Lowes prebuilt

[Riddle4x4]

I’ve been looking to buy a Smokefire EX4 for a few months, but Lowes is the only place in town that has them. I don’t wont to order direct from Weber because Lowes gives me a 10% military discount.

My Lowes currently has 5 that are built, but I can’t confirm when they were assembled. I’m not sure if they have the new welded auger either. My question is, can I trust Lowes and their local assembly team to have put it together correctly? It’s been sitting inside their entrance for at least a few weeks and it looks pretty dusty. I would rather have one still in a box, but they said that could take weeks to order(if there’s any truth to that). Has anyone bought a prebuilt EX4 from Lowes? Any issues with the construction?

 

[Bruno]

I would check the connections to the glow plug, make sure the legs are nice and snug and do a general retightening while reading the instructions, Weber will send you anything missing.
That being said I would want to build mine myself as well, 10% is 10% though.
Email Weber and ask them to price match and tell them why. They have done crazier stuff!
As for the auger it should be black with no gasket visible from the hopper. I haven’t heard of many shipping with that fix.

 

[DutchieCooks]

I would build it myself. Then you know where everything is if you ever need to replace something.

 

[dudemcnally]

I would build it myself. Then you know where everything is if you ever need to replace something.

That's my attitude too, and I bought mine in the box from Lowes.

However...let's be real. There isn't a whole lot of 'building' required. Essentially you're just taking it out of the box, putting the legs on, installing the glowplug and putting the racks in the SF. If pre-built is your only option, buy it and just go back over the instructions and re-tighten the connections...it'll be fine

 

[Bruno]

That's my attitude too, and I bought mine in the box from Lowes.

However...let's be real. There isn't a whole lot of 'building' required. Essentially you're just taking it out of the box, putting the legs on, installing the glowplug and putting the racks in the SF. If pre-built is your only option, buy it and just go back over the instructions and re-tighten the connections...it'll be fine

Yep!

 

[Wismokes]

It’s very easy to put together . I can’t change a lightbulb and my ex6 took me about a hour to build . I agree the discount is a plus but you also want to know it was put together right

 

[Dassman5]

I’ve been looking to buy a Smokefire EX4 for a few months, but Lowes is the only place in town that has them. I don’t wont to order direct from Weber because Lowes gives me a 10% military discount.

My Lowes currently has 5 that are built, but I can’t confirm when they were assembled. I’m not sure if they have the new welded auger either. My question is, can I trust Lowes and their local assembly team to have put it together correctly? It’s been sitting inside their entrance for at least a few weeks and it looks pretty dusty. I would rather have one still in a box, but they said that could take weeks to order(if there’s any truth to that). Has anyone bought a prebuilt EX4 from Lowes? Any issues with the construction?

I suggest you check on other Weber SmokeFire sites on Facebook. I recently helped a lady that purchased a pre- assembled unit from Lowe’s. It was a disaster due to incompetent assembly,
leading both her and Weber support to figure out what happened. I helped her troubleshoot the assembly and we got it corrected..

Having said that, I would recommend you purchase your unit “ in the box” (as I did), whether from a big box retailer for two reasons: (1)It eliminates the middleman who cuts corners or fails to assemble it properly, and (2) Most important, you will learn a tremendous amount about the assembly, moving parts, and future troubleshooting of your unit.
Best of luck!

 

[MichaelM]

I’ve been looking to buy a Smokefire EX4 for a few months, but Lowes is the only place in town that has them. I don’t wont to order direct from Weber because Lowes gives me a 10% military discount.

My Lowes currently has 5 that are built, but I can’t confirm when they were assembled. I’m not sure if they have the new welded auger either. My question is, can I trust Lowes and their local assembly team to have put it together correctly? It’s been sitting inside their entrance for at least a few weeks and it looks pretty dusty. I would rather have one still in a box, but they said that could take weeks to order(if there’s any truth to that). Has anyone bought a prebuilt EX4 from Lowes? Any issues with the construction?

