BFG Yesterdays Adventure

[rhouser]

I cleaned up the grill from the Big Brisket cook and lit it up to just work on some questions I had. At about 150 degrees the temperature started dropping. It dropped back to down and was clearly "out".

I turned the machine off (no fan time needed) and turned it back to start again (set at 350). This time it didn't light at all. No temp increase, no smoke.
I started calling the rec teq service line. No answer so left the phone message.

Cutting to the chase: I pulled the grates, drip trays, and heat diffuser. The pellet burn cup was empty. I got out my manual and went to the auger testing. Auger was turning, no pellets were delivering. I left the auger turning on the test cycle and used my Traeger Pellet Bridge tool (rubber mallet) and banged around on the pellet hopper. This did no good.

Shut down grill and emptied 50 pounds of pellets into plastic buckets with a scoop. I got down to the square feeder drop and it was packed. I banged on it with a rod and it collapsed into the tube and onto the auger.

The auger began to deliver first ash and burned pellets, then a mix of pellets and A BUNCH of pellet dust and crumbled pellets. I continued to let the auger turn on "testing" setting and got a shop vac to suck up the "cr*p" that the auger was delivering to the fire pot. When I started seeing mostly pellets, I shut down the testing mode. Here I made a mistake that I will need to correct this morning. I spun the temperature dial without thinking and changed the Auger Delivery setting number. I have no Idea what the base number (factory setting) should be. I chose number 10 because I didn't want the number 1 and I didn't want the number 20. More on this later.

With the pellets now in the auger, I got out of test mode (again not without issues) and restarted the grill.

The restart went as it should and I was soon at 350. I did some temperature checks between the rec teq probes and my TW Signals probes and came up with one bad rec teq meat probe. One rec teq meat probe and two signals probes were all within one degree. The other rec teq probe was off by 25 degrees. The bad probe was in probe plug 2 position. To verify that it was the probe and not the on board #2 probe plug itself, I switched plugs on the probe. The same probe was still off 26 degrees in the #1 position and the good probe still matched the two signal probes after being moved to the #2 probe position. Conclusion, I have a rec tec meat probe that is reading wrong. I will replace it.

Back to the adventure: I have no idea why the pellet jam occurred. I have burned about 80 pounds of pellets. There was a Bunch of really nasty stuff being pushed out of the tube. I believe that the shape of the pellet hopper may concentrate the pellet dust found in the bags. I don't now. Maybe the traeger pellets are too fragile? I asked the tech I talked to at the mother ship about using traeger pellets (local supply chain issue). I was given the all clear.

I ran the grill at 350 for about an hour with two Signals probes (one air temp and one meat probe in a holder) plus the two rec teq probes in holders to see what I could see. I had the air probe attached to the underside of the top grate which placed it at almost the exact same height as the rec teq grill temp sensor. I actually sat and watched the grill for the whole hour and came to the belief that the rec teq probe was reading correctly. The temperature variance that I found during my brisket cook was still their (almost 50 degrees at times) but during the down times when the fan was not blowing the rec teq readings and my Signals Air probe readings would come up to about 3 degrees of each other. I notice that the Rec Tec grill sensor probe is mounted into a gap space that is open to max air circulation. My Signals probe was at the same height but more centered over the drip trays. Once the Rec Tec reached temperature (sustaining not gaining), the temperature variance dropped to about 25 degrees and during the time that the rec tec fan was cycled off, the temperature variance dropped to 3 degrees or less. Hypothosis: The rec teq probe is reading from the hot air stream (positional) whereas the Signals probe is reading from the grate position over the drip pan. I believe the Signals is getting a "truer" cooking/oven temperature because it is NOT positioned where it would need to be no monitor the heating effect of the pellet burn (if that makes sense). During a very few minutes each fan cycle, these probes matched. During a plus heat cycle (I made this term up) when the fan is pushing and pellets are dropping but still during the "maintenance cook cycle" the variance was less than 25 degrees. At least for now, I don't know if I am going to try to drive a match onto the thermostat settings. I may just choose to run an offset on the rec teq temperature setting.

I also ran the rec teq at the max temp setting (above 500 on the control panel). I chickened out at 550 degrees on the control panel readout and turned it back down to 450. The over run took me to 585 degrees before it began backing down. The Mother Ship rep tells me that I can expect up to 650 degrees safely. I will have to ponder that a bit. A point of interest is that 500 is the last point of temperature control. On the max burn setting, your temp will stop where it will.

