Hopper caught fire.

[Stevestikihut]

Hi all, new owner, just bought a 1100 series from Lowe’s yesterday, today was doing a First Start burn off, every thing worked great. I turned the unit off and the cool down light was on, about a half hour later, I noticed smoke coming from the hopper box. I ran out and flames were burning in the hopper box, it had burned off the paint in and out of the box. I had to pour water on it to stop the flame, smothering it didn’t work. Now I have wet dissolved pellets in the hopper and ruined paint, the paint burned in and out of the hopper and on the outside of the barrel above the hopper! I wouldn’t think the paint on a BBQ should burn. What a mess. Not a good start.

 

[DaveXDm9]

Hi all, new owner, just bought a 1100 series from Lowe’s yesterday, today was doing a First Start burn off, every thing worked great. I turned the unit off and the cool down light was on, about a half hour later, I noticed smoke coming from the hopper box. I ran out and flames were burning in the hopper box, it had burned off the paint in and out of the box. I had to pour water on it to stop the flame, smothering it didn’t work. Now I have wet dissolved pellets in the hopper and ruined paint, the paint burned in and out of the hopper and on the outside of the barrel above the hopper! I wouldn’t think the paint on a BBQ should burn. What a mess. Not a good start.

Did you look at the burn pot and see if pellets were overflowing just curious? The last batch Pro Series 1100 some of them had bad controllers. I would call Pit Boss support and have the replace the entire hopper system and controller if not then I would take it back to Lowes for a refund.

To be Honest if you fire it back up and you increase the temp over 200 you will have a major fire in your grill. Your the 3rd Pro Series 1100 owner to tell me this problem after its first start up or the next time they fired it up.

 

[MikeInFla]

This isn't good at all. Like @DaveXDm9 said it may be a bad controller. Another thing you will have to do is disassemble the hopper because those wet pellets turn hard like concrete. You are going to have to take your auger out and clean in completely (it's a pain I have done it before but not because of wet pellets). Give customer service a call and let them know what happened.

I had some paint come off of mine as well (it's an older PB 340) and you can buy high temp grill spray paint to paint over the bare area. Worked out good for me.

I'm thankful you thought to check after a shutdown because it could be disaster if you don't. Everyone should always check on their pellet grill after a shutdown.

 

[ABKsDad]

I recently purchased a PB1100 and after a high temp cook noticed that after the cool down was complete that there were some pellets right at the end of the auger area prior to falling into the pot were smoldering. Quickly turned back on and let it run on smoke for 15 minutes or so. My assumption is that during a high temp cook it feeds a lot of pellets that are now burning and then during the cool down process it fails to run the fan long enough to keep the flames away and ensure that pellets near the pot do not catch fire. I have decided to basically move the grill into smoke mode for 15 to 20 minutes to let most of the pellets burn down prior to a shut off. It sounds like I should contact PB to also see about a new controller.