Pellet Fan
All Things Considered => General Discussion--Non food Related => Topic started by: jdmessner on September 07, 2020, 01:43:17 PM
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I have never purchased a new grill. My son just graduated from college and it looks like he will be settling down in one place for the foreseeable future. I thought a pellet grill would make for a nice graduation or Christmas gift.
Now that Labor Day is here, would this be the time to watch for clearance sales? Or, do prices typically drop significantly lower at other times of the year (such as Black Friday)? I will admit that when I start to shop for something it almost turns into a game for me to see if I can get the biggest bang for the buck, so I don't mind waiting a while if need be.
At this point I am not locked into any particular grill, but I am leaning toward the GMG DC. I think he would like the portability the grill offers and he would enjoy playing around with the wifi options on his phone. I have never cooked on one or seen one in action. However, from what I have read on this forum and other places they seem like an all around good, well-made grill. Right now it looks like I can find one for $319, which isn’t too bad, but it seems like they did drop drastically in price two or three years ago around Christmas time. I don’t know if they do that on a regular basis or if it was a onetime thing. Any ideas or advice would be appreciated. Thanks for your help!
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Although not a direct answer to your question, I would suggest going to the big A and look for the GMC DC, then go to CCC.com (camel x 3) and paste the big A webpage address at the top of thier page. It will show you the price over the past year (if that period is available).
The lowest I saw was $266 last January.
You can set up a notification alert if the price drops to your desired threshold.
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Still looking. I see I can get a Davey Crockett right now for $280 and am leaning toward that direction. The ironic part is, it is on the revamped pelletheads web site!
However, that being said, I just had an ad pop up that was quite intriguing. It is for a Z grill. I had a friend that swore by them, so I started looking into them a little while ago (hence the barrage of pop up ads). From what I can tell, they seem like a good grill for the price.
For the Halloween deal you can get a mystery box grill for $309. The catch is you don't know which grill you get until it arrives. It would be one of five grills they have listed. The grills range in value from $399 for the ZPG-550a to the ZPG-7002b which goes for around $600. Even if I ended up with the smallest grill it would be bigger than the GMG DC. I would loose the wifi and portability, but I am not sire how big a deal that would be for my son. I am not much of a gambler, but it might be fun to try!
Just curious, does anyone have any thoughts or experience on Z grills?
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Free Mr Tony has some experience with one—https://pelletfan.com/index.php?topic=5231.msg59531#msg59531 (https://pelletfan.com/index.php?topic=5231.msg59531#msg59531)
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Pulled the trigger on a grill today. It certainly wasn't what I expected. An ad on FB Marketplace popped up for a Louisiana 1100 with a cold smoker attachment for $50. It is probably about 5 years old. There was a fire in the pellet hopper so there will be a little bit of clean up involved, but overall it is in good shape. The controller may need to be replaced, but it did turn on and the auger worked. It should be a fun project.
I really enjoyed talking with the seller. He just purchased a Traeger Timberline 850 with wifi. With any luck hopefully there will be a new member on the forum from Traverse City!
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Great deal for a 50 spot, even if you need to buy a controller, there are so many to choose from, you just may need to adapt a little. But you can get some nice ones. I would like to have one of the Alpha controllers from Grilla, I think the ability to be able to switch between PID and the more Analog control would be great. You could start your food in the analog to get more smoke on it and then switch to the PID to finish it.
Hope you make a post about your new toy and its progression.
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Great deal for a 50 spot, even if you need to buy a controller, there are so many to choose from, you just may need to adapt a little. But you can get some nice ones. I would like to have one of the Alpha controllers from Grilla, I think the ability to be able to switch between PID and the more Analog control would be great. You could start your food in the analog to get more smoke on it and then switch to the PID to finish it.
Hope you make a post about your new toy and its progression.
I will post some pictures in a few days. I finally broke down and got a new phone, but it looks like it has the wrong SIM card, so I need to wait for a new one to arrive before I can get the data to work and post photos.
The Grilla controller sure looks interesting and would be worth a try if it comes to that. However, I think the main thing that is wrong with the controller is the faceplate has a piece missing. It may have cracked off or melted from the pellet box fire. This makes it difficult to turn it on and off, but it does turn on. That makes me think it may still work OK, I just haven't had a chance to try it out yet. If it does work, I can get a new faceplate for $14.95. That would be a nice grill for $64.95!!
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You really cant go wrong at that price!
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Here are a couple of pictures of the grill. The hopper is a mess, but I am hoping it will clean up okay. With any luck I will get a chance to work on it this weekend.
Any ideas on what would cause a hopper fire like that? Is it something that I should worry about reoccurring? He did grill a lot of steaks and burgers on it, so there is a lot of grease to be cleaned up. My guess is that may have contributed to the problem.
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My guess is a grease fire that spread back thru the auger tube into the pellet hopper.
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I am not sure what would have caused that hopper fire other then grease, however, I do strongly recommend that you reposition your grill to the edge of the cement next to the grass. this will help ensure that if the grill gets to hot it will not damage your home. Just a suggestion based on your photo and the fact it had a hopper fire
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I am not sure what would have caused that hopper fire other then grease, however, I do strongly recommend that you reposition your grill to the edge of the cement next to the grass. this will help ensure that if the grill gets to hot it will not damage your home. Just a suggestion based on your photo and the fact it had a hopper fire
Thanks for the heads up That is just where I have it now to work on, not sure where the best operating location will be. I have been keeping my smaller Pit Boss there, but it pulls out away from the house quite easily. With the cold smoker on this one probably will not be quite as portable.
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I'm curious to see pics of the interior of that cold smoker and exterior pics of where the smoke exhausts from it.
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I was plagued by auger fires in the Blazin' GridIron I had.
