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[george255]

Is anyone else out there having Auger Feed Tube fires during the shut down cycle on their Pit Boss Grill. It's not major and has so far not burnt all the way back into my hopper, it's a bit aggravating. I'm wondering if I might have a weak fan. I clean the fire pot out every time before I cook and I still have the same old problem of back fires. Personally I think it's a poor design with the drop tube laying right on top of the fire pot. Any thoughts?  It's the 700 series pit boss grill.

[TravlinMan]

Try opening the lid during shut down and see if that helps.. Reduces the internal pressures, should prevent the 'back fires'.


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[silverbullet]

Try opening the lid during shut down and see if that helps.. Reduces the internal pressures, should prevent the 'back fires'.
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+1!

[Canadian John]

 At what temperature was the pit @ shutdown?

 Timed shut down cycles have a problem dealing with lots of pellets in the burn pot from high heat cooks. It is best to "idle down" the pit temp prior to shut down..

 Temperature controlled shut down pits can run a good 1/2HR or more if cooling down in a high ambient and from a high heat cook.

[SmokinHandyman]

 At what temperature was the pit @ shutdown?

 Timed shut down cycles have a problem dealing with lots of pellets in the burn pot from high heat cooks. It is best to "idle down" the pit temp prior to shut down..

 Temperature controlled shut down pits can run a good 1/2HR or more if cooling down in a high ambient and from a high heat cook.

Good point, that is the way I do it.

[george255]

Thanx for the info people, I always have the lid opened and the flame shield pushed over to expose the slots above the burn pot so i can monitor what's going on. My cook temps vary from cook to cook but I'm mainly in the smoke setting ( 180 ) on up to 250 depending on how I finish a cook, I very seldom go above 350 unless i'm grilling some steak or crisping up some chicken. I usually set the temp to 200 and allow a few minutes of burn before going into shutdown mode. This is not an every time ordeal during shutdown but I would say at least 50% of the time I see this happen.

[okie smokie]

Is anyone else out there having Auger Feed Tube fires during the shut down cycle on their Pit Boss Grill. It's not major and has so far not burnt all the way back into my hopper, it's a bit aggravating. I'm wondering if I might have a weak fan. I clean the fire pot out every time before I cook and I still have the same old problem of back fires. Personally I think it's a poor design with the drop tube laying right on top of the fire pot. Any thoughts?  It's the 700 series pit boss grill.

If you open the lid during an auger fire, if the fan is on, the fire will continue due to increased air flow (oxygen). If the fan is already off, I think the fire will draw more passive air flow (oxygen) with the lid open and will still keep the fire going.  On my blazn grill, both of those happened (before I had it reprogrammed for shutdown).  I solved the problem by turning the grill back on start, and holding the primer button down for about 30 seconds, (to clear the auger of burning pellets), and then promptly pulling the firepot assembly out and dumping the burning pellets into my metal cinder bucket.  The trick is to get rid of the firepot pellets asap so the fire cannot get back into the auger tube.  Since the new shutdown algorithm that has been a rare occasion. I suspect that you can do that with the Blaz'n grills and the other brand that has the fire pot dump (Camp Chef?). When you restart and use the prime button, of course you are turning the "hot rod" back on again, so the secret is to clear the auger first, shut off the switch and pull and dump the pot. I don't think you can do that on the Pit Boss series cause there is no way to dump the fire pot. Comments or criticisms appreciated.
 

[george255]

Thanks Okie, unfortunately in my case the design of the 700 series pit boss grill does not come with an ash dump like you described. When they designed this grill they should have had that option in the back of their minds concerning ash dump under the grill, I believe that would have cured the back burn problems that I and others have dealt with. The burn pot in my opinion should have been designed deeper with the drop tube at least an inch above the fire pot to help keep un burnt pellets still inside the auger tube farther away from red hot ash. I'm new to the pellet pit scene and I can see where there is room for improvements when it comes to the 700 series pit boss grills.