Pellet Grill Storage

[dubs]

For those of you with pellet grills, how do you store yours when not in use. Cover and leave out? Cover and keep where it can’t be rained on? Do you remove the pellets between uses? Clean out the fire box? Here is why I ask:

Got to start mine up this morning to smoke some pork tenderloins the wife said need to get cooked (I have GMG Daniel Boone). Turn it on and everything starts up fine, it goes through it’s process, gets to 150 degrees and is doing fine. I let it sit at 150 for a while then bump it up to 225. It gets to 225 just fine. I’m getting things ready and all of a sudden I see the temp 240, 280, 320, 400, 450. At this point I know there is a fire in the fire box. Unplug, let it die out. Removed everything and the firebox looked a little over full, but a good two handfuls of pellets had spilled out into the bottom of the grill (next to firebox) and had caught fire.

Wondering if I had a blockage in the auger or firebox due to some leftover pellets from previous cook (5 days ago) that the humidity got to?

[dox08]

You should have a start up at 150 for 5-10 minutes and also a cool down once you turn it off, not unplug for 5-10 minutes. If you just unplug the grill and not let it run through the cool down cycle old pellets get stuck in the auger which causes temperature fluctuations like that.

[dubs]

I’ll also add, my grill stays covered on my deck

[dubs]

You should have a start up at 150 for 5-10 minutes and also a cool down once you turn it off, not unplug for 5-10 minutes. If you just unplug the grill and not let it run through the cool down cycle old pellets get stuck in the auger which causes temperature fluctuations like that.

I unplugged because I knew there was a fire/issue with something because my temp was shooting up. Googled what to do and it said to unplug, keep lid closed and let it burn out. All previous cooks have gone fine and I have followed the procedure you are referencing

[CUduckreeper]

I keep mine under a covered porch but no longer use the grill cover. I don’t have any issues with mine. My grill does have a shutdown cycle which keeps the fan blowing for a while to burn off any leftover pellets. I try to shop vac mine out after I go through a couple hoppers of pellets to get all the dust and ash out.

[Hardwoods]

I’ve had this happen a couple of times. The pellets are getting moisture and clumping together in the auger. The fire pot at low temps has difficulty burning the wet pellets. The auger keeps dumping pellets trying to maintain temp, thus the overflow. Once the wet pellets are dried enough to ignite, it catches the ones that overflowed on fire. It has Happened twice to me, both times when cooking a brisket. I have done the proper shutdown since and have not had an issue. After ignition I also roll it up to a high temp and then back it down just in case there are some damp pellets.

[bompa]

I have a pit boss, I store mine under cover and leave the hopper full. Don't think I've ever cleaned the hopper out. I'd say after every third to fourth cook I pull out the grates and heat shield and shop vac out the firebox and bottom of the grill. No problems yet with temperature spiking like mentioned above.

[duckchoppin]

Unplug a grill???

[adamb61085]

Could also be the internal thermometer needs to be cleaned. If it was to dirty and getting the wrong reading they will continue to dump pellets thinking its still at a lower temp.

[BuckyTownsend]

Could also be the internal thermometer needs to be cleaned. If it was to dirty and getting the wrong reading they will continue to dump pellets thinking its still at a lower temp.

This. Part of my cleaning routine. Shop vac the innards and hit the probe with a piece of sandpaper for a few minutes

[adamb61085]

This. Part of my cleaning routine. Shop vac the innards and hit the probe with a piece of sandpaper for a few minutes

Vinegar works good to help cut the grease if you dont want to use cleaner

[duckcommander727]

I keep mine under a covered porch but no longer use the grill cover. I don’t have any issues with mine. My grill does have a shutdown cycle which keeps the fan blowing for a while to burn off any leftover pellets. I try to shop vac mine out after I go through a couple hoppers of pellets to get all the dust and ash out.

Same here usually shopvac mine out every time I fill the hopper. The one time mine did what yours did, it was due to the hopper being filled with ash.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[dubs]

Yea, just finished cleaning everything out to get it going again. Even though the pellets on the top looked just fine, moisture had gotten to some closer to the auger and in the auger tube and caused the issues. Lesson learned, looks like I’ll be cleaning out the hopper after each cook now.

[fro]

Sounds like a pain in the ass. Never had a problem with Kingsford...

[bearclaw]

Just make sure your husband plugs and unplugs it upon startup and cool down.

Beat me to it. Or could get her husband to break out a real grill.

[Fishinmission]

Yeah I have run into that issue a couples times. You got the right idea, shopvac it out every so often (doesnt have to be every cook) i do it every few. Takes less that a minute.