Can someone tell me why this happens? I have a pittboss pheonix and have already had to replace the control panel because it melted when the hopper caught fire. I replaced all the parts, cleared the auger. It was working fine for 30 mins and the hopper started smoking again, opened the lid and embers are flying back in to the hopper from the auger tube. Im aware the tube is mostly empty I was burning off the rest of these pellets but the first time this happened the hopper was full. Please advise if anyone has ran in to this problem and k own how to fix it.
by Particular_Policy_46
12 Comments
Do you have your exhaust vents closed off or blocked in some way? It looks like the air pressure is coming back through the hopper and not out of the BBQ.
I am not familiar with that BBQ but is there a possibility your fan is in wrong and blowing in reverse.
With all the other effort I’m assuming you’ve cleaned in and around the fire pot? Also, with no pellets in the auger and the hopper.. .it is pretty unrestricted for airflow to feed back into the hopper.
Just unscrew that silly safety cage and throw it in the garbage. That was the first thing I did.
Back burn. Most likely from not cleaning out the firebox regularly. Or maybe you just have a bad auger. Can you open up the grill and look inside the firebox?
Might be a silly question, but is the smoker level? If the hopper is on an incline above the burn pot, the fire could be going up through the auger into the hopper.
I have to deep clean mine about once a month with a shop vac, the ash and dust that accumulates inside and around the burner causes similar problems for me.
https://preview.redd.it/nsoarz0vayqf1.jpeg?width=415&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a123007c9ae926f3dcfdb91be92aaf1277be5b8e
Are you going to a high tempature almost immediately or building up to the higher temps gradually over like 30 mins?
The only time I’ve had problem with burn back has been when the hopper was near empty and providing additional air flow. I solved the problem by sealing the hopper with LavaLock gasket tape. It sealed it up and stopped the air flow. That was on a RecTeq BFG.
Also, I don’t worry about ramping up at start, but I do gradually decrease the temp when I’ve grilled at 600+ on my RT-B380X.
Have you contacted pitboss? The only reason I’ve ever seen malfunctions is due to either not cleaning regularly or from leaving the pellets outside and them getting moisture from the humidity. If neither is the case, then you should probably contact pitboss and tell them exactly what is going on.
Run the auger manually to move the pellets into the firepot from the auger. That should help stop the fire.
At least the hoppers empty so you’re just burning what’s in the auger.