Laredo 1000 : it’s official, this thing is a fire hazard.

[David21]

Hey guys, gotta vent about this wanna-be smoker.

I was so excited when I purchased my brand new Laredo 1000. But wow, what a disappointment.
The main issue I have (aside from the long heat up issue), is that the burn pot fills up with ash in about 3 to 4 hours. Welp, guess what happens next? The fire begins to burn back the auger tube toward the pellets, and smoke pours out the hopper. If you don’t empty the ash pot with the “ash management system” soon enough, the hopper will ignite and the grill will go up in flames.

So today, I decide to do a brisket for the weekend. (Pumped!)
I pull everything apart and shop vac old ash and pellets, empty old pellet remnants from the hopper and use a brand new bag of hickory. Fire up the grill and dial in at 250 for a quick cook.
3 hours later, my wife asks if the Smoker is supposed to be smoking from the hopper.

I’m like: not again!
This has happened every time I do a cook over 3 hours.
Back story:
I’ve been working with pit boss for a year now, (off and on), replacing parts and each time they assure me the next part will fix it. I’ve replaced the main board, fan, wiring harness. Done the “give it time to learn” thing. Notta.

So basically, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Laredo 1000 is a bad design and is a terrible fire risk.

Please, be careful if you have this model!

I love pit boss, but this model is a huge piece of junk!!

DO NOT BUY THE LAREDO!!

Man, I should have gone with the Austin XL.

 

[Mike From R.I.]

Hey guys, gotta vent about this wanna-be smoker.

I was so excited when I purchased my brand new Laredo 1000. But wow, what a disappointment.
The main issue I have (aside from the long heat up issue), is that the burn pot fills up with ash in about 3 to 4 hours. Welp, guess what happens next? The fire begins to burn back the auger tube toward the pellets, and smoke pours out the hopper. If you don’t empty the ash pot with the “ash management system” soon enough, the hopper will ignite and the grill will go up in flames.

So today, I decide to do a brisket for the weekend. (Pumped!)
I pull everything apart and shop vac old ash and pellets, empty old pellet remnants from the hopper and use a brand new bag of hickory. Fire up the grill and dial in at 250 for a quick cook.
3 hours later, my wife asks if the Smoker is supposed to be smoking from the hopper.

I’m like: not again!
This has happened every time I do a cook over 3 hours.
Back story:
I’ve been working with pit boss for a year now, (off and on), replacing parts and each time they assure me the next part will fix it. I’ve replaced the main board, fan, wiring harness. Done the “give it time to learn” thing. Notta.

So basically, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Laredo 1000 is a bad design and is a terrible fire risk.

Please, be careful if you have this model!

I love pit boss, but this model is a huge piece of junk!!

DO NOT BUY THE LAREDO!!

Man, I should have gone with the Austin XL.

Did Pit Boss offer to buy it back from you or replace it with an Austin on them?

 

[jstueve]

Sorry for your experience with your smoker.

I have to say it hasn’t been mine. I’ve had mine about a month and a half and had four 10+ hour cooks for butts and briskets as well as many shorter cooks for ribs and steaks.

I did have an issue with a ground down auger gear which did get replace free from Pit Boss. I’ve never had fire in the pellet hopper or a fire stop mid cook. One of my longer cooks I started near midnight and then slept without incident.

This is my first pellet grill, and I’ve enjoyed the PBP 1000 Laredo very much.

 

[Cowboy1955]

Hey guys, gotta vent about this wanna-be smoker.

I was so excited when I purchased my brand new Laredo 1000. But wow, what a disappointment.
The main issue I have (aside from the long heat up issue), is that the burn pot fills up with ash in about 3 to 4 hours. Welp, guess what happens next? The fire begins to burn back the auger tube toward the pellets, and smoke pours out the hopper. If you don’t empty the ash pot with the “ash management system” soon enough, the hopper will ignite and the grill will go up in flames.

So today, I decide to do a brisket for the weekend. (Pumped!)
I pull everything apart and shop vac old ash and pellets, empty old pellet remnants from the hopper and use a brand new bag of hickory. Fire up the grill and dial in at 250 for a quick cook.
3 hours later, my wife asks if the Smoker is supposed to be smoking from the hopper.

I’m like: not again!
This has happened every time I do a cook over 3 hours.
Back story:
I’ve been working with pit boss for a year now, (off and on), replacing parts and each time they assure me the next part will fix it. I’ve replaced the main board, fan, wiring harness. Done the “give it time to learn” thing. Notta.

