Pit Boss 820 Pro Stopped in middle of cooking

[Brandola]

Smoking some ribs this morning- set at 225. Smoked for 2 hours- basted then put back in for 2 more. Sometime during that 2 hours the smoker stopped and had cooled down.
I took the cover off and lots of pellets were in bottom of grill outside ignition box. I cleaned all that out and restarted the grill.
What would cause this to go out and the pellets to keep feeding?

 

[DaveXDm9]

Do you clean out your fire pot before every cook?

 

[Brandola]

No- but why did the problem happen 2.5 hours in?

 

[DaveXDm9]

No- but why did the problem happen 2.5 hours in?

possible too much ash was in the pot and not allowing enough air flow from the fan to get into the pot to keep the fire going.

 

[petewphotography]

My 1100 Pro did the same thing and I cleaned out the ashes but it still stop heating up in the middle of cooking a Pork Shoulder.

 

[DaveXDm9]

My 1100 Pro did the same thing and I cleaned out the ashes but it still stop heating up in the middle of cooking a Pork Shoulder.

Pete,

Take everything out of the grill and start the grill up as normal. Then set your desired temp and watch it to see if the pellets keep feeding and feeding and feeding and not stopping.

If that is the case then look at the wiring from the fan to the controller and the auguer wiring to the controller compared to the wiring diagram in the manual to see if they are switched.

 

[petewphotography]

I actually did all of that except for waiting to see if the feeding stops. The grill is only a week old and I love it, just need to work this thing out. It worked fine the first couple of times I guess because they were short cooks, but today’s cook was a pork shoulder.

 

[tryon10]

The flame-out issue is an on going problem. Reference an earlier thread ..... https://www.pitbossforum.com/threads/problem-of-frequent-flameouts.56/

At this point you basically have to baby sit your smoker.

 

[rhigg1959]

I had the same issue with my 1100. My issue is, during the cook, a void forms over the auger in the pellet hopper and you have to continuously level the pellets out. Pit Boss says you need to use they're pellets to solve this. I bought they're pellets and in continues to do this. As stated above, you have to babysit it.

 

[Denbob4369]

Because, unfortunately Pitboss has no quality control! I bought 2 of the $800 Lockhart Platinum. One never worked, and all they could offer was to send a circuit board for me to put in. Took it back to Walmart and got another one, same unit, put it together got two cooks out of it then it took a dump! Again, all they would offer is send a part for me to install! Even talked with the owner by email, no difference! Took it back to Walmart, got my money back and ordered a zgrill! It has worked perfect for 3 months now! And as a P.S., received my circuit board for the first one two weeks after taking the second one back, so sent it to the owner! Poor quality, poor customer service, evidently figure someone's going to buy them!

 

[tryon10]

I have reset (every time you power up the smoker and set the temperature to Smoke) the "P" setting from 4 to 3. The 3 setting shortens the pause time of the auger feed. This has helped with flame outs ..... it also appears to better control the temperature setpoint. A 225 degree setting now swings between 200 and 235.

Just received a reply from Pit Boss with regard to the "P" setting. I reached out to get clarification about when the "P" setting is adjusted at the Smoke start-up will it hold the setting at any selected temperature. I was told that once you adjust the "P" setting, it will remain in the controller regardless of what cooking temperature you select.

 

[DaveXDm9]

I have reset (every time you power up the smoker and set the temperature to Smoke) the "P" setting from 4 to 3. The 3 setting shortens the pause time of the auger feed. This has helped with flame outs ..... it also appears to better control the temperature setpoint. A 225 degree setting now swings between 200 and 235.

Just received a reply from Pit Boss with regard to the "P" setting. I reached out to get clarification about when the "P" setting is adjusted at the Smoke start-up will it hold the setting at any selected temperature. I was told that once you adjust the "P" setting, it will remain in the controller regardless of what cooking temperature you select.

The P Setting only workins in Smoke mode. Once you switch it out the smoke mode the P settings is not longer working. It states this in the PB Owners manual.

 

[DaveXDm9]

Because, unfortunately Pitboss has no quality control! I bought 2 of the $800 Lockhart Platinum. One never worked, and all they could offer was to send a circuit board for me to put in. Took it back to Walmart and got another one, same unit, put it together got two cooks out of it then it took a dump! Again, all they would offer is send a part for me to install! Even talked with the owner by email, no difference! Took it back to Walmart, got my money back and ordered a zgrill! It has worked perfect for 3 months now! And as a P.S., received my circuit board for the first one two weeks after taking the second one back, so sent it to the owner! Poor quality, poor customer service, evidently figure someone's going to buy them!

Platinum Series grills was a waste of time from Pit Boss they should have create a PID controller for there current grills instead.