Fire in auger box and hopper

[Gusano]

Hi, I'm a first-time Pit Boss owner and having issues with my mahogany 260 portable wood pellet grill. When I start the smoker it flames up for about 10 minutes and then I start seeing flames coming from outside the fire pot. I can hear pellets dropping into the auger box when the auger is pushing pellets into the fire pot. Also by this point the pellets in the hopper are starting to smoke and the auger fan is pumping out smoke. A real fire hazard that I have to quickly extinguish before it escalates further to a hopper fire. When I took the pellet grill apart to clean I noticed the auger box was missing the backing to keep the pellets from dropping into the auger box and igniting. See the attached images of my auger box. I checked online images of other Pit Boss auger boxes and they all have that backing I seem to be missing. I reached out to Pit Boss for support today and was told this is how the unit was designed due to the body shape of the unit. Their recommendation was to make sure the unit is clean and filled with fresh pellets when in use. This can't be the way the unit was designed and would like to reply to Pit Boss support with photo proof from those with similar units this isn't by design.

If you have the same unit and as part of your routine cleaning you don't mind posting a picture of the auger feed that would be greatly appreciated so I can contact Pit Boss again for support if this is indeed a defect with my auger box.

Thanks in advance

 

[Cowboy1955]

Welcome from Texas to the group!
One thing to consider is to empty it completely out then sift the pellets through a colander
That will get all the pellet dust out
You might also consider changing brands of pellets
If that doesn’t fix it I’d recommend calling support back
Hopefully this helps you

 

[hollrusl]

How often are you cleaning out your firepot and temp probe? That could be the cause of the issue. Make sure you’re cleaning these areas regularly.

 

[Sparky]

Welcome to the club

 

[JuggNuttz]

I had a portable i had to return and it was exactly the same thing, run away fire at the start. it was a bad controller and was feeding pellets constantly. check it when you plug it in if you can hear the auger running even when its off, thats what mine did and luckily i caught it and fed out about 2 inches of burned pellets from the auger so it didnt reach the hopper.

 

[Gusano]

I had a portable i had to return and it was exactly the same thing, run away fire at the start. it was a bad controller and was feeding pellets constantly. check it when you plug it in if you can hear the auger running even when its off, thats what mine did and luckily i caught it and fed out about 2 inches of burned pellets from the auger so it didnt reach the hopper.

Thanks JuggNuttz. I had an issue with the controller and it was replaced by PitBoss. My issue with the controller is the igniter would start to glow as soon as I plugged the unit in. The unit was set to off and the power button not pressed. I diagnosed the issue with Pitboss by swapping the induction fan with the ignitor. After the swap the induction fan came on as well as soon as I plugged in the unit. The unit was set to off and the power button not pressed. I thought replacing the controller would resolve the issue I reported earlier and unfortunately did not.

 

[Gusano]

How often are you cleaning out your firepot and temp probe? That could be the cause of the issue. Make sure you’re cleaning these areas regularly.

Thanks hollrusl. I don't clean the firepot as often as I should. I'll give both of these suggestions a try tomorrow evening and report back on my progress. I googled cleaning the temp probe and found instructions from smokergrillgirl.

 

[Gusano]

Welcome from Texas to the group!
One thing to consider is to empty it completely out then sift the pellets through a colander
That will get all the pellet dust out
You might also consider changing brands of pellets
If that doesn’t fix it I’d recommend calling support back
Hopefully this helps you

Thanks Cowboy1955. Changing pellets is a good suggestion I haven't tried. Maybe the pellets are too long and the auger is pushing them into the auger box at the same time it's trying to push them into the auger chute. I'll try these suggestions when I try the suggestions from hollrusl.

 

[Cowboy1955]

Thanks Cowboy1955. Changing pellets is a good suggestion I haven't tried. Maybe the pellets are too long and the auger is pushing them into the auger box at the same time it's trying to push them into the auger chute. I'll try these suggestions when I try the suggestions from hollrusl.

You’re more than welcome

 

[JuggNuttz]

Thanks JuggNuttz. I had an issue with the controller and it was replaced by PitBoss. My issue with the controller is the igniter would start to glow as soon as I plugged the unit in. The unit was set to off and the power button not pressed. I diagnosed the issue with Pitboss by swapping the induction fan with the ignitor. After the swap the induction fan came on as well as soon as I plugged in the unit. The unit was set to off and the power button not pressed. I thought replacing the controller would resolve the issue I reported earlier and unfortunately did not.

Glad ya guys got it figured out, hopefully its smooth sailing from here for ya.

 

[Gusano]

Hi Everyone. I appreciate all the feedback but unfortunately it didn't resolve the issue. Since I had to take the unit apart to clean the auger box I thought I would try to create my own backing. I started with a piece of cardboard to get the fitting right and then traced it onto a piece of sheet metal. Using a bench vice I folded about a 1/2 to 3/4 inch of an edge around the top and sides so I can screw the backing to the auger box. I realize one of those screws should be facing the other way and will correct it in the future. The half moon around the auger tube doesn't have a bottom in order to fit with the igniter. After putting it all back together the issues were solved. I no longer hear pellets falling into the auger box, there is no flame on the outside of the firepot, the auger fan is no longer shooting out smoke and the hopper is no longer smoking. After making the modification to the auger box I ran the smoker on 250 for just over an hour without issues. Success, but I will keep a close eye on it the next few uses to be sure.

 

[Cowboy1955]

Congratulations
Glad you figured out what was going on

 

[Burnster]

Hi Everyone. I appreciate all the feedback but unfortunately it didn't resolve the issue. Since I had to take the unit apart to clean the auger box I thought I would try to create my own backing. I started with a piece of cardboard to get the fitting right and then traced it onto a piece of sheet metal. Using a bench vice I folded about a 1/2 to 3/4 inch of an edge around the top and sides so I can screw the backing to the auger box. I realize one of those screws should be facing the other way and will correct it in the future. The half moon around the auger tube doesn't have a bottom in order to fit with the igniter. After putting it all back together the issues were solved. I no longer hear pellets falling into the auger box, there is no flame on the outside of the firepot, the auger fan is no longer shooting out smoke and the hopper is no longer smoking. After making the modification to the auger box I ran the smoker on 250 for just over an hour without issues. Success, but I will keep a close eye on it the next few uses to be sure.

With pitboss you gotta do yourself cause customer service sure won't help