PBV6PSE cannot keep a fire going

[onecoolpilot]

Good morning friends,

I still have some investigating to do this evening, but wanted to see if anyone has had a similar issue and/or might be able to point me in the direction I should be looking.

I've used this smoker several times and for the most part, it works fantastic. Every now and then, more frequently recently, it will be working fine for a bit, then I get a notification from my wireless thermometer that the cabinet temp has dropped. When I go out to the smoker, the auger is feeding pellets, the fan is going, but there's no fire. After waiting for several minutes, and the igniter icon has not lit up, I unplug the power and pull the burn pot out. Each time it's full of pellets, like more than I can hold in my hand. When I dump it out, there may or may not be one or two that are orange/smoldering. When this has happened before, I put the burn pot back, plug the power in and start it up. It will fire up and continue cooking. One time I went through this process a three or four times cooking a brisket, but I chalked that up to being so cold and windy outside.

The unit lives out side 100% of the time. My back patio is not covered, but I do have a cover over the smoker when it's not in use. The pellets do not seem to be wet or mushy...nice and solid/hard. I do not get any error codes on the display. From what I can see, the igniter is 'clean', no buildup or stuck on bits.

Maybe the smoke mode is not able to maintain the fire? I use smoke mode every time, so I may try a cook with it in regular mode, but as I'm typing this I wonder if the pause period is too long and the fire gets too low or goes out. It seems like the logic would be able to tell "hey, it's not hot in here any more, maybe I should fire up the igniter.." but it doesn't appear to work that way in real life.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[MindlessCorpse]

if anyone has had a similar issue

similar,
My PBV4ps2 cant seem to hold set temps.
Yesterday after low smoke (180 degrees) I raised the temp to 250 and that might have gone ok, I did not watch it and do not know how long it took to get to 250. Later when I raised temp from 250 to 300 to finish is when things went south. The smoker took around 45 minutes to raise the ACT temp from 250 to 300. So I pulled up a chair and watched the temp readings and found it would hold the 300 for a few minutes, then start dropping. The temp would drop to around 230 and then slowly climb back to 300 and then drop again. It continued working in that cycle, get to 300, hold a few minutes, then drop back down to 230-235 and then slowly start to climb back up. I could hear the Auger binding very often.

My smoker is only a couple weeks old. Everything inside is pretty clean.
Using PB wood pellets (Apple) fresh bag, pellets look good. Ambient temp low 70's and a mild wind with the smoker out of the breeze.
Tried adjusting the damper Full open to half closed, no help. I even tried removing the damper completely, no help.
Unit just would not stay at set temp (300 degrees) with a 70 degree drop fluctuation.
It did seem to hold the 250 ok though...

Also, using a 4-probe ThermaPro w/remote display and showed similar readings.

My probes. I used 4 probes.
Control panel probes, one in the meat and one laid with the tip close to the ACT temp probe.
Thermapro probes, one in the meat and one laid on the smoker grate for air temp.

This smoker control is "Supposed" to be PID controlled but that does not seem to be the case here.

 

[onecoolpilot]

I may have discovered my problem. I found this in the FAQ section on their site

I do recall changing the P setting to a higher number, and their note about raising the P setting too high describes exactly what I have experienced. I don't recall what I changed it to, but the next time I do a cook I'll set it back to P4 and see how it goes.

 

[Jimsmokes]

This smoker control is "Supposed" to be PID controlled but that does not seem to be the case here.

It took my PB1150PS2 over 10 cooks to learn how to maintain display temps temps. Got a lil tighter a few more.

 

[Jimsmokes]

Good morning friends,

The unit lives out side 100% of the time. My back patio is not covered, but I do have a cover over the smoker when it's not in use. The pellets do not seem to be wet or mushy...nice and solid/hard. I do not get any error codes on the display. From what I can see, the igniter is 'clean', no buildup or stuck on bits.

Just a thought but check to see if you have any spider webs/dirt dobbers in the air tube.

