Out of Control Yoder 640s

electron_si said:

From reading the OP’s post it looks like he has an S model which the build date would support so the controller is completely different

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I somehow missed the "s" in the 640S in the OP's original post. You are correct he would then have the brand new, and different, controller. I would hate to think that Yoder designed and deployed a new controller after years of flawless service on the existing one only to introduce a problem. That would suck.



Let's see how it turns out. Hopefully the OP will post whatever the fix is or the workaround

Can't you just leave the single piece diffuser out until the fire starts in the pot?

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pjtexas1 said:

Can't you just leave the single piece diffuser out until the fire starts in the pot?

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You could, but it would be a giant pain in the butt. You'd have to take out all 4 grill grates. Then heft out that 40 pound single piece of steel that is the diffuser. Reversing the process puts your hands in proximity of the lit firepot when you put the diffuser back in.


You could, but probably wouldn't ever do it more than once.

Bucknekked said:

You could, but it would be a giant pain in the butt. You'd have to take out all 4 grill grates. Then heft out that 40 pound single piece of steel that is the diffuser. Reversing the process puts your hands in proximity of the lit firepot when you put the diffuser back in.


You could, but probably wouldn't ever do it more than once.

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Don't forget, you have to remove the top shelf, to remove the 1 piece diffuser too. I wouldn't want to do it. Then again, I don't open my lid, or watch the fire pot. I just flip the switch, set the temp, and hit start. Then go prep the food. Only time I have had any problems with the Yoder, it was always my fault, and I knew it immediately.

Bucknekked said:

You could, but it would be a giant pain in the butt. You'd have to take out all 4 grill grates. Then heft out that 40 pound single piece of steel that is the diffuser. Reversing the process puts your hands in proximity of the lit firepot when you put the diffuser back in.


You could, but probably wouldn't ever do it more than once.

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I see. My little Pellet Pro isn't so complicated.

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Glad it worked out for ya. I don’t own a pellet smoker but I learned a lot anyway :grin:

Yes to what you have learned. Yoder does overshoot a lot. Needs a clean fire pot. I turn mine on, leave it alone for about 45 minutes. Perfect, usually. I see we are close neighbors, I will send a smoke signal out to ya. Haha.

I think the overshoot can also be explained by the fact that not all pellets are the same. Not just different brands but just the pellets in there, some are longer than others. To get to a certain temp, the auger will push pellets into the fire for a certain time. If it pushes more long pellets in there, it means more fuel and a higher temp will be reached.

pjtexas1 said:

I see. My little Pellet Pro isn't so complicated.

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Totally agree set temp and go.

Nomamm said:

Yes to what you have learned. Yoder does overshoot a lot. Needs a clean fire pot. I turn mine on, leave it alone for about 45 minutes. Perfect, usually. I see we are close neighbors, I will send a smoke signal out to ya. Haha.

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That's not good. Not trying to be an a$$hat but I thought that one of the best parts was you didn't have to wait to get cooking.

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I try never to start a sentence with "I don't want to p!$$ you off/Be and A$$hat" or anything similar- it's like it puts the listener on the defensive and all.

It is important to keep your equipment maintained, Cars, Guns, whatever... it is unfortunate that something that's touted as being trouble free, set it /forget it and simple might have a big "yeah but" attached. People being people are gonna wing it, forget it or just not RTFM (in it's entirety or at all). "fill this, turn that, push this?- got it"

When they get as easy to use as my UDS, wake me up.:grin:

To me charcoal isn’t necessarily easier than pellet to set up and dial in the temp. I always knew where to set my vents to get the temp I wanted. The main attraction to pellet cookers for me is a clean wood fire and consistent results. There is something to be said about KNOWING you will not screw up the food that you are cooking for the wedding, fundraiser, etc. because that would be embarrassing lol. If all I cared about was easy I would cook frozen meals in the microwave lol

Pellet cooking sounds like a very relaxing, confidence filled way to Q.

pjtexas1 said:

That's not good. Not trying to be an a$$hat but I thought that one of the best parts was you didn't have to wait to get cooking.

