Pellet Fan
Pit Talk -- Comments and Questions Regarding These Pellet Pits => MAK => Topic started by: MTBob on February 15, 2018, 01:31:38 PM
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Recently it began to get a bit chilly here in Montana. So, I decided to try out my new MAK 2 Star and see how quickly it would reach full grilling temperature in subzero conditions. See the attached heating curve.
The outside air temperature was minus 7 degrees (-7F), with no wind. Since I had been testing some settings on the grill, the internal temperature of the grilling cabinet was about 32 degrees.
As the curve shows, the grill went from 32 to 450 in about 41 minutes and held the temperature. No doubt with warmer outside temperature the grill would have reached grilling temperature faster.
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Thanks. I always liked techie things.
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i suspect it will be 20-30 minutes to get to that temp on a warm day based on my experience with mine but I have never graphed it.
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i suspect it will be 20-30 minutes to get to that temp on a warm day based on my experience with mine but I have never graphed it.
How long would you guess it’d take your Memphis Elite to hit 450° in that cold weather?
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Honestly, I am surprised it took 41 mins. The coldest weather I’ve cooked in (California weather) is probably 30°. I’ve never seen my MAK w/ new Funnel Flame Zone take long than 20-25 mins to hit 450°.
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i suspect it will be 20-30 minutes to get to that temp on a warm day based on my experience with mine but I have never graphed it.
How long would you guess it’d take your Memphis Elite to hit 450° in that cold weather?
Probably about 20-25 minutes. I rarely cook that high. I should test them both out one day to see how long they take.
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i suspect it will be 20-30 minutes to get to that temp on a warm day based on my experience with mine but I have never graphed it.
How long would you guess it’d take your Memphis Elite to hit 450° in that cold weather?
Probably about 20-25 minutes. I rarely cook that high. I should test them both out one day to see how long they take.
Although I have no Memphis experience, that’s what I was guessing. Ive had more than one person tell me that they can have their Elite up to 450° within 10-12 mins. Just find that hard to believe.
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Since I've never owned a pellet grill and know nearly zero about how they are suppose to operate, I have nothing as a reference comparison. I see from this temperature plot that it took about 15 minutes to reach what is called the "smoke" temperature of the unit, about 175 degrees, apparently the lowest stable temperature the unit can generate. So, if that's the starting point for ramping up to full grilling temperature, the remaining time to get there (from 175 to 450 degrees) is about 25 minutes.
Anyway, I thought you'all might find this information interesting / useful. When it gets cold here (say -20 to -30 below) I'll run another graph and see how that compares.
Thanks for all the comments, interesting feedback.
MTBob
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thanks again for sharing...it was great information.
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A better question is...why is a unit even being turned on when it is -7? My Mom and Uncles lived in North Western Montana in the late 30's and early 40's...Man, not for me...
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Bently: As a new member of this forum, I was hoping the you'all would not revert to personal insults. I guess I'm wrong. As the apparent Administrator of the Pellet Fan forum, part of your job is to set the tone for the postings. If your comment reflects how this forum operates, it's not for me.
Adios
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Bently: As a new member of this forum, I was hoping the you'all would not revert to personal insults. I guess I'm wrong. As the apparent Administrator of the Pellet Fan forum, part of your job is to set the tone for the postings. If your comment reflects how this forum operates, it's not for me.
Adios
Hmmm. I've been following this thread and didn't see any personal insults aimed at you - Maybe it was removed already? Or did you misinterpret something?
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yikes...i just have to shake my head and bite my lip sometime
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I was not intending to insult you. I cant imagine going outside when it is 7°, much less when it has a - in front of it. My comment about my relatives was aimed at the condition they faced in a small farm house when electricity had not even come to what at that time was a rural area, I am to soft to have ever been able to make it!
Stick around, you might enjoy the site!
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I think he was insulted by the fact that Bentley wondered why one would be out cooking in -7 degree weather. So many things anymore that one is to tread lightly on. Well, if that is the expectation better to leave because we are not very sensitive to that kind of stuff.
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That was weird... I would’ve challenged Bentley to get his big girl panties on and come outside and join me ;)
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Yes! And I would have declined!
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There are some things that no amount of head scratching will ever get you there. This was one for me.
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I just fired up my MAK in 35.6° temp outside. I have the flash ignitor in my older model MAK 2. We will see how long it takes to get to 350°. I have put some 100% hardwood heating pellets in it after it burns through the small amount of pellets that were left in the hopper. I want to do a burn off and will take it up to 450° or so for a while.
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13 min 9 sec to hit 200°
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I just fired up my MAK in 35.6° temp outside. I have the flash ignitor in my older model MAK 2. We will see how long it takes to get to 350°. I have put some 100% hardwood heating pellets in it after it burns through the small amount of pellets that were left in the hopper. I want to do a burn off and will take it up to 450° or so for a while.
Tuned in!
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14 min 57 sec to hit 225°
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16 min 22 sec to hit 250°
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19 min mark it hit 260° and then started going backwards. Time to check out the grill.
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Weird, no error messages. Grill coming back up to temp again.
BTW, looks like it only drew 2.8 amps at startup and running about 0.6 amps after ignitor shuts off. Not sure why you couldn't run two at the same time off of a 20 amp outlet. Maybe you engineering or electrical guys can enlighten me on that.
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25 min 19 sec 300°
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I’ve seen dirty vents, including the vents that feed into the cold smoke box, get more than a few MAK owners.
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Weird, hit about 295° and then started going backwards again. Hit 280° and then started to increase.
I also have a brand new controller I installed in the Summer/Fall in order to be able to get the wifi.
