If I change pit temp during a cook, it's typically to a higher temp, not lower.  With that said, in the last couple of months, I have twice found myself cooking (grilling) at 450, and then wanting to kick the temp down to 300 to cook something different that required the lower cooking temp.  Both times, I experienced a flame out.  Upon closer inspection, I found the firepot to be completely filled with unburned pellets.  It's almost as if the controller doesn't know how to properly bring the cooking chamber down in temp without suffocating the fire.

I am wondering if others (no matter the brand of pellet grill) have experienced this? 

I am going to email MAK and see what they have to say.

That has happened to me going from 200°-250° down to Smoke mode 2x in December and I blamed it on the cold temps.

That has happened to me going from 200°-250° down to Smoke mode 2x in December and I blamed it on the cold temps.

Interesting as that's a pretty small drop in temp.  Have you ever lost a fire on your Memphis when dropping temps?  As mentioned, it is very rare that I want to go down in temp during a cook , so it hasn't really been an issue up to this point.

That has happened to me going from 200°-250° down to Smoke mode 2x in December and I blamed it on the cold temps.

Interesting as that's a pretty small drop in temp.  Have you ever lost a fire on your Memphis when dropping temps?  As mentioned, it is very rare that I want to go down in temp during a cook , so it hasn't really been an issue up to this point.

Not that I can remember, but I also don't recall every taking temps down.  My Memphis problem was taking temps from a smoke range of 200-275 and moving above 350.  It would go about 50-100 degrees higher than controller setting.  They walked me through a setting change on the controller to manage that issue.

I've had flame outs and some burn back in the auger tube when going down from high temps. Now I bring it down in increments and have no more problems. I bring it down to 250 before starting the shutdown cycle as well.

I've had flame outs and some burn back in the auger tube when going down from high temps. Now I bring it down in increments and have no more problems. I bring it down to 250 before starting the shutdown cycle as well.

What brand/model of pellet cooker do you have?

Have you tried leaving the hood open to let heat escape? I’ve done this on both Traegers and GMG, but seems like I’ve always left hood open for a couple mins when dropping to speed up the change.

My JR has a built in 'cool down' feature the keeps the fan going to burn up any unused pellets.

When I do 420 deg pizza, I'll still dial it back slowly to about 200. Never been a problem.

I had the flame outs and auger tube burn back on an old USA made Traeger. I could tell the auger tube burn back by seeing smoke come out of the pellet hopper. I currently have a Traeger Timberline 850 and kept the same process of dialing it down and opening the lid. Never had flame out or auger burn back on the Timberline. 

I've had one flame-out when dropping temps down from 400 down to smoke. I was burning off some of the previous day's cook due to not having the time to do it at the end of the cook. I think the controller starved the fire to drop the temp and caused the flame-out, then just kept piling more pellets into the pot.

I now drop the temp in 25 degree increments and haven't had any trouble.

Well, I spoke with MAK the other day. The current version of the controller software does not have reported flame out issues, and that is the version that I am running. With that said, I have spoken with a few other MAK owners, along with numerous other pellet grill owners, some right here on this forum. Not all, but the consensus seems to be this... any pellet grill, when cooking at a high temp and then wanting to drop the temp by a significant amount... it is best to make the change on the controller and then hold the lid open for a minute or so to quickly dump the heat from the high temp cook, allowing the pit temp to quickly come down to your new desired temp. Much less chance of losing your fire by doing this. From what I’ve gathered, this is not a brand specific issue but just the nature of pellet cookers.

Well, I spoke with MAK the other day. The current version of the controller software does not have reported flame out issues, and that is the version that I am running. With that said, I have spoken with a few other MAK owners, along with numerous other pellet grill owners, some right here on this forum. Not all, but the consensus seems to be this... any pellet grill, when cooking at a high temp and then wanting to drop the temp by a significant amount... it is best to make the change on the controller and then hold the lid open for a minute or so to quickly dump the heat from the high temp cook, allowing the pit temp to quickly come down to your new desired temp. Much less chance of losing your fire by doing this. From what I’ve gathered, this is not a brand specific issue but just the nature of pellet cookers.

Which makes a whole lot of sense, and I can live with that.

I am having the same issue with my GMG.  Could be the combustion not working properly. Going to get it middle of next week. See If this fixes the issue.

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