I’m not a smoker guy. My mom got this one a few weeks ago and had it set today at 450 for steaks. It seemed like it struggled to get up to temp and was billowing white smoke from the pellet box.
It apparently doesn’t do this for lower temp cooks. Just when it gets cranked up high. Video may not show it but it’s not pleasant to get near it and there’s an electric fan facing it to help blow the smoke away.
Appreciate any advice!
by Pleasant-Steak2632
26 Comments
During startup yes. Other times, no.
If smoke is coming from the hopper, you have major problems!!!! Smoke should NOT be coming from there.
Remove all pellets before they all catch fire and totally ruin your smoker.
Your cross flow and/or smoke outlet are blocked.
No. Smoke coming out of the pellet box means that you most likely have a fire in your auger.
You should not be having smoke come out of the hopper. I’m assuming what happened is you didn’t start it properly. I would remove your food and turn it off then remove all of the pellets from the burn chamber.
Then restart it and set it to smoke. The smoke setting is also the start cycle. Set it to smoke then after it starts to heat up, change it to the temperature that you want. You need to do this every time you use it.
You need to dedicate a shop vac to clean out the smoker before every cook. It doesn’t take long, just make sure you clear out the ashes of used pellets and any other extra debris that might be in the bottom from the previous cook
Smoke should be flowing out the exit (chimney) of the smoker. If that’s not happening something is preventing that from happening. Start with the simple stuff and go from there
It’s not the amount that’s abnormal but where it’s coming from.
I appreciate all the replies guys. We took out the grates and cleaned all the ashes and grime from the bottom. Gonna give some of these tips a try to see what happens. This is the first smoker I’ve ever used so I’m kinda at a loss. I’m assuming there’s some kind of blockage somewhere so I’ll check on that
Read your owners manual.
It looks like it’s a little windy
You might have some air pressure problems that’s pushing the flames back into the auger
I’ll bet if you get the wind blocked from the smoker you won’t see this problem too often
Check where your hopper is mounted to the barrel. There should be a felt like seal around the area where the two units meet.
This happened with my pit boss the other day and was a rude awakening for me: your auger is probably jammed up a bit due to pellets being left inside the hopper after the last cook and absorbing moisture, expanding and jamming it.
I removed the pellet box VERY CAREFULLY as to not mess up the electrical wiring, it was a two man job.
Once the fan and Auger is exposed from underneath the hopper, I pulled out the pin of the auger (the pin broke and I had my buddy help me replace it)
And as I pulled out the Auger with some force a bunch of jammed pellets came out. Vaccumed it all out inside the smoker too and reassembled with my buddy’s help and it was good as new
I always make sure my smoker is empty of pellets now after a cook. It’s annoying but has not lead to any more issue, I also vaccum out the smoker each time before I use it.
If you aren’t a smoker guy, this will be a very annoying process. If you are a smoker guy, this is still a very annoying process.
Is it windy af? Wind can affect the airflow thru your grill.
Empty the burn pot and then put everything back together and hold the auger button and run the fire back into the pot
Running this .model at 450 is to high for it, you will eventually melt the paint, you can do steaks at 300
Not from the hopper
Why do we see posts like these daily?
I’ll express my thanks because it prompts me to keep my smoker cleaned out. So far so good.
But really worrisome for folks.
For what it’s worth, that’s a good smoker.. I’m a WSM man but I’ve considered your model too.
When’s the last time you cleaned it 😂
Did you warm it up at a lower temp first before cranking it up to 450? Because next time, do that. You may have jammed the auger. You should turn it off immediately because that smoke is coming from the wrong end, my dude.
Make sure the bottom steel shield under the grates is put correctly in the slots on the hopper side. It should be sitting in there angled so the high side is by the hopper so it directs grease away from that side to opposit side.
Otherwise, it can allow grease and fluid to get into the bottom by the feeder, causing excess heat to your ‘dry’ pellets that are being fed and to the ones on your hopper.
Clean your burner tray asap
This is how I burnt my pitboss to the ground trying to grill stuff
Not from the hopper…
My old boss had this happen (more severe though) and it blew up by backdraft and burned him pretty badly
When this starts to occur push and hold the auger button and open main lid! Do not open the pellet lid till the smoke resides!