Not happy with pit boss - switch smokers?

[aimcat]

So my husband and I have a Pit Boss pellet smoker we have had a year. Before this we had another pellet smoker as well as a WSM (we had the WSM for 5 years). Needless to say we know how to own and operate a pellet smoker so its not like what happened here was user error. To make a long story short we were going to use our smoker last night. We did the normal procedures to get the smoker warmed up etc. Once it had finished the initial smoke/warmup process we set to 350 and closed the lid as we always do. We happen to glance outside and noticed huge amounts of smoke billowing out and flames shooting out of a section of the front bottom of the barrel - literally out of the barrel like a section had become weak and split or something? We ran and turned it off and opened the lid and the entire inside was just engulfed with flames and had already pretty much destroyed the inside that quick. Flames were shooting out the section of the front as well as the grease drip and the paint was just falling off. My husband finally got the fire subsided after about 15 minutes of this.
This is the 2nd time something like this has happened with this smoker. The 1st time we had a pork butt on in the middle of the night and heard an explosion and it had blown the lid open and the inside was in flames. We never figured this out. As the smoker was clean, the butt was not omitting much grease or anything at all.
Keep in mind yesterdays incident - we had just cleaned the smoker Saturday - completely. We use this smoker 2 times a week. We are extremely well seasoned on using it and operating it. The auger had been working normally and properly. The barrel of the smoker is missing more than half the paint now and seems to have a compromised weak point at the front and side.
Our other short lived Pellet smoker we never had this issue and our WSM NEVER ever had one problem. We are getting ready to start some backyard comps and smoking more and more with warm weather upon us. We are kind of scared to even use this sucker now. We contacted PB and they are just not offering a lot of help!

Would you get another smoker? Or just stick with this and deal with it (hoping that PB offers something to replace at least the barrel)?

If so what would you get?

 

[Stlsportster]

Lots of questions and not all of them black/white.

1. i would not use that smoker anymore..not worth risking heath or property for smoker that has had a fire like that.
2. I had multiple issues with a Traeger that prompted me to swear i would never rely on electric again. I have charcoal and wood smokers now.
3. If you still want a pellet smoker, the better names are Yoder, Mak and Rec Tec. But you will pay significantly more than you did for that Pit Boss.

4. You have to decide how you like to smoke. Do you want set and forget? Do you like the taste of the food from the pellet smoker? Do you already cook with charcoal or wood on another cooker?

Once you answer that, there are tons of recommendations for brands within each type or style.

 

[rwalters]

I don’t own a Pit Boss, but from what I have seen and read it seems that the majority of their customer base is quite happy with the product. It’s a bummer that this is happening to you! If the pellet grill is still under warranty, I would press hard for them to make this right. This is not something that you should be having to deal with... plus it is extremely dangerous if the cooker is near anything flammable and you don’t happen to catch it the moment it starts.

That said, if you were to replace, are you wanting to stick with pellets... also, what would the budget be for a replacement?

 

[SmittyJonz]

Treagers like to do that too..........Plenty of YouTube videos of it......some Cool explosions too

 

[aimcat]

Yeah, so it seems like pellet smokers are prone to this?! I searched this issue and was shocked at the amount of people who have had similar things happen.

 

[TravelingJ]

I had it happen to me once on my Pitboss 820. I had been neglectful on cleaning out the burnpot for a while, and was running at a fairly low temp. The hopper tunneled out, and I noticed as the temps were dropping, so I stirred the hopper. It kept pumping out the pellets to get up to temp, but they had died out, so nothing ignited. I eventually turned it off to cool/reset, then turned it back on.

It started pumping out more pellets, turned on the igniter rod-and a whole buncha flames followed. I finally realized what all I had done, shut it down, and became much more diligent on the cleanings.

Then I bought the Copperhead that cooks a ton more food, and is much easier to clean out.

 

[SmittyJonz]

Yeah, so it seems like pellet smokers are prone to this?! I searched this issue and was shocked at the amount of people who have had similar things happen.

Fairly common on a few brands. Overfeed Burn Pot, Not cleaning out Burn Pot, flame outs then restarts n few other reasons.......even ever slightly damp pellets that smolder instead of Burn can do it........not enough airflow on startup or raising temp.......

