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[pmillen]

It was due today.  Marcia took a phone call from a scheduler who told her that it will be delivered tomorrow, Wednesday.  I'll burn it in and then probably cook some burgers as a first run.

Does anyone know–

• Lid open or closed?
• What setting simulates charcoal heat?
• Any other suggestions?

[Th3Batman86]

It was due today.  Marcia took a phone call from a scheduler who told her that it will be delivered tomorrow, Wednesday.  I'll burn it in and then probably cook some burgers as a first run.

Does anyone know–

• Lid open or closed?
• What setting simulates charcoal heat?
• Any other suggestions?

Because of the diffuser it is not exactly like charcoal. You do not get the heat as much as you would charcoal with the lid open. At its heart it is a pellet grill and therefore needs the lid closed. That said, with the lid closed it can crank up to 500. I tend to set mine pretty much straight in the middle. I don't really pay attention to temperature and this seems to do pretty well. Sometimes it does run a little hot so I have to burp it.

[pmillen]

Thanks for the tips.  I'm anticipating convection heat like a typical pellet pit, plus quite a bit of infrared heat radiating from the diffuser.  I suspect that I can also make tall flames if I turn the "wick" up.

[Ross77]

Would you recommend it?  Can you get some char similar to what you would get on charcoal/gas? 

[LowSlowJoe]

If it were me, I'd crank it up to full speed, burn off any oils or whatever were on the internal parts  from the factory, then slap a relatively cheap steak on there to see what it could do.

I am very curious about these. Many people report how much they like them , but few ever give any details about them... I've seen photos of grilled chicken that looked like it was baked chicken...   I've seen people using grillgrates to get 'sear' marks  on some steaks and such...  I've seen some report 500F+ not entirely sure how they got that temperature reading, etc...

 Heck, I've even seen people putting charcoal in on the diffuser , basically using the wood pellet burner part to ignite things on top of the diffuser.

In short, I've seen nothing that has definitively told me I want one, but have seen enough that I'm intrigued.

[Ross77]

I’m hoping it can do a better job of direct grilling than my 680 with Grill grates.

My 680 does the job but I wouldn’t mind something smaller for burgers/hotdogs that is just faster overall.

I’ve seen a few videos of flames coming through the diffuser plate. Somewhat similar to fat/grease hitting the flavorizer bars on a Weber gas grill.

[LowSlowJoe]

I've never been fond of the idea of running a grill with heat diffuser and full drip tray up over 400F.   Too much heat buildup under the drip tray... So,  I personally would never consider cranking up a grill like the RT-680 hot enough to sear on, not unless I had pulled out the drip tray... and well that gets to be a pain to pull out internals on a pellet grill just to get good sear. 

 Now, I do have a PG500, and that works absolutely great for cooking a couple steaks or a few burgers... 

 If a Bullseye works reasonably well, you should be able to cook up four or five steaks at once,  and probably a dozen or more burgers... and a couple dozen chicken wings, etc...   

 

[Ross77]

 I’ve used my 680 many times at temps over 400. What is the issue with heat buildup?  Just bad for the components of the grill?

[pmillen]

It arrived late this morning.  My impressions.

I put it together in more than three frustrating hours (fat old guy with arthritis and a recent heart attack).  The instructions seem to assume that the new owner will assemble it on the ground.  That’s was an awful idea for me.  I was kneeling next to the grill on its side with one hand inside the burn area and the other on the outside while trying to align two holes to thread 6mm metric machine bolts through them.  I padded my pickup tailgate for a driveway workbench.

There are times when–

• The instructions are vague (small components don't match the illustration)
• I changed the process (attaching the wheeled legs)
• Holes don't align (lid hinge in particular)
• It's a two-person task

I suggest that Rec Tec management pick some people from the general public who are part of their target customer group.  Give them the box and say, "Put it together."  Don't coach them; just watch, note the trouble areas and make the appropriate changes.

The holes on the legs are threaded for the machine bolts but the metal appears to be only 12 gauge (about 1/10”) or 10 gauge at best.  It doesn’t seem substantial.

The instructions say to burn it in at 150° for an hour.  I set the knob at 9 O'Clock and it ran steady at 210° for more than an hour (based on the lid thermometer).  And it made a lot of smoke at 210°.  It was mostly rather dense blue smoke that sometimes began to approach the white smoke I don't care for but I'd say it was all good smoke and a lot of it.  I plan to use it mainly as a grill but I may smoke a butt or brisket just to see.

Burgers tomorrow.  But before that I think I'll record (graph) the grate temperature when it's running at around 200°.

[Bentley]

Tell the engineer's at Exmark Zero Turn Mowers to do the same thing regarding dropping the cutting deck on their units...

I suggest that Rec Tec management pick some people from the general public who are part of their target customer group.  Give them the box and say, "Put it together."  Don't coach them; just watch, note the trouble areas and make the appropriate changes.

[41magsnub]

I’ve used my 680 many times at temps over 400. What is the issue with heat buildup?  Just bad for the components of the grill?

Same question for me, what is the issue?

[pmillen]

As promised, I set the controller at the 9:00 position and graphed the temperature at 3" above the grate.  The lid thermometer probe is a bit higher than that.  It consistently read 20-30° higher than my probe.
     

After about a half-hour it chugged along around 200°.  Again, it made a lot of smoke; dense but blue.

[Ross77]

You left the deflector plate out?

[pmillen]

You left the deflector plate out?

I knew someone would ask.   

No, I had just vacuumed yesterday's ash out and was ready to light it off.  I just throw a small handful of pellets in the cup and start the igniter.  When I get flame I shut the igniter off, start the auger and install the deflector plate and grate.

[Ross77]

Excited to see some food pics