Stampede New RT 590 owner - auger location is a concern to me

[cueball1]

I've had a Memphis pellet grill for a number of years. Always liked it. For our second home decided to go with a less expensive cooker and RecTeq looked like the most grill for the money and seems well loved by owners. I'm assembling it now and I see the auger exit is actually part of the fire pot. This has me very concerned. Seems like an auger fire, then hopper fire, just waiting to happen. The Memphis auger dumps onto a ramp that leads to the fire pot. No chance of an auger fire there. Am I worried about something that just doesn't happen? Any best practices to keep this from happening if it is a concern? It's going to be close to the house under a covered patio thus the fire concern.

Question 2. I've never been a big fan of grease buckets. At our other house my first pellet grill before the Memphis was a GMG. With gusty winds I was always getting grease spattering on the patio. Has anyone come up with a more elegant or wind proof solution to prevent this with this grill?

Looking forward to burn in and ribs tomorrow!

 

[Beach Bum]

A few folks have reported an occasional auger fire issue when ending a high temperature cook. Setting the smoker to 225 or 250 prior to shutdown seemed to help them. I have followed that rule and been OK.

One approach for the grease bucket is to use a glass jar in it. That is easy for clean up and weighs down the bucket a bit.

 

[JGW]

Rec Teq pretty much copies the Traeger design, as do many other makers. The ramp design is uncommon among most manufacturers.

 

[pungo]

I don't have a concern of an auger fire while cooking, it's after the shutdown process that I worry about.

When you select shutdown:

1. auger stops feeding pellets
2. fan runs for a few minutes and tuns off
3. auger dumps a small amount of pellets in the firepot for the next cook.

A few times, I had some smoldering pellets after I shut it down. I was cooking at 400+ degrees, then shut down, the system went through its routine, then I noticed a small amount of smoke coming out of the grill, even 1/2 hour after I shut it down.
I think what's happening is that when doing a higher temp cook, there's more pellets in the firepot burning, then when you shut it down, the fans run for a few minutes to burn out the pellets in the firepot, but not long enough for all the pellets finish burning, then the auger dumps more pellets on top of the still burning pellets which gets ignited. Now with the auger not dumping more pellets, there's a chance the pellets in the auger tube can ignite and start to back burn. Luckily, in my case, the pellets in the auger tube went out on their own, I assume for lack of air. After that happened, the next time I went to use the grill, I removed the heat defector to have a look. I could see the pellets in the end of the auger tube were charred. I ran the auger test to spin the auger and a good handful or so of charred pellets came out before unburnt pellets started coming out. I assume there's a chance the entire auger tube could ignite, then the hopper, I don't know, but it's a concern.

After that happened a few times, now after a high temp cook, like @Beach Bum mentioned, I ramp the temp down to 250, let it settle there, then shutdown and haven't had a problem since.

If I had access to the firmware, I would program it to a least double or triple the time the fan runs at shutdown to make sure all the pellets in the firepot completely burn out. Unfortunately, AFAIK, the firmware is not user upgrade-able, so no chance of us getting a firmware update.

To the OP, I recommend ramping down the temp before shutting down. I don't think during cooking, the auger tube will start to backburn since it keeps dumping pellets in the firepot.

FWIW, I saw a pic of a 1250 in another group where after shutting down, and many hours later, the entire hopper was on fire burning much of the paint off. I don't know why this happened to theirs, but it's something to be aware of. I always go check the grill a while after shutting it down to make sure there's zero smoke/smoldering going on.

Scary

 

[Foutchy]

You can always cut the power after the fan runs for the 5 min cycle during the shutdown sequence. Doing so before the auger feeds the small amount of pellets into the fire pot for the next cook should reduce the risk of back burn up the auger shaft. The startup time on your next cook may be a bit longer, but something to consider if it’s a concern for you.

 

[JGW]

I agree the shut down procedure is asinine.

I wish there was a setting to disable feeding more pellets into the fire pot.

 

[Brian A]

I agree. They should change the startup sequence is so that pellets are fed before the cook. Not after it

 

[C. Keeper]

I agree. They should change the startup sequence is so that pellets are fed before the cook. Not after it

That was the Traeger method, didn't work well.

 

[JGW]

That was the Traeger method, didn't work well.

Well, neither does the RT method.

 

[Greg Jones]

For our second home decided to go with a less expensive cooker and RecTeq looked like the most grill for the money and seems well loved by owners. I'm assembling it now and I see the auger exit is actually part of the fire pot. This has me very concerned. Seems like an auger fire, then hopper fire, just waiting to happen. The Memphis auger dumps onto a ramp that leads to the fire pot. No chance of an auger fire there.