This was yesterdays adventure.

Thanks to all that make this forum great.
v/r r

 

[SmokeOCD]

Now do your oven!!!!

Ours has lost it's mind - 350 on the panel equals 421.
My parents oven set to 360 overshoots to 380 then settles at 364 rock steady.

Back to your problem: you have too much tech and very possibly OCD tendencies, that's a bad combo.
Have a drink, relax.

 

[C. Keeper]

Damn, this is serious stuff!

 

[Jim6820]

Nice test work and analysis, @rhouser. This just reinforces how important it is to know how your grill works and how to use the test mode. Well done!

 

[TheRicker]

Nice test work and analysis, @rhouser. This just reinforces how important it is to know how your grill works and how to use the test mode. Well do

I cleaned up the grill from the Big Brisket cook and lit it up to just work on some questions I had. At about 150 degrees the temperature started dropping. It dropped back to down and was clearly "out".

I turned the machine off (no fan time needed) and turned it back to start again (set at 350). This time it didn't light at all. No temp increase, no smoke.
I started calling the rec teq service line. No answer so left the phone message.

Cutting to the chase: I pulled the grates, drip trays, and heat diffuser. The pellet burn cup was empty. I got out my manual and went to the auger testing. Auger was turning, no pellets were delivering. I left the auger turning on the test cycle and used my Traeger Pellet Bridge tool (rubber mallet) and banged around on the pellet hopper. This did no good.

Shut down grill and emptied 50 pounds of pellets into plastic buckets with a scoop. I got down to the square feeder drop and it was packed. I banged on it with a rod and it collapsed into the tube and onto the auger.

The auger began to deliver first ash and burned pellets, then a mix of pellets and A BUNCH of pellet dust and crumbled pellets. I continued to let the auger turn on "testing" setting and got a shop vac to suck up the "cr*p" that the auger was delivering to the fire pot. When I started seeing mostly pellets, I shut down the testing mode. Here I made a mistake that I will need to correct this morning. I spun the temperature dial without thinking and changed the Auger Delivery setting number. I have no Idea what the base number (factory setting) should be. I chose number 10 because I didn't want the number 1 and I didn't want the number 20. More on this later.

With the pellets now in the auger, I got out of test mode (again not without issues) and restarted the grill.

The restart went as it should and I was soon at 350. I did some temperature checks between the rec teq probes and my TW Signals probes and came up with one bad rec teq meat probe. One rec teq meat probe and two signals probes were all within one degree. The other rec teq probe was off by 25 degrees. The bad probe was in probe plug 2 position. To verify that it was the probe and not the on board #2 probe plug itself, I switched plugs on the probe. The same probe was still off 26 degrees in the #1 position and the good probe still matched the two signal probes after being moved to the #2 probe position. Conclusion, I have a rec tec meat probe that is reading wrong. I will replace it.

Back to the adventure: I have no idea why the pellet jam occurred. I have burned about 80 pounds of pellets. There was a Bunch of really nasty stuff being pushed out of the tube. I believe that the shape of the pellet hopper may concentrate the pellet dust found in the bags. I don't now. Maybe the traeger pellets are too fragile? I asked the tech I talked to at the mother ship about using traeger pellets (local supply chain issue). I was given the all clear.

I ran the grill at 350 for about an hour with two Signals probes (one air temp and one meat probe in a holder) plus the two rec teq probes in holders to see what I could see. I had the air probe attached to the underside of the top grate which placed it at almost the exact same height as the rec teq grill temp sensor. I actually sat and watched the grill for the whole hour and came to the belief that the rec teq probe was reading correctly. The temperature variance that I found during my brisket cook was still their (almost 50 degrees at times) but during the down times when the fan was not blowing the rec teq readings and my Signals Air probe readings would come up to about 3 degrees of each other. I notice that the Rec Tec grill sensor probe is mounted into a gap space that is open to max air circulation. My Signals probe was at the same height but more centered over the drip trays. Once the Rec Tec reached temperature (sustaining not gaining), the temperature variance dropped to about 25 degrees and during the time that the rec tec fan was cycled off, the temperature variance dropped to 3 degrees or less. Hypothosis: The rec teq probe is reading from the hot air stream (positional) whereas the Signals probe is reading from the grate position over the drip pan. I believe the Signals is getting a "truer" cooking/oven temperature because it is NOT positioned where it would need to be no monitor the heating effect of the pellet burn (if that makes sense). During a very few minutes each fan cycle, these probes matched. During a plus heat cycle (I made this term up) when the fan is pushing and pellets are dropping but still during the "maintenance cook cycle" the variance was less than 25 degrees. At least for now, I don't know if I am going to try to drive a match onto the thermostat settings. I may just choose to run an offset on the rec teq temperature setting.

