Nice and shiny, congrats!

 Glad to hear you're happy with the 1070 okie.  On with cooking.

keep us posted  looks like a great smoker

Thanks. Setting up for BB ribs today. Churches Gospel. Plan: 2 hrs naked, 2 hrs foiled, painted and back on naked for 30 min -----? to finish. All at 225*. We've all seen enough pics but just for grins will do pics this time.  No peek for first 2 hrs.

WHOOPS! had to abort the plan for today.  Reschedule.

Just for enlightenment, I asked RT tech about adjusting the temp offset (OFS) to get closer to the real temps measured across the grates. Got a nice quick reply. RT has set the RTD to measure the total cubic space of the cooking areas and that the temps taken at 1 " above the lower grates does not produce the overall temp in the pit. He said that +- 25* was the acceptable standard in any one spot. While he said it was ok to adjust, he assured me that the settings that were made at manufacture, will give the best expected results and do really represent extensive testing. So--I have moved the OFS back to the factory setting of 0 and will see how that affects traditional expected cooking times. i.e. leave it alone and get to cooking!

It will likely change some after it gets broken in/seasoned too. You seal up some gaps, get a less reflective coating on everything inside, etc. I’d say though if after 10-12 cooks you still see a difference maybe adjust it then. My MAK has a roaming thermocouple and I never move it or mess with offset. My Fireboard is almost always hooked up and I just adjust the grill temp to get what I want at near the food. Though after having a few Traegers 10° off might as well be dead on.

It will likely change some after it gets broken in/seasoned too. You seal up some gaps, get a less reflective coating on everything inside, etc. I’d say though if after 10-12 cooks you still see a difference maybe adjust it then. My MAK has a roaming thermocouple and I never move it or mess with offset. My Fireboard is almost always hooked up and I just adjust the grill temp to get what I want at near the food. Though after having a few Traegers 10° off might as well be dead on.

Good info. Agree.

Interim progress report:  I would recommend the 1070 as a great bang for the buck now. It has broken in well, performs well. Temps are accurate now (adjusted) and stable.  And the small nitty picky things have been resolved IMO.  Forget about keeping it stain free on the outside, but who cares? I also know how to avoid auger burn back on shutdown. No oil leaks. Very efficient burn with little soot production.
 

I was curious as to why the burn back and hopper smoke during shut down was so common on the 1070 (and I am told the 1250 as well). While I was able to reduce the occurrence on the 1070 by first lowering to a lower temp (250 +-), I was more interested in the "why" this problem seems to occur in the 1070, when it did not happen often in the older 590. Looking at the two pits for differences:
1. old 590 has four large slots on top for discharge, while the new 590 and 1070 have multiple slots on top but they are narrow. I think the total exhaust opening on the newer machines is larger.
2. Fire pot and auger assemblies on both old and new 590s are inside the chamber, while the whole assembly is below the floor of the 1070 with the top of fire pot flush with the floor.
3. The 1070 has a front loading hopper with a very short auger tube, compared to the 590's which have long auger/pot assembly.
4. The new 590 and 1070 both have 3rpm auger motor while old 590 had I think a 1.5rpm motor
5.  The 1070 has a large opening at the top of the hopper and the cover seems to just rest on it when in place, I'm not sure it touches it even. The 590 has a smaller lid and is held more snugly in place with a clasp. More on this later

#1 I think small narrow slots create more friction and thus resistance to  exhaust and thus reduce the volume allowed to pass. (and clog up easier). Flow is always faster the farther it is from the edges of exhaust surface, so there is little room for increase with the slotted exhaust.  The old chimney exhaust follows the law of laminar flow with highest friction on the surface of interior with markedly reduced friction in the center, so the old chimney exhaust would allow less resistance to flow, and thus permit exit of more volume depending on its diameter. BOTTOM LINE: SLOTS ARE LESS EFFICIENT, SO YOU NEED A LARGER TOTAL AREA FOR THE SAME FLOW.
#2 I don't think the position of the assemblies matters as far as contributing to exhaust or pressure changes.
#3 I think the shorter auger assembly contributes to the ease of back flow of fire and exhaust into the hopper for obvious reasons.
#4 The new 3rpm motor propels twice the volume of pellets for combustion at the "high" end and thus twice?(theoretical, perhaps the auger blade is adjusted) the volume of exhaust gases is formed at the high end. And because there is less resistance to pressure in the hopper auger assembly, you are more likely to get backburn and smoke in hopper???
#5 I think this is the main reason for easy back flow of smoke. #1 may be a contributing factor, but I do not know the total area of the new exhaust.  But I do know that if there was no leak in the hopper lid, there would be no flow, and no oxygen for combustion in the tube (or less of it).

