Heavy 'D' stick burner has arrived

rrusch24

Member
Messages
6
Location
Phoenix, AZ
Grill(s) owned
  1. Stampede
I received my “Heavy D” Stick Burning Heat Diffuser today and boy is it a beast. First off, this thing is heavy, 12 pounds of deflector with 4 flaps to cover the channels. It came pre-loaded with what looks like post oak. I dropped it in the old Stamped and fired her up to 350 to break it in. After about 30 minutes I noticed the grill was ready 480 actual. I attest this to not cracking the lid like the site says "*Please Note: Due to the additional heat produced from the wood, you may need to crack the grill lid in order to maintain your desired temperature. After wood has been burned completely, the lid can then be closed as normal.*" Yes, crack the lid. I plan on taking another swing at a flat and some burnt ends this weekend so I cant wait to see how much smokie flavor it brings.

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That thing is a beast! What makes it even more impressive is the side by side shot as the Rec Tec shield isn't no slouch by no means, but the Heavy D is still a beast even next to it.
 
I've been looking at the Heavy D diffuser, since my deflector shield is also warped.

Got a question:

Will it fit the "Bull"? The 2 1/2" bottom cutout on one side will fit ok in the front, but how wide is the cutout on the other side? If it's the same 2 1/2", then it won't fit the Bull, since the back of the Bull is wider due to the hopper / auger coming from the rear instead of the side.

Does anyone with the Bull have the Heavy D diffuser? If so, how did you make it fit? The only way I know to make the opening bigger is with a hacksaw or Dremel tool. Not sure if I want to do that.

Thanks....
 
Don‘t have one and I’m interested in the answer also, but there are better pictures of it as well as dimensions on their site.
 
I've been looking at the Heavy D diffuser, since my deflector shield is also warped.

Got a question:

Will it fit the "Bull"? The 2 1/2" bottom cutout on one side will fit ok in the front, but how wide is the cutout on the other side? If it's the same 2 1/2", then it won't fit the Bull, since the back of the Bull is wider due to the hopper / auger coming from the rear instead of the side.

Does anyone with the Bull have the Heavy D diffuser? If so, how did you make it fit? The only way I know to make the opening bigger is with a hacksaw or Dremel tool. Not sure if I want to do that.

Thanks....
I do not have one but I believe I had read that they do fit the Bull. Ill send them an email and look into it to double check.
 
@Greg Jones ---

Yeah, I've visited their website and looked at their photos, but only 1 photo showed the 2 1/2" notch and you only see one side.

However, I looked at their video and when they held up the Heavy D, you could see both ends and both have the 2 1/2" notch. Plus, when I was thinking about possibly using a hacksaw or Dremel tool to increase the opening on one end, I realized that might be a little difficult. That's because you would be cutting into the "chamber" used for holding the wood for the smoke. Not sure how that would go.

So, my guess is that it will not fit, but I could be wrong. I'm anxious to hear if anyone has been able to use the Heavy D with the Bull together, because the Heavy D does look like a great product.
 
I too have one and it fits the Bull. Was following a thread here Users before purchasing. They were having issues of either the wood not smoldering till it turns to charcoal or the wood igniting. They ended up covering the wood with aluminium foil. If you read all the pages of the thread, you will see that the foil trick worked. I have tried this with DSS Wood from Ebay. I haven't had the same luck. Either no smoldering or ignition. Have not tired chunks and have not given up. These pellet smoker just don't give the same flavor as a stick smoker.
 
I've done a lot of testing with the SDHD, and some of my posts regarding it are linked to in the prior poster's comments.

Issues that I've had with it my Stampede, are that it wrecks havoc with the PID controller if used in the manner that the instructions say to use it.

The reason for this is that once that wood ignites, no matter how much the PID controller slows down or cuts back on the pellets and/or the air, the wood is still lit and your temps will go well beyond what you set them.

The PID controller can handle too few or too many pellets. Too little or too much air.

But it was not designed to contend with an outside source of heat in the form of lit and flaming logs or pieces of wood.

No amount of PID cutback on pellets or air is going to keep that ignited wood under control once it gets lit and starts jacking up cooking chamber temps.

Indeed, imagine the wood igniting in your grill, and then you shutting the grill completely off. If the SDHD were fully loaded and lit, even in a grill that was completely shut off, you'd probably still eventually reach a cooking chamber temperature of 400° if the device were full of wood. And that's without the addition of any pellets or air from your fan.