 

[Freedbyjc]

Good morning friends,

I still have some investigating to do this evening, but wanted to see if anyone has had a similar issue and/or might be able to point me in the direction I should be looking.

I've used this smoker several times and for the most part, it works fantastic. Every now and then, more frequently recently, it will be working fine for a bit, then I get a notification from my wireless thermometer that the cabinet temp has dropped. When I go out to the smoker, the auger is feeding pellets, the fan is going, but there's no fire. After waiting for several minutes, and the igniter icon has not lit up, I unplug the power and pull the burn pot out. Each time it's full of pellets, like more than I can hold in my hand. When I dump it out, there may or may not be one or two that are orange/smoldering. When this has happened before, I put the burn pot back, plug the power in and start it up. It will fire up and continue cooking. One time I went through this process a three or four times cooking a brisket, but I chalked that up to being so cold and windy outside.

The unit lives out side 100% of the time. My back patio is not covered, but I do have a cover over the smoker when it's not in use. The pellets do not seem to be wet or mushy...nice and solid/hard. I do not get any error codes on the display. From what I can see, the igniter is 'clean', no buildup or stuck on bits.

Maybe the smoke mode is not able to maintain the fire? I use smoke mode every time, so I may try a cook with it in regular mode, but as I'm typing this I wonder if the pause period is too long and the fire gets too low or goes out. It seems like the logic would be able to tell "hey, it's not hot in here any more, maybe I should fire up the igniter.." but it doesn't appear to work that way in real life.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Flameouts can happen for many different reasons ... temperature or P setting set too low, pellet void, hopper not full, pellets not stirred, firepot full of ash, dials turned up and down too fast, stacks not wide open and holding heat in the barrel, misaligned heat diffuser/drip tray and partially open sear plates.



Try this … Turn it off, CLEAN it out (firepot at least) and restart it. See what happens.

 

[talon52]

I bought my Pro Series 6 at Lowes March 22 , 2024 and it still doesn't work, First off the unit wouldn't connect to wifi so I couldn't upload the new download for about two weeks, then they said the igniter was bad, so the sent me a new one, and that took another 10 days to receive. Then while trying to do a cook @ 250 degrees after about 2 hours I noticed the temp was below 200 degrees. Pit Boss then tells me the that it needs a new firmware download, and that should happen in a few days. It didn't so after a week of waiting I call Pit Boss again, and was told that I would recieve an email with instructions and they we're not sure when that would happen.

So after waiting another week I called them again today, and now I'm being told that I need a new fan. When does this stop?

I've owned a Traeger Ironwood XL for over a year with no problems, and a Traeger Flatrock griddle for over 6 months, and all so have no problems. I love my Traeger's, and would never give them up. I order the Pit Boss only because I needed even more cooking area for large events. Hopefully one day Pit Boss will get it together.

 

[Cowboy1955]

I bought my Pro Series 6 at Lowes March 22 , 2024 and it still doesn't work, First off the unit wouldn't connect to wifi so I couldn't upload the new download for about two weeks, then they said the igniter was bad, so the sent me a new one, and that took another 10 days to receive. Then while trying to do a cook @ 250 degrees after about 2 hours I noticed the temp was below 200 degrees. Pit Boss then tells me the that it needs a new firmware download, and that should happen in a few days. It didn't so after a week of waiting I call Pit Boss again, and was told that I would recieve an email with instructions and they we're not sure when that would happen.

So after waiting another week I called them again today, and now I'm being told that I need a new fan. When does this stop?

I've owned a Traeger Ironwood XL for over a year with no problems, and a Traeger Flatrock griddle for over 6 months, and all so have no problems. I love my Traeger's, and would never give them up. I order the Pit Boss only because I needed even more cooking area for large events. Hopefully one day Pit Boss will get it together.

Welcome from Texas to the group!
I would have taken it back to Lowe’s instead of contacting PitBoss
Lowe’s would have swapped it out because it’s faulty.

 

[Sparky]

Welcome to the club