Is this a problem ?

Booty

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Smoked some ribs on my EX6 on Sunday. I heated the grill up to 600° Because I wanted to see if it was a issue. No problems with that. I then dropped it down to 230° and it started coming down. Hung at 350° for a while. After I got the ribs on it dropped to 190°. It got stuck at 190°. 30 minutes past so I bumped it up to 240° . It finally started coming up. So then I set it to 230° and it held that real nice for the whole cook. Is this a indication of something going wrong ? I also noticed cleaning it after that shut down there was a couple burnt pallets up in the end of the auger. Is that normal ?
 
I just did the burn in and first cook on my EX4 this past Sunday. I did not experience any of this. I actually shut it down three separate times and inspected everything as I was a bit paranoid due to the YouTube videos I have seen on various issues. I don’t think burnt pellets at the opening of the auger are a normal thing. The engineers set it up the way it is to prevent/minimize the risk of that occurring.
 
Afternoon Everyone,

I am new to the forum, thanks for all of the info that is available here, great stuff.

I had the same issue with burnt pellets still in the auger on my EX6. I thought during the shut down mode any pellets remaining would be cleared.
 

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Mine is an EX4 and I have not seen this, at least not yet. Can’t imagine this would be different between the models. That part of the grill should be identical between models from what I have read.
 
I’m wondering if the fan blew those up there versus them burning in the auger tube. During shutdown the fan my fan blows a lot I’m assuming to help ensure all the pellets left in the burn pot are burn up. I believe it also reverses the auger to move pellet back to the hopper to empty the auger tube. I would think that for them to burn in the auger tube the auger tube would need to have filled up with pellets allowing them to burn back up to the tube. Again I’m just guessing.
 
I’m wondering if the fan blew those up there versus them burning in the auger tube. During shutdown the fan my fan blows a lot I’m assuming to help ensure all the pellets left in the burn pot are burn up. I believe it also reverses the auger to move pellet back to the hopper to empty the auger tube. I would think that for them to burn in the auger tube the auger tube would need to have filled up with pellets allowing them to burn back up to the tube. Again I’m just guessing.

That’s the answer I wanted to hear !!! I didn’t even think about the fan doing that. Makes perfect sense !!! Thank you
 
Smoked some ribs on my EX6 on Sunday. I heated the grill up to 600° Because I wanted to see if it was a issue. No problems with that. I then dropped it down to 230° and it started coming down. Hung at 350° for a while. After I got the ribs on it dropped to 190°. It got stuck at 190°. 30 minutes past so I bumped it up to 240° . It finally started coming up. So then I set it to 230° and it held that real nice for the whole cook. Is this a indication of something going wrong ? I also noticed cleaning it after that shut down there was a couple burnt pallets up in the end of the auger. Is that normal ?
Unfortunately yes, it is normal and a problem.
 
That’s the answer I wanted to hear !!! I didn’t even think about the fan doing that. Makes perfect sense !!! Thank you
I have had a few of these. I can see the fan being more than capable of pushing one of those suckers or two up the ramp. My opinion on it was that the ones I had almost looked for lack of a better word "roasted" They were intact but dark like my Smokefire was trying to make some pellet charcoal. I wondered if the Heat Diffuser was hot enough to "cook" the few pellets that I have always seen just hanging out at the end of the Auger like a hair in a biscuit. I did not see too much a problem with it since they were not burnt.

However in your OP I would say that swing in temp is not normal. I would be looking at pellet feed issues and if that is not the problem then I would question the PID Controller. I would definitely call Weber. IF THE LID WAS SHUT during those swings thats way out of normal IMHO.
 
I have had a few of these. I can see the fan being more than capable of pushing one of those suckers or two up the ramp. My opinion on it was that the ones I had almost looked for lack of a better word "roasted" They were intact but dark like my Smokefire was trying to make some pellet charcoal. I wondered if the Heat Diffuser was hot enough to "cook" the few pellets that I have always seen just hanging out at the end of the Auger like a hair in a biscuit. I did not see too much a problem with it since they were not burnt.

