Bull RT-700 Challenges...Please Help!

[Jayson1578]

I have owned my RT-700 for a little over a year now and it has turned out some great food. That being said, this grill is VERY temperamental. I clean it after every 5-6 cooks but it has trouble getting up to temp, sometimes doesn't start, or lately has been developing "clinkers" (hard deposits of unburned minerals). Every time I call into customer support they run me through the status check and surmise that it is my pellets. Last night I attempted a cook and got no smoke at all.

This leads me to believe that my igniter rod could have been going bad this entire time and has now given up the ghost. Let me know if you have experienced anything similar. Are your grills very finicky with pellets, have you had any ignition issues in the past, what has seemed to help. I love this rig but it always seems to give me problems at the worst times when I have company coming over. It's a love-hate relationship so far.

Thanks!

 

[Plumberguy]

I have owned my RT-700 for a little over a year now and it has turned out some great food. That being said, this grill is VERY temperamental. I clean it after every 5-6 cooks but it has trouble getting up to temp, sometimes doesn't start, or lately has been developing "clinkers" (hard deposits of unburned minerals). Every time I call into customer support they run me through the status check and surmise that it is my pellets. Last night I attempted a cook and got no smoke at all.

This leads me to believe that my igniter rod could have been going bad this entire time and has now given up the ghost. Let me know if you have experienced anything similar. Are your grills very finicky with pellets, have you had any ignition issues in the past, what has seemed to help. I love this rig but it always seems to give me problems at the worst times when I have company coming over. It's a love-hate relationship so far.

Thanks!

The ignition may be recessed in its tube too far, there have been issues with this. There are threads about all that on the site

 

[C. Keeper]

I have owned my RT-700 for a little over a year now and it has turned out some great food. That being said, this grill is VERY temperamental. I clean it after every 5-6 cooks but it has trouble getting up to temp, sometimes doesn't start, or lately has been developing "clinkers" (hard deposits of unburned minerals). Every time I call into customer support they run me through the status check and surmise that it is my pellets. Last night I attempted a cook and got no smoke at all.

This leads me to believe that my igniter rod could have been going bad this entire time and has now given up the ghost. Let me know if you have experienced anything similar. Are your grills very finicky with pellets, have you had any ignition issues in the past, what has seemed to help. I love this rig but it always seems to give me problems at the worst times when I have company coming over. It's a love-hate relationship so far.

Thanks!

Typically the igniter works, or it doesn't. Igniter placement (stick out) as mentioned is something to look at.

 

[Jayson1578]

I was thinking this could be an issue. Set screw in back loosened, perhaps. Is this an issue with the ceramic igniter or just the metal rods? I bought mine in late 2020 so I believe it has the ceramic system.

 

[Waterboy]

It’s been an issue recently and across grill types so it definitely includes ceramic rods.

 

[Jim6820]

I have owned my RT-700 for a little over a year now and it has turned out some great food. That being said, this grill is VERY temperamental. I clean it after every 5-6 cooks but it has trouble getting up to temp, sometimes doesn't start, or lately has been developing "clinkers" (hard deposits of unburned minerals). Every time I call into customer support they run me through the status check and surmise that it is my pellets. Last night I attempted a cook and got no smoke at all.

This leads me to believe that my igniter rod could have been going bad this entire time and has now given up the ghost. Let me know if you have experienced anything similar. Are your grills very finicky with pellets, have you had any ignition issues in the past, what has seemed to help. I love this rig but it always seems to give me problems at the worst times when I have company coming over. It's a love-hate relationship so far.

Thanks!

How and where do you store your pellets? Could they be picking up moisture? Pellets with a high moisture content can be hard to light and keep burning. They will also leave deposits from an incomplete burn.

 

[Jayson1578]

I keep them in the garage mostly but I have stopped topping off my hopper recently. I only fill up the pellets for the cook I am doing now. I think that was helping until recently.

 

[ToeJam]

Any open bags of pellets I have get stored in 5gal buckets with lids to prevent moisture from swelling the pellets. I bought these to put on the buckets for easy opening and pouring:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007RGBATK?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

 

[Roaniecowpony]

I clean out the fire pot after any cook longer than a couple hours. A quick vacuum of the fire pot reveals that a 6 hour rib cook will fill the pot about 10-15% full of ash, covering up my igniter. So, I clean it often. While I'm in there, I vac out the drum that has accumulated ash.

Secondly, if you have a failure to ignite, you can light it with a propane torch and it will run the entire cook.

I buy LumberJack pellets and I'm still using some of the RecTec (oak) pellets that came with the "Platinum" grill package from 2 years ago. I've never had any build up. But I do vacuum out often.

I'd recommend you try vacuum cleaning after every cook for a while and see if that addresses the issue. Also try some LumberJack or RecTec pellets.

 

[opus]

I have owned my RT-700 for a little over a year now and it has turned out some great food. That being said, this grill is VERY temperamental. I clean it after every 5-6 cooks but it has trouble getting up to temp, sometimes doesn't start, or lately has been developing "clinkers" (hard deposits of unburned minerals). Every time I call into customer support they run me through the status check and surmise that it is my pellets. Last night I attempted a cook and got no smoke at all.

This leads me to believe that my igniter rod could have been going bad this entire time and has now given up the ghost. Let me know if you have experienced anything similar. Are your grills very finicky with pellets, have you had any ignition issues in the past, what has seemed to help. I love this rig but it always seems to give me problems at the worst times when I have company coming over. It's a love-hate relationship so far.

Thanks!

How often do you use your grill? I think that may be a cause for the hard deposits. I get them in mine sometimes but it seems to be worse when I only use it a couple times a month vs several times a week. I've used several different brands of pellets and that doesn't seem to make a difference.

 

[sdynak]

My igniter needed an adjustment.. have not had any issues in that area since. Seems similar to your issue. Worth a shot if not already.

Thread on adjustment