Pellet Fan

Pit Talk -- Comments and Questions Regarding These Pellet Pits => All Other Pellet Manufactures. => Topic started by: Canadian John on November 02, 2021, 02:06:41 PM

Title: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: Canadian John on November 02, 2021, 02:06:41 PM

  What one thing aggravates you the most about your pellet pit ?


   Note: It's OK to list more than one.
Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: Bentley on November 02, 2021, 02:35:00 PM
It wont go down to 70°.
Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: 02ebz06 on November 02, 2021, 03:41:22 PM
The  #&$^#(*$@  WIFI rarely works on the Chinese junk Memphis Elite.

Wanted to use it Friday/Saturday when I did the pulled pork.
Told me something was wrong with my login credentials. WHAT ?
The darn thing saves them so I don't have to type them and then tells me they are wrong.
So I did a Forgot Password today and was able to log in, but it didn't show the grill temp.  I did have it on.
Told me to go to my account settings so I could change the pwd to what I want.
Didn't tell me where my account settings are though.
Not on grill control panel, didn't find anything at memphisgrills.com, and couldn't find anything in the app.
I hate this thing!!!

Guess I will never try to use it again to avoid the frustration.

Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: Canadian John on November 03, 2021, 09:23:35 AM

 That sure as heck takes the fun out of cooking.. Are you not able to revert to basic ( non wifi ) operation and use a temperature monitoring system such as  Thermoworks Smoke? Of course, certain wifi features

 will be lost. The reduced frustration may be worth it.
Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: 02ebz06 on November 03, 2021, 11:55:14 AM
I don't use the probe that comes with the grill. I use my Thermoworks Smoke.
That is another pet peeve, three probe jacks, but they only give you one probe for a grill that cost over $5k.

The only thing I liked the WIFI for was to be able to raise/lower the temp.
Put the pork butt on about 8:20PM and was going to start it out low and just raise the temp about 10:30PM from the convenience of my bedroom.

Still don't know what happened to the username/password not working.
I'll have to contact Memphis or just stop using it. Haven't decided which yet.
Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: Bentley on November 03, 2021, 12:01:51 PM
Yeah, give them a chance to get you right!
Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: glitchy on November 03, 2021, 12:47:18 PM
It’s so darn easy that it feels like cheating :P

My only aggravation with the MAK is cleaning. Not that it’s difficult at all, but a little more work than most of the other pellet grills I’ve owned. I’ve had to remove the lid 3 times since March to scrape the inside of it down so mystery gunk would quit dripping everywhere. However, that has stopped since I quit foiling the drip pan (always made sure nothing was blocked for airflow). I’m just not sure if it was the foil or the drought we’ve been in that has cleared it up past few months. I think a lot of the cleaning gripe is I previously had two of the easiest pellet grills to clean with the Woodwind and SmokeFire. The SmokeFire was slide one grate over on the other, pull a flavorizer bar and scrape everything down the drain holes, repeat for other side. The Woodwind hardly had to be cleaned with the fire pot dump, I’d vac it out every 60-80 pound of pellets burned.

The MAK has been the best pellet grill I’ve owned, so I’ll take a little more work cleaning in trade.
Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: glitchy on November 03, 2021, 12:52:12 PM
Still don't know what happened to the username/password not working.
I'll have to contact Memphis or just stop using it. Haven't decided which yet.

I’ve seen a few complaints on other forums lately about Memphis WiFi, sounds like the WiFi chip they are using is very old and more and more people having problems with not being able to get/keep it working with newer routers. If you have a 2.4GHz guest network, I’d connect it to that if you aren’t already.
Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: Bar-B-Lew on November 03, 2021, 12:58:32 PM
Cleaning is my #1 issue followed by probes and wifi on the MAK.  It seems harder than it needs to be so I gave up on using it.  It is easier for me to turn on the grill and set the temp and go away than deal with the wifi.
Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: glitchy on November 03, 2021, 01:08:10 PM
Cleaning is my #1 issue followed by probes and wifi on the MAK.  It seems harder than it needs to be so I gave up on using it.  It is easier for me to turn on the grill and set the temp and go away than deal with the wifi.

The trick to MAK WiFi is never touch anything other than the power button and that’s only to turn the grill on. Once on, use the web interface for everything else. You also have to connect within a certain amount of time or WiFi shuts off, even if you just want Smoke mode. I’ve probably done 50 plus cooks now and only time it hasn’t worked was when I didn’t try to connect until an hour or so later, went out and turned WiFi on via controller and was good again.
Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: 02ebz06 on November 03, 2021, 01:44:15 PM
Still don't know what happened to the username/password not working.
I'll have to contact Memphis or just stop using it. Haven't decided which yet.

I’ve seen a few complaints on other forums lately about Memphis WiFi, sounds like the WiFi chip they are using is very old and more and more people having problems with not being able to get/keep it working with newer routers. If you have a 2.4GHz guest network, I’d connect it to that if you aren’t already.

I had to to install a WIFI access point closer to the grill than the router was to make it work at all.
Apparently very weak WIFI.
I have a ceiling fan next to the grill that uses WIFI.
Have had no problem with it, even before adding the access point.

