Pit Boss Smoker: Burner Piled Up w/Pellets?

[LFD2037]

I started my Pit Boss the same I always do. Everything was going fine when I left to watch a movie while my wife watched the smoker. Well, she left.
Besides leaving a dang smoker completely unattended, it malfunctioned. When I got home (it'd been 3 hours) the temp was @ 65°. I have no idea how long it had been like that so I had to throw away a rack of Baby Backs, a beer-butt chicken & 10 links of venison sausage.
I removed the grates & the burner cover. There was a huge pile of unburned pellets in the pellet pot & bottom. What would cause this to happen so I can try to prevent it from ever happening again & keep from divorcing my wife?

Thanks.

[hpdrifter]

sounds like heating element didn't fire.

no heat, didn't reach temp, pellets kept coming.

I always watch mine to at least get that first whiff of smoke and have a remote temperature probe.

[JB_Archery]

When was the last time you cleaned it vacuuming out all the ashes? Mine was acting up a few weeks ago and it was due to not being cleaned in a while.

[TexanDuke]

Recommend about every 30-40 hours take a shop vacuum to it and have it sparkling, also take a grill brush to all internal surfaces before you get the vacuum out


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[S-3 Ranch]

“”I have no idea how long it had been like that so I had to throw away a rack of Baby Backs, a beer-butt chicken & 10 links of venison sausage. “”

Why the heck did you chunk all that in the garbage? Did it spoil? Was the house oven broke ( I would have probably cranked up the oven to 400 cooked 5 minutes per pound of chicken and ribs then turned it off and kept the oven closed for about 2 hours if it wasn’t rotten)
Or did the MRS need a lesson on how to follow instructions?

[b.a.saha]

You have to clean them out occasionally. Sounds like you wasted a bunch of meat overreacting and not just looking into the cause of the problem. Yes the pellet grills are simple but they do require simple maintenance at the same time. Sorry you wasted so much in haste

[Mtltx]

This same has happened to me 3 times. Each time it happened I used a shop vac to clean it up and it worked great. The last time it happened I put a pork butt on around midnight. I woke up at 5:45 to check and the smoker had shut off. I just cleaned it, turned it back on and the meat taste great and no odd got sick.


Or course I did t tell anyone what happened. They all said it was great! I love my Trager. Smoked 2 racks of St. Louis style ribs today.

[bowhntrmatt]

I’ve had that happen in my Yoder. Well, kind of. Mine will just fail to light. Never seen it go out after it was heated up. Like said above, just clean the ashes out periodically and you are fine. I never clean mine as often as I should, so I always keep an eye on it on start up to make sure it starts smoking within a few minutes.

[K-Train]

im sure excess ashes in the fire pot smothered the flame and killed your fire. Then the auger just continues to feed pellets until you turn it off.

Vacuum it out, then fire it up. Should be good to go. This happened to me on my first brisket cook on my pit boss. However, I swear i had already vacuumed it out before i cooked the brisket. I've cooked numerous things since, with no problems, but am anxious to try another brisket again to see if it makes it through the whole cook. It is supposed to.

[LFD2037]

To answer items mentioned
1) I clean it before every use, breaking it down & vacuuming it all out so that can't be the issue.
2) It was functioning fine thru the pre-heat process (put on 'smoke' until it quits smoking, turn up to 350° for ~12 minutes to get it rolling & burn off any crud, drop to desired temp., which was 220°). Since it did all this properly, I see no reason why it wouldn't stay lit.
I threw the meat away for 2 reasons:
a) teach her a lesson
b) I don't mess around w/pork or chicken (I've gotten food poisoning quite a few times, ending up in the ER from it, so I take almost zero chances w/it)
I started it @ 2:10. FIL said he went out there @ 4 & said he could feel no heat or see any smoke. It appears it cooked for about an hour then messed up. The meat had a mild smoke to it & had it been sitting, not cooking & slightly warm, for a minimum of 2 hours. Probe in the chicken said 90° so I said "nope".

[TexanDuke]

To answer items mentioned
1) I clean it before every use, breaking it down & vacuuming it all out so that can't be the issue.
2) It was functioning fine thru the pre-heat process (put on 'smoke' until it quits smoking, turn up to 350° for ~12 minutes to get it rolling & burn off any crud, drop to desired temp., which was 220°). Since it did all this properly, I see no reason why it wouldn't stay lit.
I threw the meat away for 2 reasons:
a) teach her a lesson
b) I don't mess around w/pork or chicken (I've gotten food poisoning quite a few times, ending up in the ER from it, so I take almost zero chances w/it)
I started it @ 2:10. FIL said he went out there @ 4 & said he could feel no heat or see any smoke. It appears it cooked for about an hour then messed up. The meat had a mild smoke to it & had it been sitting, not cooking & slightly warm, for a minimum of 2 hours. Probe in the chicken said 90° so I said "nope".

Given that info id say it’s a pit boss problemo... product oriented and maybe it’s a malfunction with the firebox


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[be12hunt]

To answer items mentioned
I threw the meat away for 2 reasons:
a) teach her a lesson

hahahaha I bet you really showed her. Next time you should’ve made her eat it.

[LFD2037]

hahahaha I bet you really showed her. Next time you should’ve made her eat it.

I did and I should have! She was supposed to stay here and watch it. Come to find out, she left shortly after my daughter and I did. I had looked forward to this all week and did a lot of prep work. I was extremely angry, to put it politely. Not to mention, I had to eat leftovers for dinner.