REC:  SEAL  THE HOPPER LID! There should be no risk since the there are no alterations of the cooking chamber or exhaust system.
I had several burn backs at shutdown recently, and the pit was clean and no obstructions found.
Here is what I did and it was easy. Using Lava Loc 1/8" thick.  This thickness does not interfere with opening or closing the lid.I have made 4 500* plus cooks since with all kinds of variations and had NO shutdown hopper smoke or even post shutoff smolders in pit.  I am cautiously optimistic. Comments appreciated.



 

6 hot cooks with hopper seal in place.  First 5 shutdowns I lowered temp to 250+- and had no problem.  Last hot cook 485* for burgers had post shut down auger smolder.  But no smoke from hopper.  The first 5 I turned temp down to 250+- and let stabilize, then off.  The 6th cook I tried turning off without waiting and thus the burn back. I went to Test Mode and purged the auger tube to close it down.
Lesson: Will always do a cool down and stabilize before shutdown.

Back when I had the Blazin' GridIron, I had several auger fires.
There were a real pain to clear up.
I complained to Tim about it, but he had no idea.
Even sent me a new auger, but that didn't solve it.
I told him I thought it was the shutdown code.
The fan would remain on full while the auger turning was reduced to 0 for most of the shutdown time.
As a result with the flame still roaring and auger not turning, the pellets in the end of the auger would catch fire.
They eventually changed the shutdown code, but unfortunately for me it was after I sold it.

Good info, perhaps if the auger were turning just a little during the shutdown, that would help, although adding pellets while trying to burn them out seems counterproductive also. I think that lowering the temp to below 250* and then letting it stabilize seems to work best. Perhaps even lowering to "low" might be better. In truth I have sent all this info to RT and the tech has passed it on to the VP of R&D (because he thinks it has some merit).  I'm gonna do another hot cook test today and lower to "low" and see how it shuts down. Meanwhile, the 1070 cooks like a champ and I can live with an occ. burn back at shutdown, hoping RT will figure it out. But your suggestion that the shutdown algorithm may need alteration makes sense. I had a Blaz'n when they made the change in shutdown and it worked for me. Stay tuned.

Hot cook test today. Took it up to 500+ for about 1/2 hr or more. Then turned it down to 220 (decided that was as good as "low", for testing). This time I waited until it reached 220* and let it set there for 10-12 minutes before turning off. Perfect shutdown. No smolder smoke or hopper smoke etc. Lesson learned. Anxious to hear if RT has any comments or new suggestions. Since I don't see another with a 1070 on PF's list, I have looked around for other owners experiences.

I do the same procedure with my RT-1250 when cooking above 400 - at the end of the cook I drop the set point to 200, but I don't wait for the temp to drop completely as 5 to 10 minutes has been sufficient, though I'd probably wait a bit longer if running above 500.

Although the RT-1250 has no trouble getting up to 600, I usually use my gas Weber for searing anyway.

I've had one auger burn back while low temp smoking, but I'm certain it was because of damp pellets so I'm not blaming that one on the RT - while it was covered, the hopper was full with 40# of pellets, it was monsoon season, and I hadn't used it for a few weeks. When I scooped out the hopper there were clearly pellets that had gotten wet. So now I only fill the hopper with as many pellets as I need for the cook, and scoop anything left back out if I'm not going to cook for a bit.

I agree the shutdown burn back can be solved pretty easily with a software change.