However in your OP I would say that swing in temp is not normal. I would be looking at pellet feed issues and if that is not the problem then I would question the PID Controller. I would definitely call Weber. IF THE LID WAS SHUT during those swings thats way out of normal IMHO.
Agreed I should have said the temp swings like that are not normal too. Mine stays right at temp when closed. I’ve only seen it drop 20 degrees once before climbing back up. Weather and wind hitting the vents can factor in. The controller has to try to account for how much fuel and fan speed needed to keep temp consistent. The grill temp displayed I believe is normalized so doesn’t show some minor fluctuations. For instance I plugged in an ambient probe into one of the ports and put it close to the built in one. The grill temp would stay at 225 while the other probe would report the actual temp fluctuations. Not a big deal and I’m sure is by design. There have been some issues with augers that were assembled by had and a few bad controllers. I’d contact Weber as they’ve been send it out replacements when needed.
 
That was my thought. If you watch the shutdown process with the center diffuser off you can see the auger pull back the pellets (after first pushing an amount of pellets out assuming to super heat the burn pot and burn all remaining pellets); and as the pellets burn off they become lighter, enabling the fan to blow any light weight pellets up. I’ve noticed twice this seem to happen, but any of my burned pellets made their way behind the pellet slide. I’m only talking 1-2 pellets both times and they were not hot.
 
I'm finding a lot of "dust" of some sort or film on my grill grates and inside of the smoker. Note, I haven't cooked any food but just tried 2 dry runs checking on temps. Anyone else experiencing anything similar and if so, is it an issue?
 
Agreed I should have said the temp swings like that are not normal too. Mine stays right at temp when closed. I’ve only seen it drop 20 degrees once before climbing back up. Weather and wind hitting the vents can factor in. The controller has to try to account for how much fuel and fan speed needed to keep temp consistent. The grill temp displayed I believe is normalized so doesn’t show some minor fluctuations. For instance I plugged in an ambient probe into one of the ports and put it close to the built in one. The grill temp would stay at 225 while the other probe would report the actual temp fluctuations. Not a big deal and I’m sure is by design. There have been some issues with augers that were assembled by had and a few bad controllers. I’d contact Weber as they’ve been send it out replacements when needed.
SPOT ON!! Exactly what I have seen. Especially the "Normalized" grill temps shown on the controller.
 
I'm finding a lot of "dust" of some sort or film on my grill grates and inside of the smoker. Note, I haven't cooked any food but just tried 2 dry runs checking on temps. Anyone else experiencing anything similar and if so, is it an issue?
Yes that is pellet ash. Webers lack of a heat diffuser is the cause of that.
 
I'm finding a lot of "dust" of some sort or film on my grill grates and inside of the smoker. Note, I haven't cooked any food but just tried 2 dry runs checking on temps. Anyone else experiencing anything similar and if so, is it an issue?
That dust is either Ash from the pellet burn, some carbon deposits, residual burn off of machine oils from your initial grill burn in(s) or all of the above. I will tell you that the ash dispersion is better than the my previous pellet grill and actually I will go one step further and say thats the least ash I have seen on my pellet grill and the 4 or 5 other pellet grills I have worked with from friends and family too.
 
That dust is either Ash from the pellet burn, some carbon deposits, residual burn off of machine oils from your initial grill burn in(s) or all of the above. I will tell you that the ash dispersion is better than the my previous pellet grill and actually I will go one step further and say thats the least ash I have seen on my pellet grill and the 4 or 5 other pellet grills I have worked with from friends and family too.
Thank you both for the last 2 posts. I've had a GMG Daniel Boone for the last 4 years and the heat tray has probably helped mitigate that during my cooks.

My hope was that I would truly get the best of both worlds and get the sear for steaks and burgers and low and slow for ribs without having to do a lot of extra work. I bought this for myself, or my wife did if you will, for my 50th birthday and I don't have the time, patience or intelligence to navigate through the modifications and growing pains.

I'm on to my next smoker but appreciate everyone who has chimed in to my posts.

Cheers,

Daren
 

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