This is the first time I've had the username/password issue.
Was always WIFI dropping before, then working the next time.

Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: Ruff on February 06, 2023, 06:17:29 PM
Everyone probably already knows this.  When you use the app on your phone both the Green Mountain Primes and the Camp Chef Apex have a fan only mode for cold smoking.
Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: 02ebz06 on February 07, 2023, 10:08:38 AM
Welcome aboard Ruff. Glad you could join us.

I put a Savannah Stoker controller on my CampChef vertical smoker that has that feature.
It's great for smoking cheese.
Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: okie smokie on February 07, 2023, 12:08:02 PM
Still don't know what happened to the username/password not working.
I'll have to contact Memphis or just stop using it. Haven't decided which yet.

I’ve seen a few complaints on other forums lately about Memphis WiFi, sounds like the WiFi chip they are using is very old and more and more people having problems with not being able to get/keep it working with newer routers. If you have a 2.4GHz guest network, I’d connect it to that if you aren’t already.
After my experience with the Beale Street, and then hearing about problems with the Elite as well, I would not desire any of their current products. No excuse is viable for them at their prices. After all, who wants to pay $5000-7000 for a pit that you have to place a drip pan under your butt or brisket to avoid a grease fire, or that the wifi is unreliable, or tru temp control is not accurate. Prestige? Pfffft. And China production did not help their  product at all!.
Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: okie smokie on February 08, 2023, 07:21:00 PM
RT 1070. My only aggravation now that the adjustments have been made, is the time it takes to shut down after hot cooks. To avoid post shut off auger tube smolders and fires after a hot cook, (see my gripes elsewhere), I have developed a routine that works. But it takes a lot of time. First I have to wait for the temp to come back down to set temp i.e. 500 and stabilize. Then I turn down to 250 or so and then have to wait til it stabilizes at the lower temp. Then turn off. I have usually just gone ahead with dinner and check during, check again after supper before turn off. It works every time if I don't try to short cut the procedure, but sometimes it takes an hour til shut off. It means that usually I don't have time to clean pit until before the next cook. But the aggravation is mild and I love the 1070's performance otherwise. Low slow cooks are no problem: just shut off when done.
P.S.: The new Dual 2.5/5.0 WiFi has always worked.
John: What is your aggravation?
 
Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: Canadian John on February 09, 2023, 08:50:51 AM

  Contrary to your Memphis experience, my now older Memphis Pro has been a dream.  It's so easy to clean (internally), heats up very quickly, and pellet use is low: all of this & more compared to my Traeger.

  As for aggravation, I would have to list keeping it shiny & new looking. Being all stainless  requires frequent clean-ups & polishing. 

  I am somewhat fanatical with with almost everything I own as keeping things clean, serviced and ready to go: house, car, tools, the list goes on... Is it worth it?  At times I wish I had a I don't care

  approach to things. I would probably live longer if I did.

  I am glad to hear your pit issues are resolved.. After all, cooking should be a pleasurable experience.
Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: 02ebz06 on February 09, 2023, 10:20:44 AM
RT 1070. My only aggravation now that the adjustments have been made, is the time it takes to shut down after hot cooks. To avoid post shut off auger tube smolders and fires after a hot cook, (see my gripes elsewhere), I have developed a routine that works. But it takes a lot of time. First I have to wait for the temp to come back down to set temp i.e. 500 and stabilize. Then I turn down to 250 or so and then have to wait til it stabilizes at the lower temp. Then turn off. I have usually just gone ahead with dinner and check during, check again after supper before turn off. It works every time if I don't try to short cut the procedure, but sometimes it takes an hour til shut off. It means that usually I don't have time to clean pit until before the next cook. But the aggravation is mild and I love the 1070's performance otherwise. Low slow cooks are no problem: just shut off when done.
P.S.: The new Dual 2.5/5.0 WiFi has always worked.
John: What is your aggravation?

Not the same as the Memphis I had, but I found that leaving the lid open on it,  it would shutdown really fast.

Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: okie smokie on February 09, 2023, 12:25:03 PM
I have no doubts that the older Memphis (US made) pits were super good. Glad your experience has been good which confirms that. I decided that keeping the exterior of the 1070 new and shiny was not in the cards for me. I do keep it clean but can't get the darker staining out of the metal itself. Keeping the inside clean however is a must IMO to avoid eating the accumulation of grease, soot, that and other not so healthy byproducts. Primarily by keeping the grates scraped and wiped; with seasonal internal barrel scraping and cleanup. Not hard, just messy.
Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: Canadian John on February 09, 2023, 03:16:58 PM

 Okie, I must admit.  I can't taste the shine.

 
Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: okie smokie on February 09, 2023, 04:22:56 PM
It's a mental taste, not organic :rotf: :lick:
Title: Re: Pellet Pit Aggravation
Post by: pmillen on February 09, 2023, 06:34:02 PM
I don't recall ever reading about someone becoming ill from eating food prepared on a pit with a dirty exterior.