I am getting worse startup performance than the guy from Montana who started up his grill in 40°+ colder temps.
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The new Funnel Flame Zone seems to make a big difference (you don’t have it, correct?). I have yet to not be at 450° within 25 mins...even at colder ambient temps like you are firing it up in.
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I do not have the new flame zone kit. Not sure I want to drop another $400 on this grill either, but it sure is disappointing watching it drop back in temp. It is struggling to get over 300° right now.
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This is graph of approximately the first 30 minutes. You can see how it drops and then goes back up. Grill temp is set to 350°
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4648/25448236727_3b12934269_c.jpg)
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This is graph of approximately the first 30 minutes. You can see how it drops and then goes back up. Grill temp is set to 350°
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4648/25448236727_3b12934269_c.jpg)
Is your MAK clean, especially all vents? RTD probe clean? Assuming internal parts are all set in place correctly. With rare exception, these are the things that I have seen play havoc with performance. Or bad pellets.
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I opened the grill and removed the covers over the drip pan. Let's see if that what may have been causing the issue.
Grill dropped down to about 265° while I removed the covers. Got up close to 300° and then dropped back to 275°. Now it is working its way to 350°. Will see if there are any drops again.
This is a great (but frustrating at times) exercise. Glad I am doing it. I may have learned something about the pit i.e. the drip pan covers and higher heat temps.
Keeps going back and forth between 340°-350°. I am going to let it go for about 30 minutes before taking the set temp higher.
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The FZ covers should not be the determining factor of whether or not you can hit your desired temp. I have cooked at 425-450 many times with the FZ covered (indirect heat). Are all of your vents completely clear, including the vents that enter/exit the cold smoke box?
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I just scraped off some creosote from the left side vents and fully opened the vents on the smoker box chamber on the right side. The grill had been stable at ~350° for about 30 minutes so I just turned it up to 400°.
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Took about 7 minutes to go from 350° to 400°. I will let it sit there for 15-30 minutes before going to 450°. Will do the same once it stabilizes at 450° before setting at HIGH. I have never run the grill at high so I have no idea what temps it will get to.
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Any chance you’d be willing to fire up your Elite and just set it to 500°? Would love to see the preheat time.
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Any chance you’d be willing to fire up your Elite and just set it to 500°? Would love to see the preheat time.
I will do that one day. I want to smoke some tri-tips and a bacon wrapped pork loin on it today before the snow starts to fall so I won't do a test today. I will have to use my Thermoworks Smoke wifi to graph that.
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:)
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Fairly stable at 400° so I am going up to 450° now
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Looks like it took about 10 minutes to get that extra 50°
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The MAK should have no issue cruising at 450° all day long :)
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I put the sear grate on the grill. Waiting for the grill to heat back up to 450° and for two steaks to thaw out. Then I am going to throw them on the sear grate.
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I put the sear grate on the grill. Waiting for the grill to heat back up to 450° and for two steaks to thaw out. Then I am going to throw them on the sear grate.
Cook em’ from frozen. Takes a bit longer to hit desired internal temp and will give the steaks more time to develop nice sear/crust. Just my opinion...lol.
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Bently: As a new member of this forum, I was hoping the you'all would not revert to personal insults. I guess I'm wrong. As the apparent Administrator of the Pellet Fan forum, part of your job is to set the tone for the postings. If your comment reflects how this forum operates, it's not for me.
Adios
Bently: First, my apologies for a snarky reaction to your posting. What you'all saw was a combination of having the flu, and a long frustrating day and generally a bad attitude about everything. For sure, this exchange points out the need to not react quickly to what is often an innocent comment. At my age you'd think I would have learned that lesson long ago. Fortunately the flu hasn't killed me yet, and I haven't p issed off too many people while trying to recover. :-[
After I'm able to shovel the snow off the patio, I'll be back at the MAK Grill and trying to learn how to use a pellet cooker. That'll be a bit more "fun" when I can take off the parka and gloves! Burr... it's starting to get cold, 15 below zero this morning (but, it's a dry cold) :D.
MTBob
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welcome back and thanks for helping me set my grill on fire ;)
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Welcome back! Nothing but respect for the humble tone of your last post :)
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welcome back and thanks for helping me set my grill on fire ;)
:rotf:
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Welcome to the Site! I got to be honest with you, I would like to experience -15 just once to see what it is like...
After I'm able to shovel the snow off the patio, I'll be back at the MAK Grill...
MTBob
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Welcome to the Site! I got to be honest with you, I would like to experience -15 just once to see what it is like...
After I'm able to shovel the snow off the patio, I'll be back at the MAK Grill...
MTBob
In my limited Rocky Mountain experience, if it is a dry -15 then it probably feels closer to something like 0 to 10 degrees where there is humidity in air.
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Welcome. Our Mom was born and raised in Florida and, at the age of 17 moved to a tiny little town in western Montana called Heron. It was during WWII and after graduation -- with a 6 week teaching course at the "teacher's college" in Dillon -- she became a teacher. She taught in one room school houses in Heron and surrounding areas for 3 years before going to the U of Montana. I know it was cold and have seen pictures of the snow, but all our lives all we heard was how much she loved those years in Montana and wished she could return someday. I don't think I am as tough as she was!
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Bently: First, my apologies for a snarky reaction to your posting. What you'all saw was a combination of having the flu, and a long frustrating day and generally a bad attitude about everything. For sure, this exchange points out the need to not react quickly to what is often an innocent comment.
MTBob
Thank you, Bob, for the explanation. It sure was perplexing. Welcome back.
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Thanks for the insight. I need to clean up the frozen grease heading to the grease can first so I can minimize having another fire.