I was just about to buy the Stampede yesterday but honestly, this vent design is worrying me a bit.  It has three slots/holes in the upper rear on the unit rather than a smokestack pipe.

Wind induced lame outs on the small Traeger with a similar vent system were mentioned in a different thread.  The idea of having a flame out due to a gust of wind in that vent is bothering me.  The Rec Tec vent accessories are inexpensive and look like they might help. 

Is a wind induced flame out a somewhat normal thing for pellet grills in general?  Or just with this venting style?  Am I being overly critical of a problem that will rarely, if ever, exist?  I'm asking out of ignorance on this subject.  Thanks!

I have the RecTec mini that has similar venting and have had no issues.

I have the Traeger Jr that has the similar venting and yes when in the wind the wrong way it can drive down your temps or cause a flame out. The wind can blow into those vents. I have had this happen a couple times and I have a friend with a Traeger Jr and the same thing has happened to him. But overall it is a usable design. Has worked fine for the Traegers and the RT mini had the same vent design.

 Memphis Pro here..No stack.  Vents across the back. No hint of any flame-outs, on windy days. Not even in -0ºf  weather.

I have a hard time wrapping my head around this.

Wind is indeed a heat killer, but that's what temp controllers are for. I too have a Traeger Jr with the back vents, and have experienced 2 flame outs. Both were induced by the pellets funneling out in the hopper on overnighters.

I can't speak for the rec tec version, but it seems highly unlikely for the wind to cause a flame out. In my case:

The heat deflector covers the firepot on 2 sides and the top. The open back is 3/4-1 inch from the sidewall, and the front is full open.
The pit runs with a fan, so the ID of the pit is energized with air pushing it out of the open end of the heat deflector and to the exhaust ports.
The drip pan covers 95% of the area inside the pit above the firepot.

I simply can't imagine what kind of wind could overcome all those obstacles and cause a flameout. Were it that bad, I'd be seeking higher ground.

 

I have a hard time wrapping my head around this.

Wind is indeed a heat killer, but that's what temp controllers are for. I too have a Traeger Jr with the back vents, and have experienced 2 flame outs. Both were induced by the pellets funneling out in the hopper on overnighters.

I can't speak for the rec tec version, but it seems highly unlikely for the wind to cause a flame out. In my case:

The heat deflector covers the firepot on 2 sides and the top. The open back is 3/4-1 inch from the sidewall, and the front is full open.
The pit runs with a fan, so the ID of the pit is energized with air pushing it out of the open end of the heat deflector and to the exhaust ports.
The drip pan covers 95% of the area inside the pit above the firepot.

I simply can't imagine what kind of wind could overcome all those obstacles and cause a flameout. Were it that bad, I'd be seeking higher ground.

 

Can't wrap your head for you. Can only tell you my experience. Both the flame outs I have had have been on windy days. And when I adjusted the angle of the traeger it was better. I also adjust the P-Setting to keep the pellets feeding faster.

I've had a Mini for over 18 months and I've cooked in some high wind conditions and never experienced a flame-out. I used to avoid cooking in a drizzle, but with the addition of their vent add-ons that issue's taken care of.

Fiddling with 'P' has only caused me grief.

Memphis Pro here..No stack.  Vents across the back. No hint of any flame-outs, on windy days. Not even in -0ºf  weather.

Same here, Memphis Pro - no issues, as well as the LG700 and the Traeger PTG.

Your mileage may vary..

Wind and air movement are tricky things to decipher, I mean there is an aeronautical engineering field for a reason.   

I do not doubt at all that a nasty wind could cause a flameout with the rear porting, either thru blowing in the port or even making some sort of cros flow current or even vacuum that just overcomes the pits ability to stay lit, especially low n slow which after often running at min feed rates with just enough fuel to stay lit.  Using the deflectors available for the mini (which the stampede was designed to be able to use) may be a simple fix, as well as changing orientation of the grill to the wind as has been mentioned.

I also have the Stampede on my short list for a first-time pellet grill. One concern is it appears from the pictures on the web site there is only 9-9.5 inches of vertical clearance. The Daniel Boone has 13 and Yoder about 12. May be pushing it with a large turkey especially since I like to keep it a roasting pan and baste it. Not sure if a beer can chicken would stand up.

9.5 is about what most 20 inch diameter grills have...

I fit a 13 pound turkey in a Traeger Junior,  they only have about 7.5 inches inside height.  I bet you could push 20 pounds in 9.5 inch space... and likely two of those in a Stampede,  since it's 30 inches wide... 

Yoder is nearly twice the price of a Stampede , not really apples to apples of a comparison there.

I also have the Stampede on my short list for a first-time pellet grill. One concern is it appears from the pictures on the web site there is only 9-9.5 inches of vertical clearance. The Daniel Boone has 13 and Yoder about 12. May be pushing it with a large turkey especially since I like to keep it a roasting pan and baste it. Not sure if a beer can chicken would stand up.

Off topic. Welcome bmwhitext on tour first post.

I also have the Stampede on my short list for a first-time pellet grill. One concern is it appears from the pictures on the web site there is only 9-9.5 inches of vertical clearance. The Daniel Boone has 13 and Yoder about 12. May be pushing it with a large turkey especially since I like to keep it a roasting pan and baste it. Not sure if a beer can chicken would stand up.

Hmm  That is too bad,  I was thinking with the change in shape that it would have more headroom than that.  It is the one thing I found...  "lacking" in my 680.  Being a drum design I realized it was just a limitation of that sort of grill.  But with a more square unit like the Stampede, I would have thought they would have made it taller.

I thought I read somewhere that the beer can chicken method was debunked. It doesn’t add anything to the chicken since the beer doesn’t get hot enough.  I haven’t cooked a chicken that way in a couple years.