So basically, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Laredo 1000 is a bad design and is a terrible fire risk.

Please, be careful if you have this model!

I love pit boss, but this model is a huge piece of junk!!

DO NOT BUY THE LAREDO!!

Man, I should have gone with the Austin XL.

I agree with Mike from R.I.!
I’d definitely call pitboss support
I betcha they buy it back

 

[David21]

Hey guys, so I called PB support today.

Went through the whole thing with them again. They are sending another board. They agreed that it seems like the fan speed is too slow to clear the ash from accumulating.
I’ll try this and report back.

One good thing here is that PB support is awesome.

 

[David21]

Sorry for your experience with your smoker.

I have to say it hasn’t been mine. I’ve had mine about a month and a half and had four 10+ hour cooks for butts and briskets as well as many shorter cooks for ribs and steaks.

I did have an issue with a ground down auger gear which did get replace free from Pit Boss. I’ve never had fire in the pellet hopper or a fire stop mid cook. One of my longer cooks I started near midnight and then slept without incident.

This is my first pellet grill, and I’ve enjoyed the PBP 1000 Laredo very much.

I’m curious, do you hear the fan speed slow down as the temp begins to rise? Mine seems to blow at a high speed for about 10-15 minutes, and then goes really slow and doesn’t ever seem to speed up again.

 

[jstueve]

I’m curious, do you hear the fan speed slow down as the temp begins to rise? Mine seems to blow at a high speed for about 10-15 minutes, and then goes really slow and doesn’t ever seem to speed up again.

It does vary as it starts up. I hear it speed up then slow down. Mine only takes about 15 to go from cold to start to 300°F. I clean out the ash tray after each cook and try to vacuum out the box every three cooks or so. Or after a really long cook.

Next cook I’ll try to listen to the fan speed and see how it goes. Hope the new part fixes yours.

 

[RickT]

Hey guys, gotta vent about this wanna-be smoker.

I was so excited when I purchased my brand new Laredo 1000. But wow, what a disappointment.
The main issue I have (aside from the long heat up issue), is that the burn pot fills up with ash in about 3 to 4 hours. Welp, guess what happens next? The fire begins to burn back the auger tube toward the pellets, and smoke pours out the hopper. If you don’t empty the ash pot with the “ash management system” soon enough, the hopper will ignite and the grill will go up in flames.

So today, I decide to do a brisket for the weekend. (Pumped!)
I pull everything apart and shop vac old ash and pellets, empty old pellet remnants from the hopper and use a brand new bag of hickory. Fire up the grill and dial in at 250 for a quick cook.
3 hours later, my wife asks if the Smoker is supposed to be smoking from the hopper.

I’m like: not again!
This has happened every time I do a cook over 3 hours.
Back story:
I’ve been working with pit boss for a year now, (off and on), replacing parts and each time they assure me the next part will fix it. I’ve replaced the main board, fan, wiring harness. Done the “give it time to learn” thing. Notta.

So basically, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Laredo 1000 is a bad design and is a terrible fire risk.

Please, be careful if you have this model!

I love pit boss, but this model is a huge piece of junk!!

DO NOT BUY THE LAREDO!!

Man, I should have gone with the Austin XL.

Yea wow sorry to hear about the issue you had. Thanks for the message so we can watch out for this.
I have had my Laredo 1000 for about six months, did initial burn in up to 450 degrees. I am new to smoking but have done quite a few roasts, briskets, burgers, ribs with no problem so far. I am satisfied with it.
the only problems I have are the probes are not reliable. also hard to clean.
the IT Smoke app works fine too.
I hope the PB support takes care of you.
good luck,
Rick

 

[jstueve]

It does vary as it starts up. I hear it speed up then slow down. Mine only takes about 15 to go from cold to start to 300°F. I clean out the ash tray after each cook and try to vacuum out the box every three cooks or so. Or after a really long cook.

Next cook I’ll try to listen to the fan speed and see how it goes. Hope the new part fixes yours.

I cleaned out my firebox today, cleaned the diffuser plate, and then started the smoker. The fan turned up on high and it took about 5 minutes for smoke to start curling through the grates in the diffuser plate. Fan stayed on until the grill got to temp (225° F) about another 10 minutes or so. The pellets were already primed and started plopping into the firebox right at the start.

 

[t-roy]

Hey guys, gotta vent about this wanna-be smoker.