 

[smoke ninja]

they wont replace the barrel for paint damage, it's considered wear. maybe an exception of this happened due to another failure and it is indeed structurally weakened

the question is to cause and I'm not sure. the door blowing open as mentioned the first time is normally caused by a flameout and then a relight attempt. whatever the cause I wouldn't risk running it again until its found. I will say it sounds an awfully like a grease fire, do you scrape it out or just vacuum?

I find the 2 biggest issues with pit boss smokers is flameouts at low temps and tunneling. proper startup helps with the former and the latter can be solved by stirring the pellets periodically

possibly another problem is a faulty temperature probe. if it reads low the cooker will just continue to feed pellets.......now I'm just thinking out load

 

[SmittyJonz]

I had previously found a few videos discussing why this happens -but that was a few months ago - you might find them on YouTube

 

[aimcat]

We scrape out and vacuum out. We had just done this after a smoke Saturday. The place where the paint is missing is visibility weakened now. Really annoying to have to deal with this as this is our only smoker at the moment and really afraid to use it now! It was totally clean!

 

[SmittyJonz]

I’d build an Ugly Drum Smoker or buy a Pretty Drum Smoker - Hunsaker or Gateway or Old 66.........then you can Q even when power is out..........

http://www.old66grill.com/about-1

https://www.hunsakersmokers.comm

https://www.gatewaydrumsmokers.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC0Gud4kS1g&t=234s&app=desktop
.

 

[aimcat]

Will a drum run at lower temps or mainly 275 and up?

 

[SmittyJonz]

We scrape out and vacuum out. We had just done this after a smoke Saturday. The place where the paint is missing is visibility weakened now. Really annoying to have to deal with this as this is our only smoker at the moment and really afraid to use it now! It was totally clean!

Even a power flicker or surge can cause a restart n dump more pellets n cause this........
Much like a 1 second power flicker can cause your home computer or your cable box to restart and re-boot

 

[aimcat]

Oh, I see.

 

[SmittyJonz]

Or like ninja said a dirty temp probe or losing signal from the temp probe will make the smoker think it’s colder than it really is and over feed pellets -can do that. I don’t have a pellet smoker but I was reading up on them and watching videos on them for a few months thinking I wanted one and decided I don’t really want one . But I found things on some pellet forums, on Facebook pellet cooker groups, and YouTube videos talking about issues like that.......

 

[aimcat]

What made you decide against them?

 

[SmittyJonz]

What made you decide against them?

I have charcoal smokers and stick burner smokers and grills - just decided I didn’t need One.
Don’t really see any benefit over what I already have and I decided I was just wanting one because everybody was getting one .......6- 8 months or so Ago there was a Pellet Pooper Buying Craze on here........this Place can be a Bad Influence on Folk..... :mrgreen:

https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=262241
.

 

[Mojo-Que]

Full disclosure, I have never owned a pellet smoker. I have had a couple of offset (cheap ones) smokers and REALLY wanted a pellet pooper. Found this place which I love and started doing lots of research all over the Net. I have had the grilla Silverbac in my cart no less that 10 times since the first of the year but just can’t seem to pull the trigger. The bottom line for me is I am going to get a drum for smoking and a PK for grilling and I will pass on the poopers. Nothing against them, but I have just decided that this is what will work for me.

If you like the ease and so forth of the pellet, then by all means get another and enjoy. Maybe go up a class or two? Not sure if you will totally eliminate the possibility of a repeat though. Could be just bad luck so consider that as well.

Good luck and keep smoking!

MojoQue

 

[retfr8flyr]

There are a couple of pellet grill that don't use the direct feed mechanism and a blowout like that is almost impossible with them. If you want to stay with a pellet grill, then you need to get a quality grill, like a Mak, or get one that the feed drops into the fire pot from a chute, like Louisiana Grills.

 

[jermoQ]

I have two pitbosses. The last time I used my 820, I had a fire, for the first time in 4 years. I am going to say if you had two fires in a year, you either need to know the company will get you a new one OR get a different one. If you had a new one, I would hope you wouldnt have the same issue. However, if you aren't comfy using it, then DEFINITELY do something different! You should be enjoying this, not be stressing over it!