fired up, and its been running 7+ hours.

Called Rec Tec this morning and they want to go through a test mode of all parts, will have to wait until pork is done. Spoke with Trish, she was nice, brought up basic troubleshooting regarding making sure high quality pellets, is the grill internal thermometer damaged, spoke about feed rate... said 3.0 should be fine because i live in TX, but during colder temperatures keep it at factory 6.5. Thought it was some crazy science wizard setting regarding auger speed or number of pellets, she was like it just means auger turns on for 3 seconds at a time instead of 6.5... I'll give them credit, they answered the phone on a saturday and said they want to fix the issue.

I'll let you guys know later how test mode goes. Told them the confusing thing is the grill knows the internal temp is low because it is saying its 100 in your grill, you want 250, but we are not firing up. I do not know the internals of the grill, are there other thermometers inside getting data other than the one thats on the left hand side? The main display is recognizing that grill temp is low but something is telling it not to start back up. Made me think the grill is some kind of super computer with a safety feature built in that is identifying an issue and shutting down the auger/igniter rod.

Thought jam or issue with the auger, but the auger eventually turns back on 30 min later. Who knows may be simple as B&B pellets i bought suck and I'll chalk it up to user error and I should not have doubted the grill. Got a bag of bear mountain pellets I will try later today and see if I have same issue.

Thanks for replies
 
Recently purchased a Rec Tec 340, had a chargriller akorn forever and wanted something "easier," heard great things about Rec Tec and the 340 was in my price range.

Had a question about lower temps on the grill, mainly 225-250. If you are looking at the grill, the hotspots are on the right side and along the front and back edges... no biggie, figure the heat shield is pushing hot air to the edges and around the drip pan.

If the grill is set to 250 the far right edge is around 300-310, front edge 280ish, middle of grill around 265ish. Nothing scientific on my part, just maverick thermometer and the two that came with the grill. Several cooks verified right side cooks faster... again no biggie I can rotate the food or keep stuff on the left.

Did a brisket when I got the grill, wanted it 250 so I ran the grill at 225 to offset the fact certain parts of grill are hotter. 5 hours into the smoke, the grill just flamed out. Saw temperature was dropping well below 200 and only thing I could hear was the fan. Took everything out and saw the firepot was empty. Turned off the grill, cleaned out the interior, turned it back on and ran it at 250 rest of the way.

In a week since having the grill done several cooks around 350-500... burgers, chicken, steak... no problem.

Picked up a pork shoulder and wanted to run it lower, 225, so set the grill to run at 215 ... that kept the very middle of the grill around 215-240. 2 hours in, I see temp drop and check on the grill and can only hear the fan.

Turn grill off, take everything out, and see fire pot is empty. Clean everything out... throw some pellets in the pot and turn it back on. Auger barely spins and I can see that there are no visible pellets in the auger. Auger spins maybe a full turn and then stops, just hear the fan. Turn the grill on and off several times, still no pellets come out and the igniter rod is not getting hot at all to ignite the pellets in the pot.

Begin checking the hopper to see if there is any type of jam, but unable to check everything because of the metal grate about 3/4 of the way down.

At some point, 10-15 minutes of the grill running and just hearing the fan, the auger starts spinning and puts pellets in the pot... takes a while for the igniter rod to turn on but eventually it does. Driving me crazy, trying to troubleshoot what caused grill to flame out, why the grill did not want to start again, and then all of a sudden it decides to start working.

I was using B&B wood pellets that I grabbed at Kroger. I realize there are differences in pellets, but B&B is a big brand and I did not see any obvious obstructions and they were dry when I put them in the hopper.

Outside temp was mid 60's, a little windy, grill on a covered patio and turned it so neither the front or back is directly in the wind.

Has anyone had similar issues with the 340, if so how did you fix it? I changed the settings on the auger feeder from default of 60 to 40, will see if it helps on the next long cook.

Had the grill a total of one week, so pretty frustrated ... I realize things have issues and its a pipe dream to chase a constant temp for 12+ hours, but I want to figure out if it is something I can fix or if this grill cannot maintain 225ish for an extended amount of time. Sorry for the long initial post, just a buzzkill having some issues with brand new grill.
I’ve had my 340 for a week and is all over the place when I try to run around 225... goes from 190- 280... called rec tec they sent me a new controller told me what setting to be at and it’s still not keeping at temp...

I have to call again today when I get off work..the only good thing I can say for rec tec at the moment is the customer support has been pretty good with trying to help me..
 

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