On smokes more than 3 hours my 820 goes out.

[Buckeye Smoker]

Every time I try to do a long smoke my pellet grill flames out between 3 and 4 hours into the cook. My P setting is 4, outside temp is 72 degrees. The pellets are fresh Pit Boss competition blend. I clean the grill completely between every use long or short. I can not get any answer from Pit Boss to my question and I hope someone else has an answer to the issue. I am very sorry I bought a Pit Boss they don't seem to care if you need assistance or not. Yhanks.

 

[Wally Pro]

Every time I try to do a long smoke my pellet grill flames out between 3 and 4 hours into the cook. My P setting is 4, outside temp is 72 degrees. The pellets are fresh Pit Boss competition blend. I clean the grill completely between every use long or short. I can not get any answer from Pit Boss to my question and I hope someone else has an answer to the issue. I am very sorry I bought a Pit Boss they don't seem to care if you need assistance or not. Yhanks.

At what setting are you trying to smoke at? (p4 or 225)

May want to make sure your smoke stack is fully open.

 

[Buckeye Smoker]

At what setting are you trying to smoke at? (p4 or 225)

May want to make sure your smoke stack is fully open.

I have the stack fully open and I am trying to smoke at 225. The P setting is at 4 and the air temp is 70 degrees, no wind and low humidity. I read the P setting information and I think the P4 is where I should be? Thanks

 

[Wally Pro]

I have the stack fully open and I am trying to smoke at 225. The P setting is at 4 and the air temp is 70 degrees, no wind and low humidity. I read the P setting information and I think the P4 is where I should be? Thanks

True way of knowing what P setting should be is to run a calibration run.

Start up smoker as normal. leave on smoke setting until smoker stabilizes, 20 to 30 minutes. Temperature at grates should read between 170 -180 degrees. I use a wireless thermometer. The controller digital read out may work also, but is usually off. If read temp is high, adjust P setting higher. If low adjust P setting lower.
I'm thinking maybe P3 or P2 would be better.

This setting will not stay. Every time you power down the smoker it will reset to P4.
Once you learn your grill and the weather you can just put in the P setting you want at the start up.

 

[Buckeye Smoker]

True way of knowing what P setting should be is to run a calibration run.

Start up smoker as normal. leave on smoke setting until smoker stabilizes, 20 to 30 minutes. Temperature at grates should read between 170 -180 degrees. I use a wireless thermometer. The controller digital read out may work also, but is usually off. If read temp is high, adjust P setting higher. If low adjust P setting lower.
I'm thinking maybe P3 or P2 would be better.

This setting will not stay. Every time you power down the smoker it will reset to P4.
Once you learn your grill and the weather you can just put in the P setting you want at the start up.

Thanks I will try that

 

[DaveXDm9]

Every time I try to do a long smoke my pellet grill flames out between 3 and 4 hours into the cook. My P setting is 4, outside temp is 72 degrees. The pellets are fresh Pit Boss competition blend. I clean the grill completely between every use long or short. I can not get any answer from Pit Boss to my question and I hope someone else has an answer to the issue. I am very sorry I bought a Pit Boss they don't seem to care if you need assistance or not. Yhanks.

are you checking the hopper every hour as Pit Boss has a poorly designed hopper on which the pellets do not feed into the auger. Every hour yo have to stir them manually to ensure they will feed into the auger.

 

[DaveXDm9]

if you are going to mess with the P setting I would leave the chimney cap 1 inch opening do not open your cap fully. Also once you leave the Smoke setting the P Setting does not work as the P setting only works in the Smoke mode once you move the dial to 200 or above the P setting has no longer valid.

 

[Buckeye Smoker]

are you checking the hopper every hour as Pit Boss has a poorly designed hopper on which the pellets do not feed into the auger. Every hour yo have to stir them manually to ensure they will feed into the auger.

I was doing that on this smoke, stirring the hopper about every 45 minutes. Between the stirs the flame went out. There are a couple of design issues with the smoker. Thanks for the tip.

 

[DaveXDm9]

I was doing that on this smoke, stirring the hopper about every 45 minutes. Between the stirs the flame went out. There are a couple of design issues with the smoker. Thanks for the tip.

that is good news so something is going on with the controller then or the RTD probe. If the P Setting is P4 then that is the safest setting. I would call Pit Boss again and explain it to them and hopefully you will get someone to help.

 

[Buckeye Smoker]

that is good news so something is going on with the controller then or the RTD probe. If the P Setting is P4 then that is the safest setting. I would call Pit Boss again and explain it to them and hopefully you will get someone to help.

Thanks I will try them again.

 

[Wally Pro]

if you are going to mess with the P setting I would leave the chimney cap 1 inch opening do not open your cap fully. Also once you leave the Smoke setting the P Setting does not work as the P setting only works in the Smoke mode once you move the dial to 200 or above the P setting has no longer valid.

I disagree with you Dave on the P settings.

 

[DaveXDm9]

I disagree with you Dave on the P settings.

I have done plenty of testing and so has others on which there is no conclusive proof that it effects the timing of the auger feed when in 200 - 250. We like to keep things in the real here and pretty much everyone knows that the P Setting only works in the Smoke mode.

 

[Wally Pro]

I have done plenty of testing and so has others on which there is no conclusive proof that it effects the timing of the auger feed when in 200 - 250. We like to keep things in the real here and pretty much everyone knows that the P Setting only works in the Smoke mode.

I done my own testing and for me it works. 225 is now closer to 225 and not 275 or 300.

Smoke on friend.

 

[DaveXDm9]

I done my own testing and for me it works. 225 is now closer to 225 and not 275 or 300.

Smoke on friend.

Well my PB 1100 always sits at 225 -230 when I had it set to 225 without Tom Bodens fairy tale of scheme.

 

[Flybowman]

Every time I try to do a long smoke my pellet grill flames out between 3 and 4 hours into the cook. My P setting is 4, outside temp is 72 degrees. The pellets are fresh Pit Boss competition blend. I clean the grill completely between every use long or short. I can not get any answer from Pit Boss to my question and I hope someone else has an answer to the issue. I am very sorry I bought a Pit Boss they don't seem to care if you need assistance or not. Yhanks.

Hey, I'll just call you Smoker cause I'm from "that school up north" and until we beat you guys we cant say that other word. I have the same problem with the same smoker. Mine shuts off anywhere between the 1st hour and the 5th hour of smoking. Ive talked to Pit Boss twice. The first time was not very helpful. He told me to check the timing on the auger to make sure that it was stopping the pellet release as it is supposed to ( the timing numbers are in your manual.) Mine was all over the place. sometimes it stopped exactly on time and other times it just kept right on spitting the pellets out. I'm assuming that it smothers the fire. The second guy I spoke with after waiting on hold for 2 hours, was great. He immediately ordered out a new mother board, or whatever they call it. one day later I received notification that the part had shipped. He also said if thats not the problem he'll send a temp probe or whatever it takes to fix things. I understand your frustration but I have to say when it works right the food comes out so much better looking and tasting than it ever did with my Masterbuilt electric smoker. Good luck to you.