My last SmokeFire Thanksgiving

JimG

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Aug 10, 2020
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Location
MN
Grill
SmokeFire EX4, Weber Genesis
For the last month or so I have not been able to use my SmokeFire. Using the upgraded app, I decided to use the cooking program for my 16 lb turkey. 3.5 hours at 350 degrees. Dinner at 3, decided to start early around 10:30.

Selected the turkey program and my EX4 got up to temp right away. Turkey in, probe one 38 degrees and we are smoking. Time to finish 3 hours. Ok. Checked on it about 15 min later, temp down to 180 and cook time now 2 hours. Few minutes later 200 and now 1 hour cook time.

Changed to temp cook only. Set probe temp to 165. SmokeFire came back up to 350. Then back down to 180.

At 11:40 Turkey is 94 degrees and SmokeFire 350. At 11:50 Turkey 102 and SmokeFire 295.

Got my Weber gas grill ready if needed. After almost a year, I still can't trust my SmokeFire EX4. New auger, new CPU, new screen and updated ramp. Time to disassemble and put into the trash. Couldn't in good conscience sell it to anyone else.

I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and best of luck.
 
Sorry to hear it. I did a 22lb bird-and the smokefire was flawless. I’d keep trying to work with weber.
 

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Yeah, always sad to hear about struggles. I, like above, had no issues at all and turned out great.

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For the last month or so I have not been able to use my SmokeFire. Using the upgraded app, I decided to use the cooking program for my 16 lb turkey. 3.5 hours at 350 degrees. Dinner at 3, decided to start early around 10:30.

Selected the turkey program and my EX4 got up to temp right away. Turkey in, probe one 38 degrees and we are smoking. Time to finish 3 hours. Ok. Checked on it about 15 min later, temp down to 180 and cook time now 2 hours. Few minutes later 200 and now 1 hour cook time.

Changed to temp cook only. Set probe temp to 165. SmokeFire came back up to 350. Then back down to 180.

At 11:40 Turkey is 94 degrees and SmokeFire 350. At 11:50 Turkey 102 and SmokeFire 295.

Got my Weber gas grill ready if needed. After almost a year, I still can't trust my SmokeFire EX4. New auger, new CPU, new screen and updated ramp. Time to disassemble and put into the trash. Couldn't in good conscience sell it to anyone else.

I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and best of luck.

Dang, sorry to hear it didn't work out. Keep trying with customer support and hopefully they can make it right.
 
I’ve not ventured into the bowels of the preselected cook settings yet. I can imagine that could be full of bugs to iron out. I like to just set it and go. If there are temp changes to the grill, I may set a timer and or use the probes. Would be cool to be able to set up your own cook cycle. Maybe you can. I have much to learn about the grill.
 
For the last month or so I have not been able to use my SmokeFire. Using the upgraded app, I decided to use the cooking program for my 16 lb turkey. 3.5 hours at 350 degrees. Dinner at 3, decided to start early around 10:30.

Selected the turkey program and my EX4 got up to temp right away. Turkey in, probe one 38 degrees and we are smoking. Time to finish 3 hours. Ok. Checked on it about 15 min later, temp down to 180 and cook time now 2 hours. Few minutes later 200 and now 1 hour cook time.

Changed to temp cook only. Set probe temp to 165. SmokeFire came back up to 350. Then back down to 180.

At 11:40 Turkey is 94 degrees and SmokeFire 350. At 11:50 Turkey 102 and SmokeFire 295.

Got my Weber gas grill ready if needed. After almost a year, I still can't trust my SmokeFire EX4. New auger, new CPU, new screen and updated ramp. Time to disassemble and put into the trash. Couldn't in good conscience sell it to anyone else.

I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and best of luck.

With the grill on, try going into the Weber app, go to the settings and select your grill and forget the WiFi network. I have been having a similar issue since I got my SF where the temp will reach on normal temp cooks (ex: 375F) but then start to stall out and I can get it to come back to life by bumping the temp up 5-10F manually on the controller. When I attempt to do lower temp cooks (ex: 225F) it will stall around 150F and never get to temp on initial startup.

