Pit Boss 1150 Heat issues

[mwkirk]

So, on my 1150, I can do ok with it if I am doing a long cook at lower temps. However, if I want to grill something it just does not seem to me like the grates every really get hot enough. If I heat it up to say 450 and slap a steak on I should get a good "sizzle" but it is really hard to even get anything to brown even if I open up the sear plate.

I cooked on my son's 820 and it was great heated up and stayed hot. I have emailed back and forth with Pit Boss on the issue. Took various temp readings etc. and they come back more and less telling me everything sounds normal. Really to even get a steak to cook I have to open that sear plate. With the sear open the flames really don't come that high. On my son's 820 the flames were shooting up through the slots.

Any ideas or anyone else have similar issues?

Thanks
Mike

 

[Boats]

I don't particularly want flames lapping at the grill grate, That said, I have found that my 1150 produces uneven heat across the unit with the right side being hotter than the left proportionate to the temp I'm running. Every smoker (and grill) I have ever had demonstrated Idiosyncrasies that I had to figure out and adjust to.

 

[mwkirk]

Ideally I would like to cook steaks to almost done then open the sear plate at the end to get a good sear. On mine right now I have to pretty much cook with the sear plate open to even get anything to cook when I am grilling. I cut it on 400 this evening and after about 40 minutes it was still around the 350ish range. Needed to get dinner going so I went ahead put my chicken on....it cooked but just seems the grates never really get that hot.

There is a mod to fill the gap between under the rounded part of the heat diffuser on the left side. I tried shoving some wadded up aluminum foil in there to fill that void but did not seem to make much difference. I have gotten pretty good results cooking with it at lower temps when I am doing a pork butt or brisket. It just does not seem to do that well when I am trying to grill at higher temps.

I have emailed back and forth with Pit Boss without too much advice given on the situation. I will probably try to get them on the phone.

MK

 

[Mike From R.I.]

I would call Pit Boss Tech Support 877-303-3134 option 2, something isn't right.

 

[Boats]

There certainly is something amiss there. Mine has been a bit slow to heat at time, but nothing like that. I've wondered if those times are related to the humidity level of the pellets due to weather; however, that is little more than speculation. I wonder if the auger is moving enough material to attain the desired temp? A friend had that problem with his 850. Best to call the techies I suppose.

 

[Tym2Fish]

Mine does the same. I turn it on, set it to 450 and an hour later it's still at 340-350. I manually turn the auger to get it up to where I need it to be but it still can't hold well. It'll drop 40-50 degrees just raising the lid to put cheese on the burgers and never get it back. If I set mine to max right off the bat it seems to work better / faster. One of the best smokers I've ever had, and one of the worst grills. Got a tabletop model on the way now for steaks / burgers etc. Hopefully will work better.