Smoke from hopper when shutting down

Redraider3403

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13
Grill(s) owned
  1. RT-1250
Pretty consistently I see white smoke coming from my hopper when shutting the grill down. Anyone else seeing this with the 1070? This is with Costco pellets, wondering if that might be a problem?
 
What temps are you shutting down at? You might need to bring it down to like 250 or less and run for a bit before shutting off. Lots of threads on this. Do a search.
 
Today I shut down after running at 230 for about 15 mins. This was after running at 400 for about an hour.
 
Today I shut down after running at 230 for about 15 mins. This was after running at 400 for about an hour.

That should have done it.. maybe you are onto something with the pellets. Maybe try another brand and see what happens or give support a ring.
 
I still don't have this issue. I did a pizza at 425 on grillgrates today- then hit the power button when done.
Keeping the hopper topped off is my theory as to why I don't have this issue.
Running the recteq pellets right now. Before that they were pitboss.
 
Ran mine at high temps last night for several hours doing pizza and did not see white smoke coming from the hopper. I stepped it down quite a bit over a period of time as well. I am also using the RT pellets and my bin was still pretty full.
 
Finally! Doing Beef Short Ribs - tried out the Lo setting for the first time, there's more smoke in the hopper than in the grill. Didn't hurt anything, hopper was full of pellets - just finally saw this thing happen.
Anyway - up to 225, all smoke cleared out just like it usually is for me. Couple hours to go on the Ribs.
 
First burn went ok. First cook, some chicken thighs and all of a sudden I see smoke coming from the pellet Hopper. I kinda freaked, since this was a new grill. Turned off, started scooping pellets out. Then it stopped.

I did see a little smoke coming out again on a future cook. But by the time I opened to look, it stopped. 3+ more cooks and not seen again. Yet.

Starting out, only have the recteq pellets in.
 
It’s burn back and plenty of threads on this.

My opinion, it’s just something these grills get. RecTeq will tell you it’s

1)dirty fire pot
2) bad pellets
3) excess dust

I think it’s all BULL from them, it’s their grill. I’m used to it. It’s rare now that I don’t use pellets from warehouse big box stores that sit for a while, but still see the burn back smoke occasionally
 
Pretty consistently I see white smoke coming from my hopper when shutting the grill down. Anyone else seeing this with the 1070? This is with Costco pellets, wondering if that might be a problem?
I think that the smoke goes to those areas of least resistance that are closest to the fire pot. I think that the hopper lid being unsealed, allows for the updraft. If there was some way to correct that, it might stop that. I have ordered a 1070 and will look into that. As long as this does not cause hopper fires it may not be a problem. ??
 
Finally! Doing Beef Short Ribs - tried out the Lo setting for the first time, there's more smoke in the hopper than in the grill. Didn't hurt anything, hopper was full of pellets - just finally saw this thing happen.
Anyway - up to 225, all smoke cleared out just like it usually is for me. Couple hours to go on the Ribs.
 
I had eliminated poor shutdowns with the 590 by turning temp down to 220--250 after a high temp cook and letting it drift down to 250 or so before hitting off button. It worked fine. I asked RT tech a few days ago if I needed to do that to avoid auger fire or smoldering backburn. I had noticed the problem following high temp cooks. He said "No" just hit the off button. Well I did that twice since and had smoldering back burn both times. Tonight it occurred after a 350* cook for one hour. Go figure. So I cleaned it out and primed the pot with some pellets for a normal start. Cranked it up to 410* (why 410? who knows?) for 35-40 minutes to simulate a hot cook. Then turned it down to 210* (arbitrary) and when it dipped down below 250* I hit the Off button. Bingo, no back burn. I think the RT service guys always answer in defense of the units even tho they probably have heard the same complaints before. My conclusion, I will always turn down the temp from cooks over 300 now and let 1070 cool down to 250 while I eat my meal before shutting it down. If that works consistently or most of the time, I can handle that. Otherwise "Hawg" works like a jewel and made good chicken wings tonight before he misbehaved.
 
I did a cook last weekend with the Costco pellets. If you want to see it I just search under my name. I noticed they put out more smoke at low temps when compared to other pellets I have used. Still trying to calibrate my taste buds and analyze the flavor profile but it wasn’t bad, just different. Did you have similar smoke issues when you used other pellets? Mine did not exhibit your conditions but I typically pace my pellet consumption based on my cook. This one was about 8 hours and I only had about 3 red cups of pellets left at the end.
 
... I typically pace my pellet consumption based on my cook. This one was about 8 hours and I only had about 3 red cups of pellets left at the end.
I am getting from your assessment that an overnight smoke would not be possible with a full hopper of Costco pellets. I guess it depends on how much you sleep, but that seems to be cutting it close especially since it's not even fall yet. You did a full hopper and 8 hours later - 3 "solo" cups left?

Cost per pound may be lower - but cost per btu may be the number some of us should be concerned with.
 
Sometimes I realize that I should not interject my opinion Into a thread, but then I go and do it anyway. Having said that, if I was burning 5 pounds of pellets an hour for a 8 hour low and slow cook, I’d either change the pellets or change grills, or both. I bought a full meal for two at Kentucky’s finest (Red State BBQ) yesterday for not much more than what a 40# bag of pellets costs.
 
Sometimes I realize that I should not interject my opinion Into a thread, but then I go and do it anyway. Having said that, if I was burning 5 pounds of pellets an hour for a 8 hour low and slow cook, I’d either change the pellets or change grills, or both. I bought a full meal for two at Kentucky’s finest (Red State BBQ) yesterday for not much more than what a 40# bag of pellets costs.

I saw they had a big variety of sauces online, which ones do you like?
 
I am getting from your assessment that an overnight smoke would not be possible with a full hopper of Costco pellets. I guess it depends on how much you sleep, but that seems to be cutting it close especially since it's not even fall yet. You did a full hopper and 8 hours later - 3 "solo" cups left?

Cost per pound may be lower - but cost per btu may be the number some of us should be concerned with.
Smoke,

No, that is not what wanted to infer. I only wanted to point out that the smoke is more present with the Costco than with other brands. I measure my pellets pretty well and don’t fill the hopper. I think you will use the same amount of pellets that you use for other brands. My consumption calculation was spot on for the 8 hour cook I was performing. If you fill the hopper for a low and slow I would be willing to bet you get the RT advertised 40 hours with the Costco pellets (YMMV).
 

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