I’d recommend contacting recteq and requesting a return. If you were happy with your Memphis grill, and I’m a big fan of them too, I don’t know why you would have bought what you now speculate is a safety concern.

 

[cueball1]

Why I bought recteq instead of another memphis? Recteq was well less than half the money, won't get used as much as the memphis at our primary home, gets great reviews and has a huge and devoted following. Had no idea about the auger feed design until i unboxed it and was assembling. I then searched the issue and saw on this forum some folks were complaining of just what I was concerned about! Thankfully taking an extra step in the shutdown process seems to take care of the issue.

Not sure how many manufacturers use a design like this. Most of them apparently. I'm surprised by that though. It seems such a simple thing to do what memphis did and keep the auger well away from the fire pot! It's also dissapointing to find out the factory shutdown is inadequate. Again, seems simple to have done the fan and auger timing differently. All issues I was unaware of prior to purchase.

 

[cueball1]

Thanks for the shutdown advice folks! Wifi control should make it easy to step the heat down before shut off. Baby backs are on for dinner!

 

[PRC]

That was the Traeger method, didn't work well.

I have a Traeger Texas with a Savannah Stoker PID controller. On shutdown it runs the fan until the IT is 110 degrees then shuts everything off, no pellets are fed at the end of the shutdown cycle. In 8 years of using it I never had any problem with an auger fire. RT runs the fan for 5 minutes and that is not long enough if you are cooking at 350 plus, you can still have smoldering pellets as others have found out.

 

[C. Keeper]

I have a Traeger Texas with a Savannah Stoker PID controller. On shutdown it runs the fan until the IT is 110 degrees then shuts everything off, no pellets are fed at the end of the shutdown cycle. In 8 years of using it I never had any problem with an auger fire. RT runs the fan for 5 minutes and that is not long enough if you are cooking at 350 plus, you can still have smoldering pellets as others have found out.

Earlier Traeger grills suggested starting grill with lid opened till ignition.

 

[sdynak]

I'd gladly take that Stampede off your hands if you want to ship it to me and eliminate your concerned safety issues.

I would not want a fellow BBQ'r to be worried about this... it would be my pleasure

 

[ol' stonebreaker]

I'm starting to shed tears over this dilemma!!

 

[C. Keeper]

I'd gladly take that Stampede off your hands if you want to ship it to me and eliminate your concerned safety issues.

I would not want a fellow BBQ'r to be worried about this... it would be my pleasure

Now, that's taking one for the team @sdynak

 

[sdynak]

Now, that's taking one for the team @sdynak

 

[DesertRat]

I've had a Memphis pellet grill for a number of years. Always liked it. For our second home decided to go with a less expensive cooker and RecTeq looked like the most grill for the money and seems well loved by owners. I'm assembling it now and I see the auger exit is actually part of the fire pot. This has me very concerned. Seems like an auger fire, then hopper fire, just waiting to happen. The Memphis auger dumps onto a ramp that leads to the fire pot. No chance of an auger fire there. Am I worried about something that just doesn't happen? Any best practices to keep this from happening if it is a concern? It's going to be close to the house under a covered patio thus the fire concern.

Question 2. I've never been a big fan of grease buckets. At our other house my first pellet grill before the Memphis was a GMG. With gusty winds I was always getting grease spattering on the patio. Has anyone come up with a more elegant or wind proof solution to prevent this with this grill?

Looking forward to burn in and ribs tomorrow!

On the grease bucket, they’re really crappy. I had never used one before and made the mistake of trusting it to hold Karise. The bottom seam was not tight and I had some drip on my patio. Solved that with aluminum foil wrap until I found a better bucket. But as someone mentioned below, a jar inside the bucket would work well I’d think.

As for your fire concern, I’ve never had a problem. If I’m running at 2:25 or 230 I just shut it off when finished. If I’m grilling at high temperature I said the temp to 230 or so and let it run down in temperature before completely shutting it off.

I think a bigger concern would be a failure to unplug the unit when you are not using it. I’m a big violator of that threat myself.

 

[JGW]

On the grease bucket, they’re really crappy. I had never used one before and made the mistake of trusting it to hold Karise. The bottom seam was not tight and I had some drip on my patio. Solved that with aluminum foil wrap until I found a better bucket. But as someone mentioned below, a jar inside the bucket would work well I’d think.

As for your fire concern, I’ve never had a problem. If I’m running at 2:25 or 230 I just shut it off when finished. If I’m grilling at high temperature I said the temp to 230 or so and let it run down in temperature before completely shutting it off.

I think a bigger concern would be a failure to unplug the unit when you are not using it. I’m a big violator of that threat myself.

I use old pickle or pasta jars. Put it in the bucket, and when it fills up put the lid back on and throw it away.