Today I was trying to get to 225F and it stalled at 150F and sat for 20 mins. Just for my own curiosity, I went into the grill settings on the Weber app (iOS) and clicked forget WiFi. Then manually bumped the temp to 230F to "wake it" up and the grill has currently been running at set temp for 30+ mins with no issues now that it is not connected to WiFi.

I've been wondering if there is an issue with the WiFi module on my grills motherboard. No issues connecting to the grill through BT. I contacted Weber CS when I first got the grill a little over a month ago because I had an issue with the controller rebooting during cooks and losing set temp and probe goals. That was resolved with a firmware update. When I told them about this stalling issue after my first issue was resolved they said it's probably my WiFi network, I'm running Google WiFi Mesh with no issues with any other devices on my network. So I tried using a separate WiFI extender within an alternate SSID that only runs 2.4Ghz and that did not fix anything. Others on this forum have said they are using mesh networks with no issues.

Maybe I'll try to give Weber CS a call again and see if we can troubleshoot. I've just been learning to cook around the issue by constantly checking the grill to make sure its not stalling out but that's a lot of babysitting for a smart grill.


Software Ver: 1.4_2491
Controller Ver: 04042
iOS App is running on the latest (new UI) version
 
For the last month or so I have not been able to use my SmokeFire. Using the upgraded app, I decided to use the cooking program for my 16 lb turkey. 3.5 hours at 350 degrees. Dinner at 3, decided to start early around 10:30.

Selected the turkey program and my EX4 got up to temp right away. Turkey in, probe one 38 degrees and we are smoking. Time to finish 3 hours. Ok. Checked on it about 15 min later, temp down to 180 and cook time now 2 hours. Few minutes later 200 and now 1 hour cook time.

Changed to temp cook only. Set probe temp to 165. SmokeFire came back up to 350. Then back down to 180.

At 11:40 Turkey is 94 degrees and SmokeFire 350. At 11:50 Turkey 102 and SmokeFire 295.

Got my Weber gas grill ready if needed. After almost a year, I still can't trust my SmokeFire EX4. New auger, new CPU, new screen and updated ramp. Time to disassemble and put into the trash. Couldn't in good conscience sell it to anyone else.

I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and best of luck.
I feel your pain. I’m in the same boat. Just can’t trust it. Done all of the above also with the same results. You should know that the pellets get stuck in the chute. Have to pound on the back of the hopper to get the pellets to drop. That is why you are getting the temp drop. I can’t explain the temp surge. I get the same thing. I was given a thought that it might be the thermocoupler. I have not replaced that yet.
 
This is my SmokeFire waiting to be picked up. It's headed back to Weber as I post this.

I can't say enough good things about Weber customer service. I retired after almost 30 years working in customer service for a equipment manufacturer. So I know what it is like being on the front lines. From the first day until the end, Weber customer service was flawless.

I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season and best of luck with your SmokeFire. I still have my Genesis and will use it for Christmas dinner.
 

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This is my SmokeFire waiting to be picked up. It's headed back to Weber as I post this.

I can't say enough good things about Weber customer service. I retired after almost 30 years working in customer service for a equipment manufacturer. So I know what it is like being on the front lines. From the first day until the end, Weber customer service was flawless.

I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season and best of luck with your SmokeFire. I still have my Genesis and will use it for Christmas dinner.
1606951240811.gif
 
This is my SmokeFire waiting to be picked up. It's headed back to Weber as I post this.

I can't say enough good things about Weber customer service. I retired after almost 30 years working in customer service for a equipment manufacturer. So I know what it is like being on the front lines. From the first day until the end, Weber customer service was flawless.

I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season and best of luck with your SmokeFire. I still have my Genesis and will use it for Christmas dinner.
Sorry to see/ hear this.
 
On December 2, 2020 Weber picked up my SmokeFire. Today I received my refund. My last post. Best of luck to everyone.
 

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