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Even with an instant heat like a gasser, you need to wait for heat up. Nothing is instant bro.
Sure thing, but that is the way Yoder says to do it.
Turn it on
Hit start
Default is 350
Let that USA made steel smoker heat up.
You can change it but you should let it hit 350, let it overshoot, then set your temperature.
All this takes about 45 minutes

My opinion is that you can’t rush a good smoke. Relax, drink a beer or 6, wait and cook.

Once the Yoder gets leveled out, it stays perfect.

I think most of the makers want the temps brought up to help sterilize the racks, I let my Pit Boss came up to its high smoke low temp setting then dial it to what I want to cook if I have washed the grates, if they need some high heat I ramp it up scrub and then return to cook temp. most of the time mine will be stable in 15 or so minutes if its not cold out side

Great advice given so far, and being the owner of a YS640 and also a YS1500 for the past 3-4 years the best thing I learned is to turn it on, set the temp where you are going to cook and after you know you have ignition walk away and just take a look at the stack occasionally and forget the little red numbers on the display for at least a half hour. It will drive you crazy and ruin the fun time you had planned smoking some delicious meats.


Trying to manually adjust the temp by what you are seeing for temperature reading makes things worse. They are designed to develop a rhythm of dumping pellets and maintaining a somewhat level cooking temp. The only thing you can do to this system is make it worse by thinking you are helping it correct by changing the temp setting.


Pellets burn differently, moisture affects them, the type of wood and manufacturing process makes them burn differently. Expect to see different variations of temp fluctuations depending on these conditions as well as the weather.


They do a great job of staying within an acceptable temperature range and you can produce some great food on them. They are not an oven in your house and will not have a + - 1 degree stability. But as I said before, for what we are doing they are pretty darn close.


I have gone as far as playing with mine and after setting the temp just sticking a piece of tape over the controller numbers, everyone still thought it was great BBQ and I had no stress, other than convincing myself that it works fine even if I don't stress about what the temperature is reading all the time.


As a friend suggested early on in my Yoder learning curve, go buy a stick burner and cook a few weekends, if you think the temp swings you are seeing are extreme you will have the dampers and fire door wore out on the stick burner in three weeks :loco:

thunderalley3 said:

Great advice given so far, and being the owner of a YS640 and also a YS1500 for the past 3-4 years the best thing I learned is to turn it on, set the temp where you are going to cook and after you know you have ignition walk away and just take a look at the stack occasionally and forget the little red numbers on the display for at least a half hour. It will drive you crazy and ruin the fun time you had planned smoking some delicious meats.

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^^^^^ Yup what he said.

Or if I'm really in a hurry I will take a torch to my burn pot right after it starts feeding pellets in for the startup. Speeds up the whole process even more and ensure I got ignition.

I have a 1500, clean it regularly, one complaint is the lack of a "One-Touch" cleaning system like a Weber kettle, the other is I wish the hopper held a 40 bag of pellets and had a bottom dump option, if you want to use another variety of pellets.

Thunderalley is exactly right.......

One of the reasons for the overshoot I believe, is that the pit measures the response to dumping pellets in the firebox, both increasing temp and decreasing temp. Your controller learns over time. I also find (as someone mentioned) that when you start at a higher temperature like 350 or even higher, the overshoot is higher.

Mine is rolled away in the garage, so always unplugged. My procedure is this:
1. Pull all grates and diffuser plate out and vacuum the firepot (mine is old and does not have the 2-piece diffuser), inside of the cooker, and under the firepot.
2. Reassemble
3. Ignite to temp I want
4. Check for smoke coming from the stack
5. Walk back in the house and prep my meat or whatever I'm cooking. That usually takes long enough that the cooker has settled in or is at least close.
6. Cook away........

I've had a couple mishaps, the most recent was I inadvertently set a rack of ribs on the thermocouple when I put them on and happened to notice that the pit started chugging away and smoking. I saw that the temp was reading like 110* and it had been at 250 with ambient temp at 90 or so. I knew there was a problem, so looked in, adjusted the meat position and all was well. I've also had a couple flame outs trying to cook super low temp doing bacon in the winter. Otherwise, it has been flawless.......

Ed