Water got in

Sharpcard

Member
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13
Grill(s) owned
  1. Bullseye
Have any of you had water get in your pellet grill before?

I just noticed that some must have got in and they have set up like concrete in the auger. I wonder if I should get them wet again to soften them up and flush them out of there.

I'm glad I noticed it before I tried to start it. It did give a reason to fire up the kettle again...it's been really lonely since I got the Bullseye.
 
Your description is correct, concrete.

I'd try to soften the pellets with water so you don't break the auger.
Just my opinion.
 
I'd recommend you google what others have done. Second the advice to NOT run the auger.
 
Had this happen to me about a month ago. PAIN in the BUTT. Called Rec-Teq and they told me to disassemble the grill (hopper side). Vacuum out the pellets in the hopper. Dig out crap in the hopper, until the auger is clean and visible. Vacuum as you go. Remove the two allen-head screws on either side of the auger tube. Take a crow-bar and stick inside the auger tube, inside the grill body. Pound some, to break up the pellet concrete. Plug the grill in, and cycle the grill on and off, for about 10 seconds at a time. The auger motor will actually back itself out of the auger tube. Once the white collar is clear, and the motor is free from the shelf, you can actually slowly and carefully turn the motor counter-clockwise, and unscrew the auger from the pellet concrete plug. Disconnect the auger motor from the harness, and unplug the grill, as you unscrew the auger from the plug. Use the auger, with motor attached, to drill through the pellet plug. You will be amazed at how much crap comes out of the auger tube. Once cleaned out, reassemble the grill, but use two of the self-tapping black screws to lock the white collar, back in place. Use the spares from removing the pellet bin guard, unless you have small children, which is why there is a pellet guard in the first place. Also, without the guard, it makes it much easier to vacuum out the pellet dust that accumulates. Hope this helped. It is a pain in the butt, and you will only allow this to happen once. Pick up a cover...
 
Had this happen to me about a month ago. PAIN in the BUTT. Called Rec-Teq and they told me to disassemble the grill (hopper side). Vacuum out the pellets in the hopper. Dig out crap in the hopper, until the auger is clean and visible. Vacuum as you go. Remove the two allen-head screws on either side of the auger tube. Take a crow-bar and stick inside the auger tube, inside the grill body. Pound some, to break up the pellet concrete. Plug the grill in, and cycle the grill on and off, for about 10 seconds at a time. The auger motor will actually back itself out of the auger tube. Once the white collar is clear, and the motor is free from the shelf, you can actually slowly and carefully turn the motor counter-clockwise, and unscrew the auger from the pellet concrete plug. Disconnect the auger motor from the harness, and unplug the grill, as you unscrew the auger from the plug. Use the auger, with motor attached, to drill through the pellet plug. You will be amazed at how much crap comes out of the auger tube. Once cleaned out, reassemble the grill, but use two of the self-tapping black screws to lock the white collar, back in place. Use the spares from removing the pellet bin guard, unless you have small children, which is why there is a pellet guard in the first place. Also, without the guard, it makes it much easier to vacuum out the pellet dust that accumulates. Hope this helped. It is a pain in the butt, and you will only allow this to happen once. Pick up a cover...
This is huge! I’m working through this and can’t get the auger to budge. What type of crowbar and stick? I’m ready to toss it at this point.
 
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Bump. I'm going to call RecTeq for more info. but wanted to see what folks had here first - any thoughts on the type of crowbar or stick? Does this work happen at the burn/fire pot end?
 
Removing the auger is a time consumer. But, it solves the problem. A cover is good unless your cooking an get a serious thunderstorm. I put some foam weatherstripping inside the hopper lid to form a seal. Couldn't tell ya if it works. Haven't had another drenching.
 
This is huge! I’m working through this and can’t get the auger to budge. What type of crowbar and stick? I’m ready to toss it at this point.
Sorry, I have not been on the forum in awhile. I'm sorry that you are having the same problem I had. Re-Teq said to use a crow-bar, but what I ultimately came up with was a eight inch piece of black pipe, threaded on each end, and threaded caps on each end. I went to Lowe's and found the pieces. As I said above, it is a royal pain in the butt. Sending good thoughts your way....Rip
 
Well, I went on a three week vacation and then had a giant Maple tree that had to be taken down, so I had put messing with the grill on a backburner.

