Trailblazer Trouble starting up

[TomatoBob]

The last two times I attempted to fire up my Trailblazer the pellets did not ignite normally. After about 15 minutes the smoker was still cold. On both occasions I ended up turning off the smoker, removing the grill, tray and deflector, trying to figure out what the problem was. The problem was clearly evident. The heating pot was half full of pellets. I grabbed a couple handfuls of pellets from the pot leaving about a rounded tablespoon, put everything back together and turned it back on. On both occasions the smoker fired up normally after that.

I did not check how many pellets were in the pot before starting each cooking event but my guess is that for some reason the auger keept going after the pot had cooled and filled the pot with too many pellets to allow ignition. If it is not that, it might be that the augur is pushing too many pellets into the pot during the ignition cycle, smothering the smoldering pellets so they do not light.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? Any thoughts on how to fix it?

 

[ol' stonebreaker]

Next time you shut down and it's cooled off, remove the grate, drip pan and deflector to see how much pellets are in the fire pot. should only be a couple of tablespoons full. If too much it might be a controller problem. If not then start it up with it opened up and see what happens.

 

[TomatoBob]

I plan to do that. I should have done it previously. If there is a controller problem. What do I do?

 

[Waterboy]

If it’s the controller call customer service, they’ll either help you fix the issue or send a replacement part.

 

[TomatoBob]

Next time you shut down and it's cooled off, remove the grate, drip pan and deflector to see how much pellets are in the fire pot. should only be a couple of tablespoons full. If too much it might be a controller problem. If not then start it up with it opened up and see what happens.

I just checked it out. There was only a small quantity of pellets in the pot I checked after the smoker cooled down following a recent cook. When I checked the pot after the failed ignition, the pot was half-filled with pellets. Maybe the controller is feeding at too fast of a rate during startup.

 

[ol' stonebreaker]

I'll assume you've checked the auger feed rate.

 

[C. Keeper]

I'll assume you've checked the auger feed rate.

I'll bite, why?

 

[TomatoBob]

I'll assume you've checked the auger feed rate.

I have not. To be honest, I do not know how to do that and what the normal specs are but I will be looking into this.

 

[Greg Jones]

I have not. To be honest, I do not know how to do that and what the normal specs are but I will be looking into this.

Trust me, the auger feed rate is not your problem. The auger feed rate is to set the minimum amount of pellets fed to the fire pot, to help the user maintain lower minimum temps in hotter climates. It has nothing to do with the ignition of the grill in any climate.

Here is one thing to try that apparently recteq support has been making recently. On recently shipped grills, the igniter may be recess in the fire pot more than spec. To address that, (other than manually adjusting the ignitor rod) turn on the grill, turn off after 30 seconds, then turn the grill back on again.

Edited to add-make sure the fire pot is not already overfilled to begin with. So if the pot is overfilled to begin with, remove all but a very small handful of pellets and try the process I mentioned.