Pellet Dust Nightmare !

[Redoctapus]

Austin xl is the worse grill that I ever had in my life. Had just as soon cook on a camp fire. Have put 5 controllers, and 3 heat sensors and It still don't control heats. also spent $80.00 on after market fixes. Have tried every suggestion that pit boss has given has given me. when I put new controller on it may cook 3or 4 times then heats are all over the place. It is kept on back porch with a cover on it, has never been in weather. As much as I paid for it would expect better support from Pit Boss ,Seems that they would have offered some thing that would have been some thing to make me believe that they cared about customer service. Take my advice if you buy one you will be on your own.

Like invoke a lemon clause...
Sorry to hear that!
I just carried my PBV5 COMP 580 miles to Delaware to cook for my brother and some friends!
We shall see.

 

[DMA]

Model Austin XL
These all were PB Brand Pellets!!!

I initially burned 40lbs of Competition Pellets with no issues. Then refilled Hopper with PB Hickory Pellets and after 3 days of rain the Auger froze solid. On closer inspection I determined that the bottom half of the Hopper was impacted with 100% dust. The was no water in the Hopper, the dust hardened in the Auger tube like concrete, just from Humidity. Disassembled and had to use a crow bar to dislodge the Auger, and then pounded a long piece of PVC pipe through the Auger tube to clean. As a result of the jam, the Auger Motor stripped the reduction Gears in the transmission rendering the Motor useless. The electronics should have sensed the lock up and stopped the Motor before it stripped the gears. The display showed no error codes and the motor continued to run. Took me 4 hours of disassembly and diagnostics. So put out with Pit Boss, I ordered a replacement motor from Amazon, (SP6016G) $ 24 bucks. I will for sure sift the Pellets in the future. Wondering if any of you have had the simular issues?


Best,
Jay Dallas, TX

I had this happen to me twice (even with the cover on). Long story short, I found that water was getting in the hopper through the Drop Chute Plate (the plate that you remove to empty the hopper). Anyway, I added a silicone gasket to the plate and caulked the hopper screws with silicone caulk. That was two years ago and I haven't had an issue since. I don't sift but, I always empty the hopper when the leaves fall for the season.