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[smokymtnjonny]

Laying some smoke on some already pulled pork and checking every 20 min. It was working like a champ for about 3 hours. I go to check again and the fire is out. I check the firepot and it has filled with pellets that didn’t ignite. So, that tells me the auger didn’t jam and the controller didn’t malfunction. I cleaned out the firepot and restarted and it’s back to working fine. Any ideas as to what might have happened?

[hughver]

If your controller has P settings, lower the P sittings.

[smokymtnjonny]

It’s the old 3 speed controller, so smoke mode is auger runs 1 minute - off 3 minutes.

[Bentley]

Motor is probably going out and you are not getting the correct revolutions per minute you should!

[smokymtnjonny]

Bentley, thanks for that idea! How many rpm’s should it be turning?

[smokymtnjonny]

1.6 rpm is what I’m seeing on the web.

[pmillen]

Motor is probably going out and you are not getting the correct revolutions per minute you should!

You can't train experience.  There's no substitute for it.

[Canadian John]

  It (flameout) only happened to me once during the 3 years I had my L'il Tex. My conclusion was ash build-up in the pot. I only used to do a thorough clean-out after each 20 lb bag of pellets.
 
 Post the flameout, I don't recall having an other perhaps due to more frequent pot clean-outs, especially in smoke mode.

 The 3 speed controller in first & 2nd is timed on/off. I don't remember the exact #'s.. If for whatever reason the off time was extended( there are no adjustments) it could allow the flame to burn out before

 receiving more pellets.

 Air flow. If the fan was dirty, the blower motor slowed down due to gummed up bushings or there was a restriction in the air passageway, that could also cause a flameout,  AS WELL AS reduce the high

 temperature.

 There is always a reason. Finding it can be challenging.

[smokymtnjonny]

Thanks for the trouble shooting list John! I fired it up again and it was fine. I’m going to time the auger today and see how many revolutions it makes in one minute. Should be 1.6.

[Bentley]

I may misremember, but when I had my 075's, you were supposed to put a mark any where on the auger and it was supposed to take 45 seconds to do something.  Now I have no idea what!

[Bar-B-Lew]

I'm with John.  I think it was ash buildup that covered the air holes in the fire pot.  Happened to me on my XL and actually had an explosion because I was not on the patio paying attention to the grill at the time.  It blew the lid open with a loud bang.

[Canadian John]

 
 Back to the auger... If the auger is low in rotational speed, high temperatures would be low and the pit slow to heat up due to fewer pellets being delivered to the fire pot. 

 The motor is directly connected to a gearbox that contains gears.  It either works or doesn't. The gear box connects to the auger via a small screw/nut. If the small screw breaks & falls out. No rotation..
 

[smokymtnjonny]

I timed it. It’s doing 1.6 rpm. I cleaned out the pot. Been working fine in smoke mode for 3 hours so far.