Mainly when I cooked at high temp for steaks, burgers and such.
It would happen during shutdown period.
With the auger tube only a couple inches above the burn pot, auger doesn't turn very often so pellets in the auger could catch fire.
I hope the controller in yours didn't get fried.
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The Blazin did and upgrade on the program. No more problems even if i shutdown at 500.
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The Blazin did and upgrade on the program. No more problems even if i shutdown at 500.
I think that update was in part due to me bugging Tim to change the shutdown code so the fan didn't run continually.
With fan blowing, you have a high flame, without it, just a real low flame that can't reach the hopper.
Was updated after I sold the GridIron. :(
Doesn't mean it can't still happen, just a whole lot less likely.
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I spent a little bit of time the last couple of days playing around with the Louisiana grill.
First the good news: It turns on, the auger turns, I can see the igniter get red hot, the temp can be adjusted up and down on the controller, there is smoke.
Then the Bad news: Every once in a while there is a creaking kind of sound coming from the auger. I am assuming it is from one revolution of the auger, but it continues to feed pellets and rotate normally for several revolutions after that. The pellets are not catching fire and the grill never heats up. Would a new controller fix those problems?
It looks like this may be more of a project then I first thought. Given the weather and the season I don't know if I will have a lot of time to play around with it until spring. So it looks like I am probably going to go back to the original plan for my son and pick up a GMG DC for him. I can get one now for $285, but after chatting with someone on the website, it looks like they will be doing something for Black Friday, but they couldn't say what. I have waited this long, I guess I can hold out for a couple more weeks!
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I spent a little bit of time the last couple of days playing around with the Louisiana grill.
First the good news: It turns on, the auger turns, I can see the igniter get red hot, the temp can be adjusted up and down on the controller, there is smoke.
Then the Bad news: Every once in a while there is a creaking kind of sound coming from the auger. I am assuming it is from one revolution of the auger, but it continues to feed pellets and rotate normally for several revolutions after that. The pellets are not catching fire and the grill never heats up. Would a new controller fix those problems?
It looks like this may be more of a project then I first thought. Given the weather and the season I don't know if I will have a lot of time to play around with it until spring. So it looks like I am probably going to go back to the original plan for my son and pick up a GMG DC for him. I can get one now for $285, but after chatting with someone on the website, it looks like they will be doing something for Black Friday, but they couldn't say what. I have waited this long, I guess I can hold out for a couple more weeks!
Creaking sound from auger can be foreign object was in hopper, extra long pellets, bent auger.
Probably other possibilities, but those come to mind.
Unlikely controller is the problem of pellets not catching fire.
Was hopper and auger tube empty when you put pellets in?
If so, Hot Rod may have been turned off before pellets got to burn pot.
Could the pellets be damp?
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Creaking sound from auger can be foreign object was in hopper, extra long pellets, bent auger.
Probably other possibilities, but those come to mind.
Unlikely controller is the problem of pellets not catching fire.
Was hopper and auger tube empty when you put pellets in?
If so, Hot Rod may have been turned off before pellets got to burn pot.
Could the pellets be damp?
Played around with the grill a little more today and am feeling a bit encouraged. There was no creaking of the auger, so it was probably something working its way out. The other day, before I first turned the grill on I did try and run the auger and get as much ash and residue out as I could. The pellet tube was as clear as I could get it, but there is always some stubborn stuff that is difficult to get out.
The problem with igniting the pellets was two fold. The pellet pan must have warped in the fire. The pellets were not dropping in the right spot. The pan was over the igniter and the pellets were not making contact. The overall configuration of the pellet drop and pan is much different than what I have previously experienced, so it took a while to figure out that it was not lined up right.
OK truth be told, it was my wife that figured it out!!
The other problem was that the fan was stuck, gave it a tap and wall-ah, fire! It looks like the controller is fine. I guess the next step is to order a new faceplate and see if we can either fix the pellet pan or if I will need to break down and purchase a new one.
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If the pellet drop is not a problem after the fire is started, you could consider putting a handful of pellets on the ignitor rod before startup and then turning on the grill. They should ignite and then the other pellets dropping in should continue to provide the fuel. A bit of extra work each time you start it, but may give you ability to use before you fix the pellet drop.
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The Black Friday special is up for the GMG DC. I ordered one yesterday for my son, it was $275. It should be here Monday. Not a bad way to Christmas shop.
As for the Louisiana grill it seems like one step forward, two steps back. I fired it up the other night and thought I would try cooking a whole chicken as a test run. It started up nicely and I think I had it set for somewhere around 250. After about 30 minutes or so the controller dropped down to 180. I turned it back up and about 15 minutes later it did the same thing. That game got old after the third round, so I took it off the grill and finished it in the oven.
On another note, the auger stopped on my Pit Boss. Not sure what is going on there. It looks like I will need to take it apart and see what is going on. Since we got about 3 or 4 inches of snow last night, it may be a while before I get to it.
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I think I got everything squared away on the Louisiana. Did my first full cook on it today and it worked out well. My kids and their significant others were up for a belated Christmas dinner and presents.
I went to a couple of different grocery stores looking for prime rib and was surprised to find they were wiped out after the holiday. The best I could find were two top round roasts that were approximately 5 lbs. each. I put them on the grill at 225* and cooked them until the IT reached 130*. For dinner I sliced one in about 1/4 inch slices and it was very juicy and tender. Initially I was afraid the roast might be dry and/or tough, but that was not a problem, it was very flavorful.
I just found out my brother is coming up this weekend with some of his friends to go snowmobiling. I was going to slice the other roast for Italian beef sandwiches, so that will work out well when they are here.
My son was very pleased with the GMG DC. I think he will have fun with it! I told him he was now qualified to join the forum!!