I also ran the rec teq at the max temp setting (above 500 on the control panel). I chickened out at 550 degrees on the control panel readout and turned it back down to 450. The over run took me to 585 degrees before it began backing down. The Mother Ship rep tells me that I can expect up to 650 degrees safely. I will have to ponder that a bit. A point of interest is that 500 is the last point of temperature control. On the max burn setting, your temp will stop where it will.

This was yesterdays adventure.

Thanks to all that make this forum great.

I cleaned up the grill from the Big Brisket cook and lit it up to just work on some questions I had. At about 150 degrees the temperature started dropping. It dropped back to down and was clearly "out".

I turned the machine off (no fan time needed) and turned it back to start again (set at 350). This time it didn't light at all. No temp increase, no smoke.
I started calling the rec teq service line. No answer so left the phone message.

Cutting to the chase: I pulled the grates, drip trays, and heat diffuser. The pellet burn cup was empty. I got out my manual and went to the auger testing. Auger was turning, no pellets were delivering. I left the auger turning on the test cycle and used my Traeger Pellet Bridge tool (rubber mallet) and banged around on the pellet hopper. This did no good.

Shut down grill and emptied 50 pounds of pellets into plastic buckets with a scoop. I got down to the square feeder drop and it was packed. I banged on it with a rod and it collapsed into the tube and onto the auger.

The auger began to deliver first ash and burned pellets, then a mix of pellets and A BUNCH of pellet dust and crumbled pellets. I continued to let the auger turn on "testing" setting and got a shop vac to suck up the "cr*p" that the auger was delivering to the fire pot. When I started seeing mostly pellets, I shut down the testing mode. Here I made a mistake that I will need to correct this morning. I spun the temperature dial without thinking and changed the Auger Delivery setting number. I have no Idea what the base number (factory setting) should be. I chose number 10 because I didn't want the number 1 and I didn't want the number 20. More on this later.

With the pellets now in the auger, I got out of test mode (again not without issues) and restarted the grill.

The restart went as it should and I was soon at 350. I did some temperature checks between the rec teq probes and my TW Signals probes and came up with one bad rec teq meat probe. One rec teq meat probe and two signals probes were all within one degree. The other rec teq probe was off by 25 degrees. The bad probe was in probe plug 2 position. To verify that it was the probe and not the on board #2 probe plug itself, I switched plugs on the probe. The same probe was still off 26 degrees in the #1 position and the good probe still matched the two signal probes after being moved to the #2 probe position. Conclusion, I have a rec tec meat probe that is reading wrong. I will replace it.

Back to the adventure: I have no idea why the pellet jam occurred. I have burned about 80 pounds of pellets. There was a Bunch of really nasty stuff being pushed out of the tube. I believe that the shape of the pellet hopper may concentrate the pellet dust found in the bags. I don't now. Maybe the traeger pellets are too fragile? I asked the tech I talked to at the mother ship about using traeger pellets (local supply chain issue). I was given the all clear.

I ran the grill at 350 for about an hour with two Signals probes (one air temp and one meat probe in a holder) plus the two rec teq probes in holders to see what I could see. I had the air probe attached to the underside of the top grate which placed it at almost the exact same height as the rec teq grill temp sensor. I actually sat and watched the grill for the whole hour and came to the belief that the rec teq probe was reading correctly. The temperature variance that I found during my brisket cook was still their (almost 50 degrees at times) but during the down times when the fan was not blowing the rec teq readings and my Signals Air probe readings would come up to about 3 degrees of each other. I notice that the Rec Tec grill sensor probe is mounted into a gap space that is open to max air circulation. My Signals probe was at the same height but more centered over the drip trays. Once the Rec Tec reached temperature (sustaining not gaining), the temperature variance dropped to about 25 degrees and during the time that the rec tec fan was cycled off, the temperature variance dropped to 3 degrees or less. Hypothosis: The rec teq probe is reading from the hot air stream (positional) whereas the Signals probe is reading from the grate position over the drip pan. I believe the Signals is getting a "truer" cooking/oven temperature because it is NOT positioned where it would need to be no monitor the heating effect of the pellet burn (if that makes sense). During a very few minutes each fan cycle, these probes matched. During a plus heat cycle (I made this term up) when the fan is pushing and pellets are dropping but still during the "maintenance cook cycle" the variance was less than 25 degrees. At least for now, I don't know if I am going to try to drive a match onto the thermostat settings. I may just choose to run an offset on the rec teq temperature setting.

