Issues with Dual Fire

[El Jefe]

I just setup my Dual Fire and have been having some issues with pellets feeding and temp swings, during cooks and burn in on both sides.

I’m using new bags of traeger pellets (this is all I used on my previous smoker and never had any issues)

Issue 1) is I’m getting temps swings +/- 50 degrees

Issue 2 is twice the pellets have failed to feed from the hoper and I had to stir the pellets in the hopper to get them to feed.

My previous grill was a Traeger little Tex I had for 16 years and never had any hoper issues. I bought the recteq because I wanted better temp control.

I have plaid with the feed rate and it didn’t have any noticeable difference.

I have emailed support, but haven’t heard back yet. Was hoping some users on here may have suggestions to try until I hear back from support.

I want to love this grill, but man I’m pretty disappointed at this point.

 

[BigDan]

I just setup my Dual Fire and have been having some issues with pellets feeding and temp swings, during cooks and burn in on both sides.

I’m using new bags of traeger pellets (this is all I used on my previous smoker and never had any issues)

Issue 1) is I’m getting temps swings +/- 50 degrees

Issue 2 is twice the pellets have failed to feed from the hoper and I had to stir the pellets in the hopper to get them to feed.

My previous grill was a Traeger little Tex I had for 16 years and never had any hoper issues. I bought the recteq because I wanted better temp control.

I have plaid with the feed rate and it didn’t have any noticeable difference.

I have emailed support, but haven’t heard back yet. Was hoping some users on here may have suggestions to try until I hear back from support.

I want to love this grill, but man I’m pretty disappointed at this point.

View attachment 20831

View attachment 20832

Call… call… call…

Faster and better results.

 

[El Jefe]

Yeah, I figure I’ll use my old traeger through Xmas and call them after the holidays. I’m sure support is slammed right now. Figured I would at least get a case going via email so they can see my screen shots of the temp swings.

 

[RattleR]

Did you try one side at 400 F for an hour? Then maybe the other side? Thinking the right first I may have missed it though.

 

[BigDan]

Yeah, I figure I’ll use my old traeger through Xmas and call them after the holidays. I’m sure support is slammed right now. Figured I would at least get a case going via email so they can see my screen shots of the temp swings.

Please post whatever results you come up with, I’m sure a lot of folks are waiting to hear initial thoughts and results before pulling the trigger. Merry Christmas! At least you still have your previous smoker.

 

[Jim6820]

Traeger and Recteq folks often clash; the Dual Fire is probably just carrying on the feud.

 

[Waterboy]

First, welcome to the forum.
I’d suggest you check your RTD probe in each chamber to make sure they aren’t leaning too close to the sidewall. That will mess your temps up.
I’d also suggest you let one side run for a couple of hours (you can lower the temp if you want) to see if it stabilizes. Sometime it takes a cook or two to settle in.
If you need help from recteq by all means give them a call. I wouldn’t worry about them being too busy, calling is by far the best way to get help…assuming you get a good customer service rep.
Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[El Jefe]

Did you try one side at 400 F for an hour? Then maybe the other side? Thinking the right first I may have missed it though.

Good thought, but the issue is still present when using them independently.

 

[El Jefe]

First, welcome to the forum.
I’d suggest you check your RTD probe in each chamber to make sure they aren’t leaning too close to the sidewall. That will mess your temps up.
I’d also suggest you let one side run for a couple of hours (you can lower the temp if you want) to see if it stabilizes. Sometime it takes a cook or two to settle in.
If you need help from recteq by all means give them a call. I wouldn’t worry about them being too busy, calling is by far the best way to get help…assuming you get a good customer service rep.
Good luck and keep us posted.

I appreciate the warm welcome!

I will definitely give support a call after Christmas.

My wife is already irritated at me because of all the time I’ve spent fussing with the bbq while she’s trying to get the house ready to host Christmas. So I’m using self control and I’m not going to mess with it until after Christmas. I don’t need a pissed off wife to go with my wonky bbq.

 

[Dubs]

Welcome, there is some good advice above. Take a close look at the pellets you’re using. Before I was able to get back to Lumber Jack I used a variety of pellets mostly from big box stores. Bag to bag results were quite different. Pit Boss gave my 1250 fits on many occasions, even Bear Mountain was inconsistent. Thankfully RK got LJ back. Sizing and length can wreak havoc On feeding and temp control. Like others have said try a few burn trials. Check the connections as well. Might take everything out of the hopper and just add like 3-4 lbs. Go thru the pellets your adding look for excessively long one that may cause feeding issues.

 

[XDmShooter]

I'm an instrument mechanic of 25 years, many spent troubleshooting control loops, and when i see a graph like yours, it's usually the proportional band is too narrow. Too narrow PB or too much gain will cause it to overshoot and then cycle in short periods, especially the first graph demonstrates this where it appears you opened the grill then the contoller output resulted in a large overshoot, then went into small period cycles. A well tuned control loop should get to setpoint and stay there within 4 cycles, this is called quarter wave damping. I'm waiting on my 1100 to arrive, so no idea if these controllers are set up to be tunable by the end user.

Hopefully they can get you fixed up.

 

[chuckchesney]

I'm having the exact same issue. I did the initial burn, and then for my first two cooks I've had 50+ degree swings in both directions. Any update from the service department? I'm out of town so can't take the lead on that myself just yet, but pretty disappointing opening couple of cooks. My spatchcocked chicken took 2.5 hours even attempting to cook at 350—25 degrees above the Recteq recipe, which called for 90 minutes for a bigger bird.

 

[alpineaudio]

I'm having the exact same issue. I did the initial burn, and then for my first two cooks I've had 50+ degree swings in both directions. Any update from the service department?

View attachment 20947

You ever get your swing issue resolved? I'm having this same issue, but only on the left side.

 

[alpineaudio]

I just setup my Dual Fire and have been having some issues with temp swings, during burn in on left side.

Issue 1) is I’m getting temps swings +/- 50 degrees

I have plaid with the feed rate and it didn’t have any noticeable difference.

I have emailed support.

View attachment 20831

View attachment 20832

You ever get this issue resolved? I'm having the same problem with my left side.