Stampede 3 uses and dead no resolution from support

I emptied and cleared out the auger and hopper multiple times. At least it started before, now it wont even start. There is also a rather serious mechanical problem with my auger now. I tried running at low, 400, and max to see if it made a difference: it makes none. Attached is a graph plotting the last run before failure. After this run: the grill would no longer start and the auger is now producing a horrible grinding noise.

unnamed.png
 
You're not paying attention... light the pellets with an external source of fire.
The crunching is likely just pellet grinding, but if it's the motor then hope it breaks soon too...
 
Do0zer said:
I emptied and cleared out the auger and hopper multiple times. At least it started before, now it wont even start. There is also a rather serious mechanical problem with my auger now. I tried running at low, 400, and max to see if it made a difference: it makes none. Attached is a graph plotting the last run before failure. After this run: the grill would no longer start and the auger is now producing a horrible grinding noise.

View attachment 20035
Click to expand...

I see why they had you adjust the feed rate. You tend to see big temp swings like this in hot weather when the feed rate is too high. The controllers have a hard time maintaining the feed, so it's constantly trying to adjust: starving-feeding, etc.
 
Is your RTD probe inside the grill straight up and down or is it leaning? Sometimes they get bent (or come that way) and can cause temp problems.

The lack of ignition is another matter but as @SmokeOCD mentioned you can light a small handful of pellets in the pot using a torch or lighter.
 
SmokeOCD said:
You're not paying attention... light the pellets with an external source of fire.
The crunching is likely just pellet grinding, but if it's the motor then hope it breaks soon too...
Click to expand...
Tried that and it ending up causing an auger fire.

I tried everything under the sun to get that grill going
 
Jim6820 said:
Uhmmmmm; something’s not right here. The OP says he has a “RT-680” (in his profile) that has only been used three times and RT won’t do anything to help.

The 680 hasn’t been made or sold new in 10+ years, so wouldn’t be supported under warranty by any stretch of the imagination. If the OP actually has a different model, purchased fairly recently, even the most jaded of us on the forum wouldn’t think RT would fail to honor its warranty. There has to be more to this story than we’ve heard to date.

Is this grill really a RT-680, or something else? Was it purchased new, or used? How long ago? Things are just not adding up at this point. There are a lot of good folks on this forum that are willing to help, but they need straight answers to do so.
Click to expand...
That was the point I made in my original post. Giving the OP the benefit of the doubt, it sounds like his controller went bad but the fix would be model specific.
 
Yeah, this could be the controller or the auger. It's mimicking the auger feed rate issue where it overheats, cools down, feeds more, overheats, tries, to cool itself down and then causes a flameout.

Hopefully you hear back from them today. Email Bryan again as well. I had him as my rep and while not 100% satisfied with the customer service they did agree to take mine back. Some times you just have to get really loud to get them to do it.
 
Do0zer said:
Tried that and it ending up causing an auger fire.

I tried everything under the sun to get that grill going
Click to expand...
A butane/mapgas torch should light just the pellets in the pot quickly, with the blower running it would catch fire and keep the auger moving to feed any pellets which could possibly be smoldering or burning. It does however sound like a bad controller at this point, hope gets resolved for you soon. Seems that any tech support these days regardless of product/company is hard to get, it's not just RecTec. Don't try to light a full pot of pellets if you are doing such, empty the pot and just try to light a small handful of pellets, once catches you should be seeing a nice flame going with pellets being fed, set the ignition temp to like 250F.
 
I had a same issue with one of my grills in the past.Same error code and would shut down.

The issue in my case was Lumberjack Hardwood Cherry pellets were too hard to snap. Finally broke the shear pin on the auger.

Can we ask what kind of pellets you're using?

In my case, I called Lumberjack and the very nice lady on the phone said let me check with the manager. The response was "The cherry pellets and Charcoal pellets are extremely hard and our own equipment has trouble processing those pellets."
She asked if they could send me a bag of something else, I chose apple.
I received the bag of apple pellets and never had another issue again, ever.

The test was placing a pellet across my index and middle finger then pressing with my thumb, I literally could not snap a long pellet.
 
RT probably had a skeleton staff working the phones over the Labor Day holiday weekend. That’s not an excuse for poor customer service, but it probably explains why the OP got the run-around.

@Do0zer, call them again tomorrow, after the post-holiday rush has settled down a bit, and ask for a supervisor, manager or owner to get on the line. Calmly explain what is happening and ask for RT to replace your faulty grill under warranty. I’m betting things will get resolved quickly.
 
RHEINLEIN said:
I had a same issue with one of my grills in the past.Same error code and would shut down.

The issue in my case was Lumberjack Hardwood Cherry pellets were too hard to snap. Finally broke the shear pin on the auger.

Can we ask what kind of pellets you're using?

In my case, I called Lumberjack and the very nice lady on the phone said let me check with the manager. The response was "The cherry pellets and Charcoal pellets are extremely hard and our own equipment has trouble processing those pellets."
She asked if they could send me a bag of something else, I chose apple.
I received the bag of apple pellets and never had another issue again, ever.

The test was placing a pellet across my index and middle finger then pressing with my thumb, I literally could not snap a long pellet.
Click to expand...
I was using RecTec apple pellets. The problem actually started with these pellets
 
Do0zer said:
I believe this to be the culprit. Straight out of the factory with no fiberglass sleeve. Bare metal exposed.

We will see if a new igniter will fix the problem.

View attachment 20067

View attachment 20068
Click to expand...
All right; we’re making progress. Glad to see the problem has been identified. Now, to get the replacement part from RT installed and get back to grilling. (y) (y) (y)
 
Jim6820 said:
All right; we’re making progress. Glad to see the problem has been identified. Now, to get the replacement part from RT installed and get back to grilling. (y) (y) (y)
Click to expand...
That's the cause for why it wasn't igniting after the tests, but it's not what the original issue was. His temp readouts were all over the place. Seems like that is more controller based.
 
What is the aug setting set at? I was having problems a while back with a new wifi unit... Everything would start but eventually id get a flame out(all pelets were burned up-- nothing left to burn).. Turned out the aug setting was set at 10(default is 65)... I Upped it to 100(range is 30-230) and life is good...... At least for consistent temps..

might also be the reason your ignition rod burned out.. Super hot with nothing to burn....
 

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