Pellet Fan
All Things Considered => General Discussion--Food Related => Topic started by: Canadian John on November 12, 2017, 10:44:49 AM
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That would include all the pits you have or have had. Not limited to one problem.. Newbies should state they are new and the problem (s) they have encountered are learning curve related.. The listings can be as simple as a clean-out..
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VERY FEW PORBLEMS with either pit.
Have had to replace a few things. Usually the issues revolved around the hotplug.
Manufactures would be advised to have the connections for replacement issue as EASY as possible to deal with.
My MAK has been retrofitted with their new FLASHFIRE Ignitor. Love It.
I would strongly suggest that anyone with the older style hotplug in their MAK, spend the bucks and replace it with their new system.
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My only problem is not getting to use them as often as I would like. My wife and the girls asked me to cook something that wasn't grilled for supper every night. :(
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Traeger lil Tex. No real issues, but only had it for a year or so.
Pg500. No real issues. Little too much ash flew around in the chamber, and the slide-outs were a pain to clean under when it needed a good grease clean out.
Louisiana whole hog. Paint is starting to peel. The controller buttons work for now, but I need to press them several times every once in a while.
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My PG500 was too small but one killer unit. Other than that all of my pits have been AOK.
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I am a newbie having my pit less than a year. No real issues with the pit so far, had a minor issue when I first got it, but was walked through the fix by customer service and all has been great. Try to follow all the good suggestions and ideas from the folks on this site (and the previous one) which has been outstanding helping me put out some real good food. I guess to second what Brushpopper stated, not getting to use my pit as much as I would like is the biggest problem right now. hahaha.
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biggest problem I have is forgetting to adjust the heat baffle
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With my PG500, I've had a bit of a issue with smoke and/or condensation coming back through the pellet hopper, it's not a huge issue, but is kind of annoying that it's a issue at all. I wound up adding a speed control to the combustion fan and I reduce that fan speed sightly, which seems to help a bit. I know one other PG500 owner who added a silicone seal around the top of his pellet hopper lid, creating a tight seal that does not allow any air to flow back through his hopper, he says this has eliminated the issue on his grill. FYI - My slightly lower fan speed also seems to reduce the amount of ash flying upward too, so for me the slightly lower fan speed works well.
My GMG Davy Crockett - it's just a tiny bit to small to get a full packer brisket on - other than that there's not much I'd complain about. The only other thing of note, is recently I went to cook a ribeye roast , set the grill to 'Server' mode, then went to visit my dad who's been in the hospital... when I got to the hospital I noticed the Davy was struggling to mantain 225F like I wanted, I made some adjustment, but things still didn't seem right, the temperature maintained around 200F... Well, there is a setting in the App that allows you to adjust the agressiveness of the PID in cold temperatures, but you can't change that while in server mode... Once I got home, I change that setting, to 'icy' ( it was 30F outside ), and it works great now in the cold... So, the only 'problem' was I din't adjust this before I needed to use it in icy temperatures.
PTG , prone to auger Tube fires...
Junior - Can't control temperature swings very well, especially when trying to cook bellow 250F, very hard to maintain 180F. Far as I know there's really no cure for this problem
Texas - Well... I just don't really like 20" diameter barrel shape cookers... It works just fine, but I likely will never buy another grill that's got a 10" radius and is 34" long, it just restricts the usable space inside the grill way to much.
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In response to LowSlowJoe's Traeger Junior; When I had my Lil Tex with the 180º controller I found in warm to hot weather only,I could maintain extremely even temperatures using its smoke mode and the "P"-settings..The pit temps wouldn't vary more that
1º to 2º. Depending on the ambient the pit temp would run ~ 160º in cool weather to ~ 220º when it was hot. If it was cool or on the cold side I would use the 180º or 225º settings, and had higher swings...The smoke/P-1 was my go to setting..This only
works on the 180º controller with adjustable "P" settings. Fire bricks (5) helped even things out as well. I am not saying the above will work on the JR as I have no experience with it.
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I really don’t have any problems with my pit except for wanting a PG500 or Yoder 640 or......Does everything I want it to do really well, no crazy temp swings, easy ash clean out, plenty of room with the added jerky racks, truly set it & forget it but I can’t help but lust over something that I can sear on as well. I’ve heated my home with pellets for years so owning a pellet grill was a natural for me that makes perfect sense. Searing on a PG500 looks about as good as it gets to me.