I was so excited when I purchased my brand new Laredo 1000. But wow, what a disappointment.
The main issue I have (aside from the long heat up issue), is that the burn pot fills up with ash in about 3 to 4 hours. Welp, guess what happens next? The fire begins to burn back the auger tube toward the pellets, and smoke pours out the hopper. If you don’t empty the ash pot with the “ash management system” soon enough, the hopper will ignite and the grill will go up in flames.

So today, I decide to do a brisket for the weekend. (Pumped!)
I pull everything apart and shop vac old ash and pellets, empty old pellet remnants from the hopper and use a brand new bag of hickory. Fire up the grill and dial in at 250 for a quick cook.
3 hours later, my wife asks if the Smoker is supposed to be smoking from the hopper.

I’m like: not again!
This has happened every time I do a cook over 3 hours.
Back story:
I’ve been working with pit boss for a year now, (off and on), replacing parts and each time they assure me the next part will fix it. I’ve replaced the main board, fan, wiring harness. Done the “give it time to learn” thing. Notta.

So basically, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Laredo 1000 is a bad design and is a terrible fire risk.

Please, be careful if you have this model!

I love pit boss, but this model is a huge piece of junk!!

DO NOT BUY THE LAREDO!!

Man, I should have gone with the Austin XL.

I have the 820 pellet grill but noticed that after the first cook the auger area had some burned pellets and had lots of trouble with ashes in the pot. I looked at my igniter rod and it was about flush with the pot and it is suppose to be 1/4 to 1/2" sticking out. I put it at 1/2" and this thing woke up and is doing 10 time better. Just something you might want to look at. I dont know anything about your smoker but just something to check anyway.

 

[Barefootdog]

I feel your pain...My Brunswick is having the same issue. Working on it with Pit Boss but its a PITA.
Went from being totally excited about what appeared to be a good smoke to not wanting to deal with the problem.

Pit Boss has been good so far....but WTH....these weren't cheap products.

Let's home Pit Boss comes up with a solution for you.....so far they appear to have a good customer service department.

 

[pawpawjts]

Hey guys, gotta vent about this wanna-be smoker.

I was so excited when I purchased my brand new Laredo 1000. But wow, what a disappointment.
The main issue I have (aside from the long heat up issue), is that the burn pot fills up with ash in about 3 to 4 hours. Welp, guess what happens next? The fire begins to burn back the auger tube toward the pellets, and smoke pours out the hopper. If you don’t empty the ash pot with the “ash management system” soon enough, the hopper will ignite and the grill will go up in flames.

So today, I decide to do a brisket for the weekend. (Pumped!)
I pull everything apart and shop vac old ash and pellets, empty old pellet remnants from the hopper and use a brand new bag of hickory. Fire up the grill and dial in at 250 for a quick cook.
3 hours later, my wife asks if the Smoker is supposed to be smoking from the hopper.

I’m like: not again!
This has happened every time I do a cook over 3 hours.
Back story:
I’ve been working with pit boss for a year now, (off and on), replacing parts and each time they assure me the next part will fix it. I’ve replaced the main board, fan, wiring harness. Done the “give it time to learn” thing. Notta.

So basically, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Laredo 1000 is a bad design and is a terrible fire risk.

Please, be careful if you have this model!

I love pit boss, but this model is a huge piece of junk!!

DO NOT BUY THE LAREDO!!

Man, I should have gone with the Austin XL.

That is what I have its 4 or 5 years old ,I have dod a 13 and 14 hour cook with no issues, sorry for yours

 

[pawpawjts]

It does vary as it starts up. I hear it speed up then slow down. Mine only takes about 15 to go from cold to start to 300°F. I clean out the ash tray after each cook and try to vacuum out the box every three cooks or so. Or after a really long cook.

Next cook I’ll try to listen to the fan speed and see how it goes. Hope the new part fixes yours.

Yea my Austin starts out fast then slows down, but it keeps the ashes down in the burn pot

 

[GA Smoker]

I have owned mine for 18 months. The Laredo is a great smoker. I use it 2 - 3 times a week and it does it's job. As far as the firepot, I have very little ash after long cooks when I pull out the slide. I vacuum the bottom after every 12 hours of cook time. I use Cookin' Pellets and they burn pretty clean so....I'm not sure what is up with the original post, but I would like to know the credentials of the guy that deems this machine a fire hazard.

 

[Cotton509]

I’m having the exact same issue with my smoker. Pitboss has sent me everything except a different smoker. It will build up so much smoke in the pellet hopper I think any minute it’s going to burst into flames. Has anyone found a solution for this yet?