I also ran the rec teq at the max temp setting (above 500 on the control panel). I chickened out at 550 degrees on the control panel readout and turned it back down to 450. The over run took me to 585 degrees before it began backing down. The Mother Ship rep tells me that I can expect up to 650 degrees safely. I will have to ponder that a bit. A point of interest is that 500 is the last point of temperature control. On the max burn setting, your temp will stop where it will.

This was yesterdays adventure.

Thanks to all that make this forum great.
v/r r

That’s a lot of information. Sounds like lessons learned as well. But the crux of the matter, in my simplified viewpoint, is you had a pellet/stuff jammed where the hopper feeds the auger. And from the stuff that eventually came out of the auger into the fire pot, I would surmise the core of the problem was so much pellet dust and “pellet crumbs”. It sounds like your fire got up into the auger a bit until it couldn’t get any more oxygen. At least that’s what I got from your story minus all the “other information” about temperature differences.

I don’t often post stuff but when I do it will often relate to taking care of your pellets. I’ve own a wood pellet grill of one variety or other for over 15 years. So I feel confident in saying taking care of your pellets may be the most important aspect of owning one of these wonderful creatures.

I am careful about buying bags of pellets that outwardly appear to have a lot of dust and “crumbs” at the bottom of the bag when I stand it up and shake it a little. I’ve tried various brands and price points of pellets. I don’t often buy the best price because the bag has been handled so much and has lots of dust & crumbs. But if I do, I strain as much of that out as possible. I’ve used a vegetable strainer, a beach toy strainer, and I’ve made a strainer out of a lid for one of my 5-gallon buckets (better solution). Maybe I’m a bit OCD about it but in all my years I’ve never had so many of the problems I’ve read about. Maybe I’m just lucky.

I encourage folks to buy the best quality pellets they can afford. Sift them or be careful as you get near the bottom of the bag. When you clean/vacuum your pellet grill, don’t forget the hopper. Empty it and vacuum it out. I use a paint bucket vacuum and bucket to get the bottom of the hopper clean so I can recover good pellets.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bucket-...ible-with-5-Gal-Homer-Bucket-BH0100/202017218

Do not store bags of pellets on the ground or concrete floor. I keep mine on the bottom rack of a storage shelf in my garage. Once a bag is opened, it gets poured into one or more empty/clean paint buckets with a secure lid…stored off the floor in the garage.

I roll my cooker under my porch when not in use so it doesn’t sit out in the rain.

I live in Charleston SC (hot & humid summers) and have had no problems with keeping the pellets in the hopper when not in use. But it doesn’t sit in direct sunlight when not in use so condensation won’t develop when it cools off at night. But all pellets are in unopened bags or in sealed buckets.

I’ve probably rambled on too much. Bottom line, take care of the pellets.

I wish you better luck with future cooks.

 

[rhouser]

OCD... yep. Beyond the normal stuff, I do own a ThermoWorks Temperature Logger. This captures and maintains oven temperature logs as a single line event for hours at a time. Anyone who believes that their kitchen oven is going to a set temperature and staying there would be surprised by the under/over swings that are continuous. Now on a higher end oven the peaks and valleys will diminish over time as the oven stabilizes, but, many of the outdoor PID controlled cookers can easily "out perform" a typical household oven as far as temperature control.

My concern with the temperature management for my purposes with my new BFG has to do with timing. From experience, I expected my 180 lb load of briskets smoking at a 225 degree setting to reach wrapping temperatures (165 degrees +/-) at or before the 12 hour mark. This means that a batch of 10 briskets on at 5pm should be ready to be pulled, wrapped, and replaced into the smoker at about 5 am. On my first brisket cook with the BFG, this was missed by almost 3 hours. I needed to know why.

