I found a pellet smokers Achilles heel

[pjtexas1]

5 pellet cookers over the years … decade or so with various versions... live in Florida … couple hurricanes, a few tropical storms … zero pellet problems....

I imagine a tornado would mess up a stick burner pretty good... yeah that's it. I found the Achille's Heel of a stick-burner. Tornadoes.

ound:

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[Joshw]

5 pellet cookers over the years … decade or so with various versions... live in Florida … couple hurricanes, a few tropical storms … zero pellet problems....

I imagine a tornado would mess up a stick burner pretty good... yeah that's it. I found the Achille's Heel of a stick-burner. Tornadoes.

I can attest, a tornado will destroy a stick burner. I know from experience. Much harder to fix, than removing wet pellets for sure.

 

[dadsr4]

I can attest, a tornado will destroy a stick burner. I know from experience. Much harder to fix, than removing wet pellets for sure.

So far, a leather mallet is all I've needed to pound my kettles back into shape.:becky:

 

[Ylouder]

I think ylouder was misunderstood. He probably didn't mean a cover but a roof or ez-up type tent. I also would never cook uncovered in the rain. The only time my shirley has seen water was on the way home from Alabama. I cook in my smoker garage or back covered patio and use a fan to blow the smoke out.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Exactly. Maybe Ive just been lucky growing up. My dad had a covered lean too next to our shed, and in my previous and current homes we had large covered patios/porches.

If the weather is nice i will wheel it out to the yard, if its going to rain or snow i leave it on the porch and get a fan.

Ive just never have understood why so many people wont buy covers (to use while not in use) and store their smoker year round in the yard. Then they will turn around a b*tch about something rusting after 2 years of treating their equipment like trash. Why spend 300+ bucks on something just not to take care of it?

On that same note, i have a neighbor who bought a JD tractor and stores it parked back in the woods uncovered (while he has a large shed, and 3 car garage). Then started complaining about how it was a piece of crap. :loco:

 

[MeatyOakerSmoker]

Meh... try that tornado on your pellet cooker and see how it does too. Most pellet cookers have thinner walls than stickburners plus electronics.

I live in Northern NJ. The fact that I have a fifth of an acre means I’m lucky. Zoning laws would probably not allow for a permanent cover of any nature. Welcome to the NY Metro area.

I certainly agree the set it and forget it of a pellet is pretty awesome. I need a BBQ Guru or equivalent to do the same with my other charcoal burning cookers and it’s not even a consideration for my stick burners. But let me say with a controller the convenience factor is pretty much equivalent. The benefits of the pellet are actually that PLUS easily adding new fuel and getting up to temp pretty quickly even in cold weather. Oh and you don’t choke out your fire to achieve this.

That all being said I have cooked in every one of my other cookers in moderate rain and wind without issue. I’ve so far found that every style of cooker has its drawbacks. But this issue was particularly difficult to fix and put the cooker out totally out of commission for days until I had the time (and sunlight) to spend 4 hrs fixing it.