Bit disappointed...E3 and then a temp overshoot. :-(

[SCTwist]

This is my first week with the EX4 and up to this point I was thrilled.
Made the best pulled pork I ever made on it. Things were going well until last night.
.
Threw some filets on at 200 for a reverse sear. After about 30 minutes i check and see that the grill is set to 200 and temp displayed is 200, but my secondary air temp probe reads 104. Hmmmm. Cool to the touch. Was about to go further when I get the E3 error. Since everything was cool, it was an easy clean out, but the burn pot and chute were absolutely overflowing with pellets. As I had cleaned it the night before, cleanup was also fast and easy - just dump them into the drawer and toss. Quick vacuum of the burn pot and we were back in business.

Rinse and repeat: 200, steaks on, probes in. Next check on the grill, It's at 325 yet set at 200.

Steaks were good, but I'm definitely disappointed that I'm having two issues within the first full week of using it.

Weber says I should swap out the glow plug. Will do that later on and then see how it goes. I hope that was a fluke, as I'm really liking this grill. I like the little things too, like how the top rack stores under the front table.

 

[abmet]

Sorry to hear that hopefully one time anomaly.

 

[bbqking]

I recommend changing the glow plug.. just for conversation I’m assuming this is a gen 2?

 

[JpsBBQ]

I'm curious about how long did you let the grill get fired up and stabilize? What is your starting procedure? I leave the lid open until it gets smoking good. I would maybe think about starting to a higher temp and then backing it down to make sure there is a good pellet fire going. Obviously not legit solutions, just ideas to avoid an irritating situation. I believe that glow plugs are commonly not installed and seated properly. I noted when assembling mine 18 months ago that it was not easy to install it properly and there was some adjustment available if I'm not mistaken. I did not have to adjust mine but some might.

Why 200 anyway? That temp is really low. Most people i know go at least 225 if not 250. It must take quite a while to get up to 100-110IT at 200 ambient. It is not an excuse as the unit should work at that temp if they design it to do so.

keep at it, its a great machine.

 

[SCTwist]

I recommend changing the glow plug.. just for conversation I’m assuming this is a gen 2?

Yes Sir, it is.

 

[SCTwist]

I'm curious about how long did you let the grill get fired up and stabilize? What is your starting procedure? I leave the lid open until it gets smoking good. I would maybe think about starting to a higher temp and then backing it down to make sure there is a good pellet fire going. Obviously not legit solutions, just ideas to avoid an irritating situation. I believe that glow plugs are commonly not installed and seated properly. I noted when assembling mine 18 months ago that it was not easy to install it properly and there was some adjustment available if I'm not mistaken. I did not have to adjust mine but some might.

Why 200 anyway? That temp is really low. Most people i know go at least 225 if not 250. It must take quite a while to get up to 100-110IT at 200 ambient. It is not an excuse as the unit should work at that temp if they design it to do so.

keep at it, its a great machine.

I'm going to swap out the glow plug and double check the seating. Weber asked for pictures of the plug and burn pot alignment. So I'll be double-checking that. I read that some of the earlier issues were due to assembly issues from the big box stores and i therefore ordered directly from Weber and assembled it myself. So I know i did it right. No alcohol was consumed during assembly .

I did 200, bc that's what the recipe called for. I agree it's a bit low, but as you said, it should work as designed.

 

[SCTwist]

Well, swapped out the glow plug and verified everything was installed and aligned correctly.

Restarted and set to 200. Lid open. Lots of smoke and things went well. After 15 minutes set to 600 and went inside to get some steaks to sear. Grill was at 125 and temp dropping. Now, 10 minutes later, pellets are still dropping, temp at 100 and no error displayed? Will it dump all pellets into the smoker? I will see if it does.

Lifelong Weber fan, but this is really disappointing. Good thing I’m still in the first 100 days. Pellet pic was yesterday’s mess, and I expect todays to be worse.

 

[SCTwist]

Took almost 20 minutes for the E3 error to appear, all the while it kept dumping pellets.
I’ll post a pic of that after I’ll take it apart again.

Not. A. Happy. Camper. At. All.

 

[JpsBBQ]

Well, swapped out the glow plug and verified everything was installed and aligned correctly.

Restarted and set to 200. Lid open. Lots of smoke and things went well. After 15 minutes set to 600 and went inside to get some steaks to sear. Grill was at 125 and temp dropping. Now, 10 minutes later, pellets are still dropping, temp at 100 and no error displayed? Will it dump all pellets into the smoker? I will see if it does.

