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[goosta]

So I'm curious if anyone can comment on the long-term repairability of the Q450? I've been planning an outdoor kitchen for years now and I'm hoping to finally start building this winter. My plan is to build in the Q450 by recessing it into the counter (basically just the legs would be recessed into a low counter area). Since it seems support for this grill is now non-existent, I'm a little worried about the long-term. Mine has been working great for a year and a few months now. I did purchase the RecTec WiFi controller after seeing the thread about it. Planning to install that and keep the original controller as a backup. Does anyone know if other mechanical parts of the grill are easily replaced? Thanks!

[Canadian John]

 Personally, I wouldn't box myself in..You may find the need or have or an urge to acquire an other pit and may have problems fit wise..An "adaptable" location may best suit your needs...

 As far as replacement parts go, there is always a way to adapt. The drawback is cost and time. 

[Mikro]

Best I can tell the auger motor and fan could be replaced with traeger, smoke daddy or others parts. The igniter, I have not looked at? Also not sure about the RTD but JGrayson says the Q450 one works with RecTec Contoller so I would suspect that would be a source as well.
mk

[TravlinMan]

If I remember correctly, their auger/burn pot system appeared to be ‘inspired’ by the Danson LG/Country Smoker line of grills with a short auger placed above the burn pot, blowing the heat across the unit. A good design, which has worked well for Danson.  As far as what works, it appears most of the wearable mechanical and electrical items can be sourced elsewhere when needed. 

That said, necessity is the mother of invention or ‘re-invention’ when needed...

[Mikro]

If I remember correctly, their auger/burn pot system appeared to be ‘inspired’ by the Danson LG/Country Smoker line of grills with a short auger placed above the burn pot, blowing the heat across the unit. A good design, which has worked well for Danson.  As far as what works, it appears most of the wearable mechanical and electrical items can be sourced elsewhere when needed. 

That said, necessity is the mother of invention or ‘re-invention’ when needed...

The LG brand has a controller that looks identical to the one on the Q450. it is about $200

[goosta]

Thanks for the feedback! Still haven't decided what to do, but I will figure it out eventually! 

[jgrayson]

Hi Goosta,

I am thrilled that the RecTec controller is working out for me, but I'm not sure that I would turn a FireCraft smoker into a built-in outdoor kitchen.  My feeling is that this machine is one or two parts from being pitched to the dump.  I would think that a starter rod from another manufacturer would be easy to fit into the FireCraft, but I'm not so sure about the other parts.  For example, the auger is much shorter than the auger in the Traeger I own.  I'm not sure about augers from other manufacturers.  For me, there are too many unknowns about replacement parts for it to be something I would build a "permanent" structure around.

[LowSlowJoe]

I suspect that nearly any part in the Firecraft could be replaced by some other brand's component.  One exception might be the auger itself, but honestly it's not likely that the auger itself would fail... Auger motors are probably not that hard to find...   Basically, I think if your reasonably mechanical, a person could keep a Q450 going indefinitely... at least until the main body should start to fail, and that's not likely to happen for a long long time, unless maybe you live right near the coast.

[MN-Smoker]

Sawtooth has a grill that looks much like the Q450.

Perhaps parts from that unit could be used as replacement parts for the Q450.

https://www.sawtoothpelletgrills.com/product-category/products/accessories/