It's raining out, but I used it in the rain before.

Turned it on. Powered up.
Then all of a sudden it went black.

Tried unplugging, re-plugging in.

Nothing.

Assume I fried the controller in the rain.

Check your power, you may have just tripped a GFI circuit,

I'm going to use mine til it blows....then I'm going back to Rec Tec.

Hopefully it's the GFI.  That would be my first guess too.  Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

Probably a fuse on the panel some place. Can probably find them at an auto parts store, or maybe even wally world.

If it is the controller and you want to keep the Q-450 going, look up:

Louisiana Grills 50127

Around $200

If you do get the 50127, you will likely need to adjust the "C" settings to match the Firecraft configuration.

There are also other grills that use the same Roanoke controller (Blaz'n Grills, etc.).

Check the GFCI reset if that’s what you plugged into. Could be that your igniter is going bad. If so, that should be a relatively cheap fix.

If you need a new controller, Smoke-N-Hot Grills has a very similar looking one for $50 the last time I checked their site. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same manufacturer as the Firecraft ones. Good luck.


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Hi all,

Thanks for all the replies.  I was a away for a bit, but it did trip the GFCI.
I was happy to see that.

Issue is now it trips the GFCI every couple minutes.
One night I was trying to use it and reset the GFCI about 3 times.
I plugged it into another nearby outdoor outlet and same thing happened.

It hasn't been warm enough for me to run it to another outlet, but something is making it trip frequently where before it had never been an issue.
I was thinking about dumping out the pellets to make sure the auger isn't having issues, but weather hasn't been warm enough for me to want to try it.

Maybe try removing the end plate to the left of the controller, grab your wife's blow dryer and see if you can evaporate any water that has been allowed in.

If that fixes things, try adding a bead of RTV around the front panel where it comes in contact with the stainless front plate.

unplug the igniter from the control panel and start it up and see if it trips again.  If not it may be the ignitor needs to be replaced

unplug the igniter from the control panel and start it up and see if it trips again.  If not it may be the ignitor needs to be replaced

Only if the problem is during startup ~ first 4 min. After that could be the GFIC on the way out, a damp or wet extension cord or something in or around the control board shorting out, either by being wet or physically, bare wires touching the metal framework.

Hi,

Thanks everyone for the advice!

I haven't used it for a while and I just had my son help move it into my slightly warmer garage to look things over.  With a foot of snow coming, it seems like a wiser decision.

I popped the side panel and found some old pellets that got wet.  They accumulated in the area where the electric cord comes in to the box and splits into three separate wires.
I believe this is the culprit.

I think in the frozen temperature, it works for a bit, but electricity passes through there it was starting to melt some of the piled up moistened / frozen pellets, causing it to trip.
I'm moving it to the garage where it can warm up some.  Vacuum out those pellets and let her get dry as a bone, and with a tiny bit of luck, we'll be operating again.

Thanks again!

igniter

igniter

Speaking of, I need a new one for my 6+ year old Memphis Elite.  Can you PM me on how to get one?

So I cleaned it up and put it outside to use.
GFCI flipped again.

Brought it back into the garage and plugged it into a powerstrip with a surge / reset to see if I could get it to trip that.
Let it sit in the garage and looked things over.  Made sure everything was dry.  Cleared out the pellets, etc.

Fired it up and ran it for about 5-10 minutes without the breaker going.  Auger fine.  Also the igniter got hot to the touch.
Don't know if it's drawing more electricity now that what it used to.  Might be worth switching out but it still works.

My next test is to test it outside of the garage on this other outlet with a wattage meter on it to see what it's drawing.

PM's welcomed on the igniter suggestions.