I finally decided that today I was going to finally fix this thing or else:) I have tried several times but I never made any headway as far as getting the auger to budge more than an 1/8 inch.

I soaked the hopper overnight and again this the morning.

This afternoon I followed RipJones directions (many thanks Rip!) and tried my best to get the auger moving...it still wouldn't budge.

This is when I called RecTeq. they recommended I take the motor off the auger shaft by pulling the cotter pin, then I was able to put a nail where the cotter pin had been and took a pair of channellocks (not to squeeze but to turn the shaft using the nail and twisting with the channellocks).

I finally felt the auger move! It was a slow process from there of scraping chips, vacuuming, and prying the auger from inside the hopper. Once the auger was finally removed I took a long pry bar and slowly chipped away at the pellet "concrete" plug in the auger tube. It was soaked through and through but was still concrete.

Once the tube was cleaned I reinstalled the auger and noticed that the auger was now protruding into the firebox about 1/2 an inch. Evidently I may have "stretched" the auger screw when I was prying on it. I spoke with RecTeq again and sent pics and they decided it didn't look right and they would send me a new auger screw.

I reassembled the grill and threw some pellets in the firebox and put a little in the hopper. I wanted to try it out anyway. I tried twice to get it to light and both times it threw error code Er-2 which is that the igniter has gone bad.... again (it happened once back in the Spring).

I've been happy with RecTeq's response and help so far with this issue and the issues I've had before (broken hinge, failed igniter, hopper fire). I am getting a little too familiar with all of the workings of the grill and hope to have some trouble free years ahead.

RipJones, I don't follow how you used the eight inch piece of black pipe...unless you were making a pipe bomb to blow the concrete plug up :)

Thanks All for the help and advice!
 
Still no joy here. I got a piece 5/16" diameter rod and went through the center of the auger hole (from the hopper). I was able to get a patch through, but the auger still won't budge. I'm going to try a nail through the cotter hole next. I believe that the threaded pipe may have been used to extend the auger shaft so a pipe wrench or other can be put on it and not hit the hopper.
 
This is how i removed the auger when mine was stuck. Once it was out, extracted, I pt it in the drill and little by little cleared out the stuck pellets. There was about 8 inches worth. Worked perfectly without messing anything up

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In my case, I had the GMG pizza oven in and the cover off when it rained. The water that got in went directly straight to the fire pot.
Wow, thanks for the explaination. The easy out option looks like a good one. Good luck.
 
The ends of ALL these augers should have a hex on them instead of being round. Something you can put a socket on or chuck your cordless drill to and just unscrew it.
 
The ends of ALL these augers should have a hex on them instead of being round. Something you can put a socket on or chuck your cordless drill to and just unscrew it.
My first thought was to find a clevis pin that would fit inside, hold it in place with a cotter pin, and grab it with the drill. But then I remembered I had a set of those extractors and tried that first, which turned out to work perfectly

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I called them today after removing the bushing screws and trying to back it out using the motor. Also tried a drill counter clockwise, and turning it with vice grips. None of that worked.

What ended up working was to stick the end of a crowbar or screwdriver on the end of the auger and hit it with a mallet. After that I put a screwdriver between the auger wall and cotter key. I then put a pair of vice grips on the screwdriver handle and turned counter clockwise. It backed right out! I was then able to clean it out and put it back together. It works great now. The clinch pin or extractor are on my shopping list.
 

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You're lucky the water didn't run down into the fan motor and short the ignitor (ask me how I know). Lessons learned: don't cook in the rain, cover it if leaving outside and don't spill water into it while trying to set a water pan under the grate (again, ask me how I know).
 
WooHoo!!!! I finally got the grill working again. It feels great, and I think I have used it everyday since it's been fixed.

If you ever have this happen don't pry on the auger from inside the hopper. I ended up "stretching" the auger a couple inches. You can see what it looks like compared to a new one..



IMG_2079 (1).JPG
 

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