And..... that's all she wrote for now......<sigh>

[wow400]

Sorry for your loss Christian.
And thank you for your update too.
When you get around to it, please can you post a photo showing the slit/cut you've actually made on the auger.
I'm interested to see what happens to all this compacted wood that has been the cause of quite a few issues.......

 

[kaptain_zero]

Sorry for your loss Christian.
And thank you for your update too.
When you get around to it, please can you post a photo showing the slit/cut you've actually made on the auger.
I'm interested to see what happens to all this compacted wood that has been the cause of quite a few issues.......

I'll try but we got ambushed by winter a little over a week ago. The smoker is still outside under about 20cm of snow and last night the temperature was -17c. My garage is unheated and it's no fun trying to work with metal parts in the cold.

The dust and any pellets in that area are not compacted and so the auger is free to turn, cleaning it out will have minimal effect and the area will collect new dust/pellets, but it won't compact and cause problems. After my modification, I have not cleaned it out and only plan to clean it every few months with a vacuum from inside the hopper. Of course cleaning out the ash and grease requires the same care as before to avoid grease fires.

 

[kaptain_zero]

I'm the one that installed a small concrete vibrator on my Smokefire. Works great

Now I remember!

I am considering making that mod myself, but it's still sad it's required.

 

[kaptain_zero]

But what your findings after using it for 6 months?
Was it worth doing?
Seems that taking 5min every couple of weeks to remove the auger to clean and inspect would achieve the same result (unless there is more to it).

In my personal experience, cleaning out ever 2 weeks would likely not work for me if I used the smoker more than 2 times during that 2 week period, but this will likely vary wildly between users due to the variability of the pellets used and a whole bunch of environmental factors.

In my case the modification "eliminates" the problem. I went the entire rest of the season without having to remove the auger for cleaning, though with my health issues I did not get to use it as much as I would have liked. In a normal season, I would likely simply vacuum the hopper out twice a season and call it good with no apparent reason to dismantle anything.

 

[wow400]

I'll try but we got ambushed by winter a little over a week ago. The smoker is still outside under about 20cm of snow and last night the temperature was -17c. My garage is unheated and it's no fun trying to work with metal parts in the cold.

The dust and any pellets in that area are not compacted and so the auger is free to turn, cleaning it out will have minimal effect and the area will collect new dust/pellets, but it won't compact and cause problems. After my modification, I have not cleaned it out and only plan to clean it every few months with a vacuum from inside the hopper. Of course cleaning out the ash and grease requires the same care as before to avoid grease fires.

Yep, no worries.
Thanks again

 

[kaptain_zero]

Sorry for your loss Christian.
And thank you for your update too.
When you get around to it, please can you post a photo showing the slit/cut you've actually made on the auger.
I'm interested to see what happens to all this compacted wood that has been the cause of quite a few issues.......

 

[Goneincognito]

After 11 months, I had honestly forgot about this.
Glad to see the actual modification though and that it's working for you (at least I assume it still is).

 

[kaptain_zero]

So to add some findings to that mod..... I never removed the pellets in the hopper over the winter. Winter hit, and that was it. In the spring I started up the grill with last years pellets in it (Cherry from Lumber jack, same diameter as Weber) and it worked fine. I decided to try the pellets that brought my smoker to it's knees last season and again, it just gave up. I pulled the auger out and the difference was that this time, it simply wouldn't feed fast enough to get the temps up. It, unlike before the mod, did not commit ritual suicide. So... I'm calling the mod a success. Now, this does NOT DEAL WITH BRIDGING! That is a whole other beast and is best dealt with by using rexster314's vibrating motor mod. The chute design is prone to bridging. It's not an if, but a when, and I don't see any other way around it than rexster314's solution.

As for pellets, I'm happy with Lumber Jack and I have a source close to me that will deliver. I prefer the flavor of the Cherry and Supreme blend, but this is an individual choice.... I did not like any of the Weber pellets, taste wise. Nor did I find them the solution to my problems, but your mileage may vary.

 

[Goneincognito]

Yup.. For some people, their SF just doesn't like the thicker diameter pellets and have no end of trouble.
Not all people (which is very strange) but it does happen.

 

[kaptain_zero]

I think it's age more than diameter.... The bad pellets I had seemed to crumble and turn into sawdust quite quickly. I had some fresh larger diameter pellets that happened to be quite long and they worked with no issues. You could hear the auger clipping the pellets to size, but without the drag from the sawdust, it fed just fine.

My local source for Lumber Jack does not have stock older than 6 months (assuming the distributor is shipping fresh stock to him).

 

[Goneincognito]

Possibly in your case.