Stampede RT-590 Explosion. Now What?

[MileTeg]

Yesterday I was doing a small cook, just 30 mins @ 400 degrees.

When the cook was almost done the temperature of the grill plummeted to ~200 and kept dropping. I checked the pellets and they were very low but still covering/feeding the auger. So I added more pellets, removed the food, and waited to see if the grill would get back up to temp.

After about 15 minutes of waiting the grill started to smoke very badly, then 5 minutes later a small explosion occured. Not some horrible fireball of doom, but big enough to blow the lid open violently.

After that I evacuated the deck and then turned off the grill with my phone. The grill stopped smoking and seemed to do its normal shut down (fan spun for a few minutes and then the unit shut off completely.

I've already contacted support but I thought I would try my luck here with what I should do next? Is the grill damaged? How do I get it back in service safely?

Any responses would be greatly appreciated.

 

[charlesrshell]

Yesterday I was doing a small cook, just 30 mins @ 400 degrees.

When the cook was almost done the temperature of the grill plummeted to ~200 and kept dropping. I checked the pellets and they were very low but still covering/feeding the auger. So I added more pellets, removed the food, and waited to see if the grill would get back up to temp.

After about 15 minutes of waiting the grill started to smoke very badly, then 5 minutes later a small explosion occured. Not some horrible fireball of doom, but big enough to blow the lid open violently.

After that I evacuated the deck and then turned off the grill with my phone. The grill stopped smoking and seemed to do its normal shut down (fan spun for a few minutes and then the unit shut off completely.

I've already contacted support but I thought I would try my luck here with what I should do next? Is the grill damaged? How do I get it back in service safely?

Any responses would be greatly appreciated.

What did RT support have say?

 

[MileTeg]

What did RT support have say?

Haven't gotten back to me (emailed earlier today).

 

[JGW]

RT will set you up right, but nine times out of 10 that happens because there are too many pellets in the fire pot.

Essentially, the temp dropped because the fire was low (or out) and the system started feeding more pellets in to bring the temp up when you restarted the grill (or loaded more pellets).

Anytime the grill shuts off (lots of smoke is a big tip), drops a big amount of temp or you lose power......you need need to remove the racks, the drip pan, the heat deflector and check your fire pot. If it's chock full of pellets, you need to empty it out before restarting.

 

[pungo]

Glad nothing very bad happened. Good thing you were there to address it and shut it down.
Did you have the lid open for awhile which could have caused the low temp?

And just think, there are people that think it's so cool they can start their grill with a phone app when not home. Guess they don't realize, things can go wrong and if you're not there in person, it could end badly. I'll never start mine without being present as I've read of explosions on startup too.

 

[C. Keeper]

Glad nothing very bad happened. Good thing you were there to address it and shut it down.
Did you have the lid open for awhile which could have caused the low temp?

And just think, there are people that think it's so cool they can start their grill with a phone app when not home. Guess they don't realize, things can go wrong and if you're not there in person, it could end badly. I'll never start mine without being present as I've read of explosions on startup too.

I had a grill start as a result of a board failure. I highly recommend unplugging the grill when not in use.

 

[pungo]

I had a grill start as a result of a board failure. I highly recommend unplugging the grill when not in use.

Agreed, most everything that heats up in my house, I either unplug or use a switched outlet when not in use. A firefighter friend told me he lost count of the number of times a fire was found to be started by a heating device left plugged in that malfunctioning.

 

[ol' stonebreaker]

I always leave the lid open until the fire starts.

 

[JJP]

The same thing happened to me with my 340. Didn't cause any major problems. Did scare the dog. Had to finished my beef back ribs in the oven. The only thing I can figure is I had an auger jam the broke loose and dumped pellets in the fire box, and boom.

 

[Wslayer]

I will never start when not present. If I smoke while away from home, I always have it far enough out in driveway or out on patio so if there was a mishap it is not close enough to catch anything on fire. I would "never" leave one on a deck unattended the whole time. If god forbid something were to happen, and hopefully no injuries, I'm thinking there would be a hell of a fight with the insurance company for coverage.

 

[JGW]

I always leave the lid open until the fire starts.

Traeger recommends a lid open start. Recteq doesn't, but I start mine with the lid open too.

 

[MileTeg]

What did RT support have say?

Support got back to me. Told me what others have said here (low pellets/fire out issue) and said I could call in and they'd walk me through making sure everything was ok.

 

[MileTeg]

Glad nothing very bad happened. Good thing you were there to address it and shut it down.
Did you have the lid open for awhile which could have caused the low temp?

And just think, there are people that think it's so cool they can start their grill with a phone app when not home. Guess they don't realize, things can go wrong and if you're not there in person, it could end badly. I'll never start mine without being present as I've read of explosions on startup too.

Yeah, will never use the phone app to start it up. Sounds like the best plan is to

1.) open the lid until the fire gets going
2.) if the fire goes out during a cook (which is what appears to have happened to me), put it in shut down mode immediately and open the lid and
3.) if it starts smoking like crazy, get away!

I'm a little dissapointed as one of the reasons I went with a pellet grill was to avoid having propane around or risking an accident with that. Still, probably safer with the relatively tiny explosion vs a propane tank going up, lol.

 

[MileTeg]

RT will set you up right, but nine times out of 10 that happens because there are too many pellets in the fire pot.

Essentially, the temp dropped because the fire was low (or out) and the system started feeding more pellets in to bring the temp up when you restarted the grill (or loaded more pellets).

Anytime the grill shuts off (lots of smoke is a big tip), drops a big amount of temp or you lose power......you need need to remove the racks, the drip pan, the heat deflector and check your fire pot. If it's chock full of pellets, you need to empty it out before restarting.

Going to do like you said here today. Thanks!

 

[sdynak]

I think you should give it to me ASAP to be on the safe side so it doesn't cause further issues for you. Where can I come pick it up?

 

[C. Keeper]

I think you should give it to me ASAP to be on the safe side so it doesn't cause further issues for you. Where can I come pick it up?

That is very kind of you @sdynak , safety first!

 

[MileTeg]

I think you should give it to me ASAP to be on the safe side so it doesn't cause further issues for you. Where can I come pick it up?

 

[Hamp]

Yesterday I was doing a small cook, just 30 mins @ 400 degrees.

When the cook was almost done the temperature of the grill plummeted to ~200 and kept dropping. I checked the pellets and they were very low but still covering/feeding the auger. So I added more pellets, removed the food, and waited to see if the grill would get back up to temp.

After about 15 minutes of waiting the grill started to smoke very badly, then 5 minutes later a small explosion occured. Not some horrible fireball of doom, but big enough to blow the lid open violently.

After that I evacuated the deck and then turned off the grill with my phone. The grill stopped smoking and seemed to do its normal shut down (fan spun for a few minutes and then the unit shut off completely.

I've already contacted support but I thought I would try my luck here with what I should do next? Is the grill damaged? How do I get it back in service safely?

Any responses would be greatly appreciated.

I have heard of guys having explosions before and seems it’s caused by a flame out and pellets building up in the pot. My question is what explodes?? I can see the fire getting too big because of the excess pellets but what actually explodes? Could understand it on a gas grill but on a pellet grill there is nothing to explode. Not saying it doesn’t happen…have seen several posts about it. Someone enlighten me please!

 

[rijndael]

For those that haven't seen it happen:

 

[JJP]