Put a cold SDHD inside your unplugged grill, light it and ignite the wood, and you'd soon see your cooking chamber temps rise to very hot levels, even in an unplugged grill.

So make no mistake, this item will drive your chamber temps up beyond what your PID controller can handle if it's chock full of wood and that wood ignites.

Propping the lid open, does nothing more than introduce more oxygen onto already flaming and ignited wood.

Think back to your stick burning or charcoal days. If you want to snuff out flames, you don't open vents and lids. You close them. Ask yourself; "just why would propping the lid open with a wood chunk or rock work if my temps were running buck wild because of burning logs inside of my pellet grill?"

It doesn't work. If you do get a fire, you are almost compelled to run it with the lid open until the wood is consumed in order to keep the temps in line.

Close the lid with flaming logs in it, and watch your temps shoot up.

I did some of the first experiments, at least that I've seen reported, with foil wrapping the wool splits. My results are shown in that linked to thread, and I am convinced that this or foil wrapping wood chunks, is the only way to consistently use it without your temps getting out of whack, and thus defeating the purpose of your PID controller.

The trick however, is in foil wrapping first off, the right amount of wood. Be that splits or chunks. And then leaving just enough opening in the foil to allow the wood to get enough oxygen to smolder, but not enough oxygen to fully ignite.

Good luck. Because that takes trial and error. I still don't know how much or how little wood to use to consistently accomplish this using the SDHD and still get an improvement in smoke flavor.

As a side note, I've heard that because the Bull has a center mounted auger setup in contrast to the Stampede's side mounted auger setup, that the SDHD won't sit the same way with the wood chambers on either side of the fire pot running left to right, or lengthwise in a Bull, like it does in the Stampede. I know not how this would affect airflow or even if it does.

The stock heat diffuser in a Bull is cut a bit deeper, ie the center notches are cut deeper than they are in the Stampede to allow pass through of the auger housing. The Bull uses a wide cutout in it's diffuser. At least twice as wide as the cutout in the Stampede.

https://www.rectecgrills.com/deflector-shield-bull-rt-680/

If you compare the notch cutout of the SDHD, to the notch cutout of the stock Bull diffuser, you'll find that the notch cutout of the SDHD is narrow like it is in the stock Stampede diffuser as opposed to the cutout being wide as in the stock Bull diffuser.
 
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I too have one and it fits the Bull. Was following a thread here Users before purchasing. They were having issues of either the wood not smoldering till it turns to charcoal or the wood igniting. They ended up covering the wood with aluminium foil. If you read all the pages of the thread, you will see that the foil trick worked. I have tried this with DSS Wood from Ebay. I haven't had the same luck. Either no smoldering or ignition. Have not tired chunks and have not given up. These pellet smoker just don't give the same flavor as a stick smoker.

I agree with the stick flavor comment. What I've done to battle that, is the use of a smoke tube. But I load it 50/50 with pellets and chips... Works good. I haven't experimented with more chips than that. Not sure if they'd have enough heat to keep burning. (Without enough pellets)
 
I've been looking at the Heavy D diffuser, since my deflector shield is also warped.

Got a question:

Will it fit the "Bull"? The 2 1/2" bottom cutout on one side will fit ok in the front, but how wide is the cutout on the other side? If it's the same 2 1/2", then it won't fit the Bull, since the back of the Bull is wider due to the hopper / auger coming from the rear instead of the side.

Does anyone with the Bull have the Heavy D diffuser? If so, how did you make it fit? The only way I know to make the opening bigger is with a hacksaw or Dremel tool. Not sure if I want to do that.

Thanks....
It fits the Bull.... I see that a couple of guys on youtube that grill on RT Bulls are using the Heavy D. Both recommending it.
 
I got one and have used it twice. It does fit the bull, but you have to turn it opposite the way that the stock diffuser sits. It also sits a little closer to the pot, height wise. If you want it to equal stock height, just get a couple of fire bricks, 3/4-1" high and put under it. I haven't done that as I'm happy with it, as is, on my 2 trials. I have noticed much more smoke and smoke flavor. I can't speak for anyone else, but I am happy with it, very happy. Don't know if I'll ever need smoke tubes anymore.
 

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