Pellet Pooper Help Needed

71-South · Apr 10, 2009

Hi All,

Well I just tried to fire up the 'new' CS-570 and it didn't light. The pellets fed OK, and after about 8 min., I turned it off (fan kept running like it should), pulled the grates, pulled the deflector plate thingy, and found a burn pot full of pellets. No smoke, no fire.

I dumped the pellets back in to the hopper and noticed that the tube on the very bottom was warm, but not hot.

Am I doing something wrong, or did I get a dud?

Any thoughts and or guidance will be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Bret

71-South · Apr 10, 2009

By the way, I did hit the "Start" button. The order was this: Fill the hopper, turn knob to "pre-heat", turn power on, push "start".

beerguy · Apr 10, 2009

Dont know C-S, but my treager I learned to turn on smoke, the lowest setting until i see some smoke. then about 5 mins later I can dial it up. i made the mistake of turning mine onto 350 the first time and loaded the pot with pellets too, but they caught from the glowstick and I filled the neighborhood with smoke.
Can you see the glowstick get redhot? Hopefully a Coolshack user will chime in.

71-South · Apr 10, 2009

Oops. Not a CookShack, but a Country Smoker CS-570.

Thanks for your post. I figured it out, though. The little tube at the bottom that provides heat has to stick through a hole in the burn pot. The first time, I didn't realize that. The second time, I did and it fired right up.

Thanks again, beerguy. I really appreciate the quick response.

Bret

embo500 · Apr 10, 2009

71-South said:
Oops. Not a CookShack, but a Country Smoker CS-570.

Thanks for your post. I figured it out, though. The little tube at the bottom that provides heat has to stick through a hole in the burn pot. The first time, I didn't realize that. The second time, I did and it fired right up.

Thanks again, beerguy. I really appreciate the quick response.

Bret

Yup. And 8 minutes is a little shy in my opinion. I usually give 15 - 20 for warm up. Also, you probably don't need to set it to pre-heat...I usually just dial in where I want it to be for the duration of the cook and turn it on. The CS series has a built-in start up mode where it automatically dumps in pellets quickly for the first few minutes to get some heat going, then it'll just ease into the temp you want it at anyway. I don't remember how long the startup mode is, but probably 8 - 10 minutes. Same with the cool down...it's automated, and goes about 15 minutes.

One other thing...make sure the set screws on that element in the burner are nice and snug. Not overtight, but snug. I had mine not fire up one very cold winter morning and couldn't figure out why...I let it go not wanting to mess with it in the 10 degree temps, but I later found out that the set screws were loose and the element was touching the sleeve, and causing it to either short or at the very least not heat up enough. A quick turn with an Allen wrench cured that problem.

BBQ_Mayor · Apr 10, 2009

I don't agree with 15min. If you had a pile of pellets, then it's not going to start. Just leave the plate out while you fire it up and watch it.
It could be that when you moved the unit around and the pellet pot moved a bit and pulled away from the heating element.
Make sure your pellet pot is firmly in place and try it again.

BTW. Was this used before? And did you clean out the pots before use again? Ash will build up in the pot area if you don't clean it out.

Good luck

Bossmanbbq · Apr 10, 2009

THe one thing I found through experimenting with my CS WHole Hog Smoker is if I DONT start it on pre-heat and then move it to the setting I want it doesn't get to temp or will actually go out all together. If I start it on preheat first and then move it I have no problems.

Plowboy · Apr 10, 2009

On all of my pellet pits, I dump a handful of pellets in the pot to give it some fuel to light with. I've seen my Traeger fail to light if I don't do that. It is just habit.

BigGar · Apr 11, 2009

I got the CS 570 too, clean the fire pot every time and make sure you have it aligned correctly before starting it up, I usually wait until I see smoke before putting deflector plate and grills in, only takes a couple minutes

beerguy · Apr 11, 2009

Good stuff. I learned a lot too.

bbqdano · Apr 11, 2009

Another alignment check is to make sure the screws that hold the hot rod in place are tight thus keeping the rod level and in close proximity to the burn screen. You don't want any pellets falling below the hot rod down to the bottom of the grill. To check those screws, you'll need to remove the 6 machine screws holding on the end panel. (The end panel has the blower fan mounted to it so go easy removing it once you have the screws out. The power wires for the fan may not have much slack in them.) They do have spade terminals on the fan so you can unplug them and lay the end panel aside if need be. Then just look straight in the end and you'll see the hot rod flange with a couple of screws.

71-South · Apr 11, 2009

BTW. Was this used before? And did you clean out the pots before use again? Ash will build up in the pot area if you don't clean it out.

It was used before, but I took it all apart when I brought it home and made sure everything was clean.

Once I placed the burn pot correctly, it fires right up. I'm putting the dial on 'preheat', turning it on, pressing the 'start' button, waiting about 10 min., moving the dial to 'smoke', and waiting another 20 min. That seems to do the trick.

On all of my pellet pits, I dump a handful of pellets in the pot to give it some fuel to light with. I've seen my Traeger fail to light if I don't do that. It is just habit.

I haven't had to do that yet, but I'll keep it in mind if it becomes necessary.

I got the CS 570 too, clean the fire pot every time and make sure you have it aligned correctly before starting it up,

Yep, the misalignment was the reason for this post in the first place.

I usually wait until I see smoke before putting deflector plate and grills in, only takes a couple minutes

I'll do that if I have any more trouble lighting it, but since I aligned the burn pot right, it's been nails.

Another alignment check is to make sure the screws that hold the hot rod in place are tight thus keeping the rod level and in close proximity to the burn screen. You don't want any pellets falling below the hot rod down to the bottom of the grill. To check those screws, you'll need to remove the 6 machine screws holding on the end panel. (The end panel has the blower fan mounted to it so go easy removing it once you have the screws out. The power wires for the fan may not have much slack in them.) They do have spade terminals on the fan so you can unplug them and lay the end panel aside if need be. Then just look straight in the end and you'll see the hot rod flange with a couple of screws.

Interesting. I'll check that if it ever cools down from me using it.

Thanks, all, for the advice. I appreciate it.

-Bret

Pellet Pooper Help Needed

71-South

is Blowin Smoke!

71-South

is Blowin Smoke!

beerguy

is Blowin Smoke!

71-South

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embo500

Knows what a fatty is.

BBQ_Mayor

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Bossmanbbq

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Plowboy

somebody shut me the fark up.

BigGar

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beerguy

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bbqdano

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71-South

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