I should just either add the sear box like I planned or bite the bullet, scratch the itch & go all out on a bigger pit.
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No problems...but I would venture to guess I cook 1/10 the amount that others cook on their units!
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When I bought my Traeger it worked GR8 for about 6 months. Then everything seemed to go wrong with it. Virtually every part was replaced within a year. After that it worked fine. With the exception of burning out heat rods. Sold it to my Brothers Brother n Law. He's replaced a couple rods.... Other than that its working good.
My first GMG JB I bought I believe 2010, Rusted so bad within 8 months of ownership they gave me a new one with $400.00 to boot. Couldn't keep it running, They sent me a new auger motor & control board & its worked good since then. Trouble is Its to big for my use so I Hardly use it.
April 2014 I bought a GMG DC. I'm happy to announce I have had no problems with it at all. It's my go to pit as I'm usually only cooking for 2.
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My Q450 works great but it’s just not big enough. A second grate has supposedly been in the works for some time but Firecraft seems to be dropping the ball on that. It’s enough of a problem that I will be getting something else and that’s a shame.
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Come on now...to many great guys that know how to fabricate stuff...to help you with mods to leave it over a stinkin 2nd shelf!
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MAK 2 Star: I have to watch how much meat I load on the second shelf. If I get aggressive and put, say, another brisket or another two pork butts on that shelf, it messes with the air flow and creates a huge heat sink; I'm then looking at a LONG cook during which nothing seems to make any progress. The result is a lot of drier meat that gets chopped and mixed with a bit of BBQ sauce. I had a grill full of pork butt that went 24 hours . . . kind of embarrassing. I just haven't had the time to play with it to see how to mitigate it, yet, which leads me to my only other problem: using it is addicting and I'm never happy with the amount of time I get to spend cooking on it. What a great pit!
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Rec-Tec 680: Hot rods kept going out about once a year. Not enough smoke flavor( the newer ones have a extra smoke button mine did not). Wind seemed to really bother it.
PG-500: have had it a year and the only thing that I can say is at times maybe a little to much ash. I have since started cleaning my pellets and that has helped. But otherwise I am extremely happy with it!
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No issues on my Memphis Elite as of yet. Main complaint is not enough time or money to smoke more meat ;D
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Been using one since 2010 and my only complaint about my Memphis Pro is that the direct flame zone is small, only 4 patties will fit at a time, and that is crowding them. I love everything else about it.
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PG500
The stainless steel looks great when spotless but it shows every little spot so I have to spend too much time cleaning it. I clean it because I like the way it looks when clean and I don't want guests to think that I prepare their meals in an unsanitary fashion.
Grease in the low regions is a pain to clean out. I practically have to crawl inside the pit to get at those areas.
Multifunction buttons are annoying (press and hold two buttons simultaneously for one function, hold longer for a second function, hold even longer for a third function). Here, Design Engineer, hold this!
I solved the blowing ash and fines problem by cleaning my pellets.
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About 30lbs of use on my gmg Davy Crockett and I’m hooked on pellet grills. Already lusting for a Yoder on comp cart but that’ll have to wait.
Occasionally needs to be started twice.
Box over firepot will shift when moving grill so I have to check that every use.
WiFi feature can be wonky and I’m not using it much any more.
Cooks fantastic food tho. I’ve had 4 racks on it at once. Could fab a second shelf for smaller meats like salmon.
Need a cart as I’m tired of bending down to it.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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The powder coating isn’t holding up so I’ll be repainting early next year.
Other than that the right side gets quite a bit hotter than the left. Not a big deal as I’ve learned to keep the food centered or move stuff around halfway through.
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It's not big enough!! :o :o
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There are some amazing replies! Keep them coming.
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On my rec tec 480, had a really bad run with igniters for a while but going on a long time on the last replacement. Only issue really is it can be slow to get to temp if I am doing a hot cook. But, it does get there. I put the insulation kit on it to be ready for Thanksgiving.
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Welcome to Pellet Fan 41 magsnub !