RT-1250 Smoke in Hopper after 500 degree cook

[wlawson1313]

Hey everyone,

I've read a few posts similar to mine but I have an additional questions regarding hopper smoke after a hot cook.

Based on other threads' response I understand the move is to lower the grill temp to roughly 200 after a hot cook to avoid pellets continuing to combust and smolder up the auger tube and of course into the hopper itself.

This has only happened to me once, after my last cook. I pulled most of the pellets out the hopper - none burned, but definitely smells like smoke in the hopper.

My questions is, long in short, should I be concerned for my auger or auger tube feeding the pellets now? I am going to do a simple trial smoke tomorrow to check on everything to make sure it is OK, but something I am possibly overthinking.

Like I said none of the pellets in the hopper burned, but the pellets as well as the hopper for sure smelled like smoke after noticing a lot of smoke in the hopper itself. Just hoping the auger is still ok.

Thanks for your time and please let me know y'all's thoughts on this.

 

[Pacman]

I have seen smoke coming into the hopper one time, but it was after a hot cook that I did not step down and once the fan stopped after the programmed cool down process, I figured the smoke from remaining burning pellets in the fire pot was just "meandering" around vs. being pushed out in the normal airflow. I confirmed that there were no burning pellets in the auger or hopper.

 

[Waterboy]

Ou shouldn’t have any trouble with your next cook. After a hot cook I turn the grill down in 25 degree increments letting it settle in to or near each setting until it reaches 250 then shut down. I haven’t ad an issues with continued burns since I started shutting down this way.

 

[Plumberguy]

Ou shouldn’t have any trouble with your next cook. After a hot cook I turn the grill down in 25 degree increments letting it settle in to or near each setting until it reaches 250 then shut down. I haven’t ad an issues with continued burns since I started shutting down this way.

I would do something like this ^^^

I cooked at 425 the other day on the Bull, and turned it down to 300 with the lid open for about two minutes, then closed it and turned it down to 250, left it while we ate, then turned it off, all good

 

[sdynak]

It's destroyed.. I'll PM you my address to send to me immediately for your safety. I will take it from there . Glad I can help.

 

[Jim6820]

It's destroyed.. I'll PM you my address to send to me immediately for your safety. I will take it from there . Glad I can help.

Hey, don’t be poaching in my territory. He’s close enough for me to help him out in person and pick up that “destroyed” 1250.

OK, @wlawson1313, I don’t think you have a problem with your 1250. Dropping the temp after a hot cook and letting the grill come down to 200-225 before shutting it off should prevent any back-burn.

Where in Washington state are you located? I’m up north of Bellingham.

 

[Another Joe]

I talked to support when mine did this, with smoke coming out under the hopper as well. He said it happens sometimes, but the only things to really worry about were if I had too much pellet dust (so that it could quickly burn in the tube) or the fan wasn't working. It only happened at shutoff so, after having me run some tests, he wasn't too worried about it. I had it smolder for awhile last time I used it too, but it stopped on its own.

 

[Motodad1776]

I always open the lid on start up now and it works wonderfully, and I unplug the grill before the auger adds pellets on top of pellet remains/ash.....so stupid that the software does this. I have zero unburned pellets of any kind with this process in the burn pot, just some clean fully burned ash.

Their tech support leaves quite a bit of room for what I consider to be some common sense, but hey they are the self proclaimed experts eh?