Lifelong Weber fan, but this is really disappointing. Good thing I’m still in the first 100 days. Pellet pic was yesterday’s mess, and I expect todays to be worse.

well first off, those aren't Weber pellets.

I hate to be cynical, but I'm always skeptical of some problems I've not seen or experienced. The internet can be a tricky place. Like you stated, you can send it back. I'd suggest this option if not fully satisfied.

I'll apologize in advance for my comments above If they are out of bounds, but there are tons of people out there that just want to cause trouble. I'm skeptical. The whole Babyback Maniac grease fire situation was contrived by him and he should be embarrassed by it. I can set up a situation in every single pellet cooker and induce a fire if I wanted to do so. We see these sort of things on this forum regularly. If the issue is not common or widely experienced by others then I automatically assume its a TROLL. Please disregard if this is not you, but I'm just skeptical of the internet issues in general.

Good luck either way!

 

[SCTwist]

well first off, those aren't Weber pellets.

I hate to be cynical, but I'm always skeptical of some problems I've not seen or experienced. The internet can be a tricky place. Like you stated, you can send it back. I'd suggest this option if not fully satisfied.

I'll apologize in advance for my comments above If they are out of bounds, but there are tons of people out there that just want to cause trouble. I'm skeptical. The whole Babyback Maniac grease fire situation was contrived by him and he should be embarrassed by it. I can set up a situation in every single pellet cooker and induce a fire if I wanted to do so. We see these sort of things on this forum regularly. If the issue is not common or widely experienced by others then I automatically assume its a TROLL. Please disregard if this is not you, but I'm just skeptical of the internet issues in general.

Good luck either way!

Babyback Maniac was an a$$ and I quit watching his channel after that debacle.
The early problems caused me to wait though, but it appeared to have been sorted.

I’m not a troll, just frustrated. But I understand your reservations. No offense. The internet is full of people just wanting to sh!t on other people’s fun.

Yes, these are not Weber pellets, but I wanted to cook a salmon for a friend and didn’t have that flavor in Weber. I do find it worrisome that only Weber pellets will work. I have some nice bourbon and red wine flavors I wanted to try over the winter.

 

[Goneincognito]

Have you had success with these pellets before?
Its not a case of only Weber pellets working, it's a case of using pellets of a similar diameter to Weber pellets because that's what it's designed to use. There are many out there that fit this category. Larger (and inferior) pellets can work but they can also present issues such as this.

 

[bbqking]

I bought my EX6, from some guy that picked it up from an auction. It was a gen one, and I bought a couple months after they came out. It looked like it had an burn in attempt done, but no food cooked on it. So brand new. I had no issues other than a fuse went out. Then about 6/7 mi this in I started having similar issues. Pellets not lighting or lighting and not staying lit. Weber sent me all the upgrade/gen 2 parts. We installed put in nes glow plug and assembly. Everything has worked perfect. I switched from pit boss to Weber only pellets. Just my preference. The only issue I just recently had was I set my temp to 200 to do jerky. and it was going back and forth from 230-350. I ended up with burnt jerky. Did a brisket a week or so before at 225 and it stayed right at 225 for well over 12 hours!

 

[SCTwist]

I bought my EX6, from some guy that picked it up from an auction. It was a gen one, and I bought a couple months after they came out. It looked like it had an burn in attempt done, but no food cooked on it. So brand new. I had no issues other than a fuse went out. Then about 6/7 mi this in I started having similar issues. Pellets not lighting or lighting and not staying lit. Weber sent me all the upgrade/gen 2 parts. We installed put in nes glow plug and assembly. Everything has worked perfect. I switched from pit boss to Weber only pellets. Just my preference. The only issue I just recently had was I set my temp to 200 to do jerky. and it was going back and forth from 230-350. I ended up with burnt jerky. Did a brisket a week or so before at 225 and it stayed right at 225 for well over 12 hours!

I like to make sausage and like to smoke them for a few hours as low as I can and then drop them in a water bath to cook. Therefore I keep trying to see how it does at 200F.

 

[rexster314]

Well, first off, other than Weber branded pellets work just fine in the Smokefires. PItboss, B&B and Kingsford have all performed as good as the Weber brand in my EX6. And there are many other owners having the same luck with them. Typically, this type of problem is caused by the motor, auger, and/or both. I had the same problem with mine until Weber sent out a new assembly and it's performed flawlessly for the last 5 months, used 2-3 times a week for low/slow to 600f grilling/searing.

 

[abmet]

Damn, definitely hit up Weber, wonder if bad controller. Was the fan running while the temp dropped?