HELP! Fire went out after 2hrs!

[vckiter]

Cleaned the SF this AM at 4 and fired it up. Got the brisket on there. All was well until the SF all the sudden started burning non stop and grill temp climbed to 350. I got shut down and waited the agonizing 15min. After I did a quick disassemble with the brisket still on the upper rack. I shop vacc'd again. All looked fine. I restarted. Everything working fine for a while. Then, now, suddenly fire goes out (opposite of before). There is no heat! Temp dropping under 100 now. I didn't hear pellets dropping So I removed back cover and tapped lightly on the auger tube and now I hear them falling but no fire.

 

[vckiter]

Well, i replaced the glow/ignition plug. SF is smoking again. I guess the "fire" that was not going out until I powered down the unit might have burned out the igniter. The brisket is in the oven right now and will move it back soon once it's up to temp. Ugh. I literally just cleaned it this AM so not sure what the heck. Yes, there's black crud but there isn't "grease" all over and the fire when I opened it was not in the grill area, it was in the fire chamber. So there should not be any loose liquid grease. Yesterday I ran this for 10 hrs with foil under my ribs so no droppings went down. Bizarre.

 

[vckiter]

Maybe there's an issue with the computer? Grill showed 175 but my temp probe showed 240. Then I opened the door for a sec and shut it and the grill temp jumped to 230 instantly and signaled temperature reached on the app. WTF. Brisket is back in there. This is going to be a militant smoke.

 

[vckiter]

So after last post, I noticed in the back of the SF there's an insulated wire that runs out from the control box to under the grill (picture attached). Not sure 100% but it must be the temperature sensor wire. It was touching the back of the grill body, which is hot. I reached in there and pushed it back away from the grill body. The grill seems to be running more "smoothly" now holding temp and no crazy readings for a bit.

 

[vckiter]

I also want to show how it's bullshit if Weber, or anyone else on a forum ever tells you to use only Weber pellets. How the pellet brand is "the problem". That's all I have ever used since buying this grill and the consistency of the pellets is all over the place. Not real. Look at a sample pinch of pellets from a bag I just opened. I have pellets that are 0.1 inches long and pellets that are 2.0 inches long. That is a 20x consistency issue. Total BS.

 

[vckiter]

Definitely something up with my controller and built-in temperature probe. The thermoworks grill probe has been a saving grace this smoke...!

 

[Mr. X]

The last 3 flameouts I have had were when I had just cleaned it. I only smoke on it and use my gas genesis for high heat so now seldom clean this one and it works fine. I have successfully relit with a torch once btw. I have used other pellets and heard grinding creaking noises but they do work. It seems the issue is diameter?

 

[vckiter]

That's interesting. I cleaned mine "dry", not using any sprays of any kind or water. Figures. I clean it because I want to make sure with an expensive brisket there won't be issues and that's when issues happen.

I'm at 192 internal temperature at this point and almost ready to pull it off. So hopefully this morning's debacle didn't affect the smoke too much.

 

[AHoneyman]

I also want to show how it's bullshit if Weber, or anyone else on a forum ever tells you to use only Weber pellets. How the pellet brand is "the problem". That's all I have ever used since buying this grill and the consistency of the pellets is all over the place. Not real. Look at a sample pinch of pellets from a bag I just opened. I have pellets that are 0.1 inches long and pellets that are 2.0 inches long. That is a 20x consistency issue. Total BS.

The issue with using Weber pellets is not length but diameter. The SF likes the smaller diameter pellets (Weber and Lumber Jack). All pellets are extruded and the length is random due to breakage (yes, there will be an average length).

 

[EasyE]

I also want to show how it's bullshit if Weber, or anyone else on a forum ever tells you to use only Weber pellets. How the pellet brand is "the problem". That's all I have ever used since buying this grill and the consistency of the pellets is all over the place. Not real. Look at a sample pinch of pellets from a bag I just opened. I have pellets that are 0.1 inches long and pellets that are 2.0 inches long. That is a 20x consistency issue. Total BS.

When they refer to pellet size I believe it’s the diameter, not length.

 

[bbqking]

What I find interesting, is I was using pit boss pellets my first several cooks. Then started having flame outs. Switched to Weber only, and no issues with flame outs so far. Imo, I also think not only diameter, it may be the age of the batch of pellets, or how they where transported/weather covered. I dont know for sure, but it seems Weber has a good pellet product that works well with the sf.

 

[abmet]

Get rid of the finger guard if you haven’t. Flameouts can be caused by pellet voids and that wire piece holds up pellets.