During the cook that morning when the temps were out, I grabbed a TW Signals set and threw a verified sensor into the cooker. There was a 50 degree variance between what the rec teq said the cooking chamber temperature was and what my Signals sensor reported. 225 steady including the graph tracking showing the same on the rec teq reporting vs the 177 degrees shown on the Signals probe. This 50 degrees over the 12 hours could/would/did result in a 3 hour delay in going to wrap for the load. It was a problem and now I am comfortable that I have a solution.

This may not be of any value to anyone else, but I like to understand what is happening to the product and what I should be expecting to see. When that does not happen, something is ALWAYS wrong.

Ok So I am OCD too.

I would bet that I will be more "time on target" next weekend when I do it all again. The signals system will be placed from the start.

v/r r

 

[SmokeOCD]

Ah, so it’s a consistent 50* low all the time? I’d log a ticket with recteq. I don’t really expect them to do anything, just build a paper trail in case other things develop.
50* is big though, they should at least send you a new temp probe to try and remedy that.

 

[TheRicker]

OCD... yep. Beyond the normal stuff, I do own a ThermoWorks Temperature Logger. This captures and maintains oven temperature logs as a single line event for hours at a time. Anyone who believes that their kitchen oven is going to a set temperature and staying there would be surprised by the under/over swings that are continuous. Now on a higher end oven the peaks and valleys will diminish over time as the oven stabilizes, but, many of the outdoor PID controlled cookers can easily "out perform" a typical household oven as far as temperature control.

My concern with the temperature management for my purposes with my new BFG has to do with timing. From experience, I expected my 180 lb load of briskets smoking at a 225 degree setting to reach wrapping temperatures (165 degrees +/-) at or before the 12 hour mark. This means that a batch of 10 briskets on at 5pm should be ready to be pulled, wrapped, and replaced into the smoker at about 5 am. On my first brisket cook with the BFG, this was missed by almost 3 hours. I needed to know why.

During the cook that morning when the temps were out, I grabbed a TW Signals set and threw a verified sensor into the cooker. There was a 50 degree variance between what the rec teq said the cooking chamber temperature was and what my Signals sensor reported. 225 steady including the graph tracking showing the same on the rec teq reporting vs the 177 degrees shown on the Signals probe. This 50 degrees over the 12 hours could/would/did result in a 3 hour delay in going to wrap for the load. It was a problem and now I am comfortable that I have a solution.

This may not be of any value to anyone else, but I like to understand what is happening to the product and what I should be expecting to see. When that does not happen, something is ALWAYS wrong.

Ok So I am OCD too.

I would bet that I will be more "time on target" next weekend when I do it all again. The signals system will be placed from the start.

v/r r

The additional content framed the situation wholly and i now understand your efforts about the temp differences much better. And cooking 180lbs of brisket adds a significant level of urgency and importance. I worry my butt off cooking a single whole packer on my 700. It’s hard to fathom the orchestration required trying to cook 10 of them. Kudos to you.

 

[Snorebaby]

I can get a little OCD at times. I use a Thermoworks Square Dot for my temp calibrations. Once the set temp is reached, it will do a 15min average to account for the swings in temp. I had to adjust the offset to get calibrated but at 250, my 700 (with the probe in the middle of the grill) now runs about +4 (close enough that I am happy with it) and my B380X (with the probe right next to the grill probe) at 350 is +1. I use the B380X for hotter cooks so I calibrated at 350 for that reason.

The thing about the Square Dot is that once you reach temp and it starts to average, you have to walk away for at least an hour or better yet 2 hrs. Just let the grill do it's thing.

I also found on the 380X that you have to clean the probe after greasy cooks. The grease gets on the probe and will affect temps. Not so much if you are doing casserole cooks. I also clean the fire pot after every 3rd cook or the temps start to swing wildly during heat up due to ash buildup in the firepot.

 

[SmokeZilla]

Although not specific to your BFG, it has been posted on this site that differences exist between RT’s temp chamber’s probe and 3rd party devices, RT has stated that you will not get the same readings unless all probes are in the same location. That being said, their probe measures and compensates for chamber temp in a manner that allows the controller to adjust to variations and minimize the broad swings that other cookers may exhibit. Glad you got your issue sorted.