When I was in high school, I had a summer job working at Home Depot. During slow times, I built grills and wheelbarrows and pretty much anything else that had “free assembly”. Having said that, I know what kind of quality the “free assembly” is at big box stores. The Smokefire isn’t hard to put together but a high school kid doing it as a summer job can certainly find a way to screw it up. Think cross threaded screws, lost washers, small parts dropped down the auger. Plus if you buy an assembled unit off the floor, you know it’s been man-handled by everyone that walked by it.

 

[DutchieCooks]

It’s very easy to put together . I can’t change a lightbulb and my ex6 took me about a hour to build . I agree the discount is a plus but you also want to know it was put together right

I just read on this forum you need at least 3 people to build one!!

 

[Dassman5]

When I was in high school, I had a summer job working at Home Depot. During slow times, I built grills and wheelbarrows and pretty much anything else that had “free assembly”. Having said that, I know what kind of quality the “free assembly” is at big box stores. The Smokefire isn’t hard to put together but a high school kid doing it as a summer job can certainly find a way to screw it up. Think cross threaded screws, lost washers, small parts dropped down the auger. Plus if you buy an assembled unit off the floor, you know it’s been man-handled by everyone that walked by it.

You are right on! On another SmokeFire site, a woman, whi I was able to help after she published photos had a Lowe’s assembled unit that could stay lit. She ruined many meals and neither Lowe’s nor Weber could figure out the problem.

it turned our that the type of person you described must have done the assembly as they reversed the firebox cover ( in spite of it having two RED ALIGNMENT DOTS). The result was fire feeding backward behind the pellet chute and smoke and heat entering the hopper while the pellets over fed and the fire kept going out. And, of course, Lowe’s forgot to give the owner the assembly instructions, so the troubleshooting in the owner’s book never addressed MIS-ASSEMBLY.

 

[Riddle4x4]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I ended up driving an hour down the road to a different town and found one still in the box. It was worth it. You can’t beat a new grill straight out of the box.

I wanted to purchase one back in February, but I was hesitant with all the software issues. I had a few issues with this one when it wanted to update a second time after I started my seasoning burn. After the second update, she got up to 600 in 10 mins. Faster than my Genesis II.

Its time to grill up some burgers for my pilot friends...

 

[Dassman5]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I ended up driving an hour down the road to a different town and found one still in the box. It was worth it. You can’t beat a new grill straight out of the box.

I wanted to purchase one back in February, but I was hesitant with all the software issues. I had a few issues with this one when it wanted to update a second time after I started my seasoning burn. After the second update, she got up to 600 in 10 mins. Faster than my Genesis II.

Its time to grill up some burgers for my pilot friends...

View attachment 1633

Smart move. Not only did you avoid the Lowe’s assembly issues, but by buying it in a Box, you learned a lot about the unit and the components during your assembly. It will make future maintenance and troubleshooting much easier.

BTW, I don’t know about you, but I was extremely impressed with how well thought out the packaging was as well as the visual instructions.

 

[JpsBBQ]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I ended up driving an hour down the road to a different town and found one still in the box. It was worth it. You can’t beat a new grill straight out of the box.

I wanted to purchase one back in February, but I was hesitant with all the software issues. I had a few issues with this one when it wanted to update a second time after I started my seasoning burn. After the second update, she got up to 600 in 10 mins. Faster than my Genesis II.

Its time to grill up some burgers for my pilot friends...

View attachment 1633

Good call waiting for the dust to settle. I’m thoroughly impressed with the touted design now that the software is ironed out. Enjoy!

 

[Riddle4x4]

Smart move. Not only did you avoid the Lowe’s assembly issues, but by buying it in a Box, you learned a lot about the unit and the components during your assembly. It will make future maintenance and troubleshooting much easier.

BTW, I don’t know about you, but I was extremely impressed with how well thought out the packaging was as well as the visual instructions.

Agreed, that was a PhD level packing design plan. It made construction a breeze.

 

[abmet]

I love mine more than I though I would. So versatile.