Pit Boss Pro Series 4 V2 PBV4PS2

[GeekChef]

6 -9" more tomorrow.

Am from Indiana and don't miss that much at all. Am in SC now and enjoying the mid-50's.

 

[WSH4FSH]

Am from Indiana and don't miss that much at all. Am in SC now and enjoying the mid-50's.

Glad to see the temp chart you did earlier, that will be a help. What I have had trouble with is going down in temp. I have changed temp from 350 to 250 and the fire goes out. I think it is taking so long to cool down it doesn’t feed pellets enough to keep the fire going.

 

[GeekChef]

Glad to see the temp chart you did earlier, that will be a help. What I have had trouble with is going down in temp. I have changed temp from 350 to 250 and the fire goes out. I think it is taking so long to cool down it doesn’t feed pellets enough to keep the fire going.

I usually open the door if I am going to go down 100 degs....the purpose of doing the 350 is to get the metal warmed up. But since there is such a huge lag on the input RTD measurement, if u just change the temp down that much, then the PID loop will basically shut down. So I bring it up to about 280, then I open the door...add hot water to the pan and wait until I see the temp decreasing to about 225, then close the door, then change the setpoint. The metal will still be warm but the internal ambient air will decrease enough to bring the reading down. The the PID will take over and bring it right in. See below in the pic...running at 225. The other two dips were adding in the meat. Try that and see if it works for you.

 

[Terry56]

I just bought one on Saturday from Lowes. I was having the exact same issues. Brought it home, assembled it, primed the auger per directions. It fired up but wouldn't get hot, just warm. I thought maybe I didn't prime the auger enough so I forced fed it some more pellets by holding the prime button down a few more times throughout the heating up process. After a very, very, long time it finally got up to 350 and I left it there for about 45-60 minutes.

The next morning I tried again as I was planning on smoking a chicken on it for dinner. I had same issue on start-up. I messed around with it a couple of times an had to force feed it pellets again to get it up to temp. It would start up, reach about 130 degrees and then just fall on its face. It stayed around 130 for about an hour! Finally forced it up to temp by pressing the prime button a few times again and I did cook my chicken. Once it's was up to temp it would hold. Scratched my head a bit and slept on it. Decided today I would try once more to let it do the start-up per the manual and if it didn't work I would try one more thing. Well it didn't work. Same deal, it fired up, started warming up slowly and once it reached about 130 it just hung up there and then started losing temp dropping back to 119 before I gave up on that and powered it down. The auger was clear of debris and filled up with pellets and things seemed proper and functioning okay but it just seemed it would not drop pellets often enough to get the fire going strong enough to reach temp. On one start-up I even "hand primed" it by putting a handful of pellets directly in the fire pot before I powered it up. Didn't seem to matter much.

Only had one idea left up my sleeve and that was to fire it up per the manual but once the smoke cleared, let it run for about a minute with the door open and get to a roaring fire then close door and turn it up to HIGH. After letting it cool from the initial try this morning, unplugging it and plugging it back in that is exactly what I did. I fired it up and once the fire was roaring for about a minute I turned it up to HIGH and left it there until it hit 300. It was about 36 degree ambient temp and it hit 300 in about 30 minutes. Once it got it to temp it maintained well. In fact I was very impressed with how well it maintained temp even in some pretty windy conditions. I let it run for a few hours adjusting the temp down from 300, 250, 200, and finally 175. At each setting it held it's temp well. I powered it down, let it cool and did it once more. Same drill, fire up, run until fire gets a roar, then close door and turn up to HIGH. It worked again. It was about 30 mins from power on to 300 degrees in an ambient temp of about 50 or 55.

I couldn't care less if it goes above 300 frankly as I want to smoke not bake. I do wish it had a 275 setting though. That's where I like to do chicken but I can live with 250 as long as it will hold the temp. So, for those of you having issues with these things getting up to temp in the typical start-up mode you might try this procedure yourself. It seems to be working for me. When it's set to high the auger runs a lot which is what it needs to get a strong fire going in order to get hot. If I have any other issues later I'll post back here. Jury is still out on this one as far as I'm concerned. Yesterday I was ready to return it to Lowe's and had already started researching others but I'll give it a chance at this point. Hope this helps someone else. Seems the control panels on these things needs the firmware update Pit Boss is promising. A download through the app would be great but it doesn't sound like that is going to happen. They need to come up with a solution though and they also need to respond to posts on their website. COVID is not a legit excuse when they can respond VIA a laptop from just about anywhere.

I purchased the Pro Series 4 approximately 3 weeks ago. Got it home and performed the burn out. After running it up to 350 for about 45 minutes, set it to high where it achieved 450 degrees. I’ve cooked a brisket on my first cook and five racks of ribs on a second cook. Both cooks I set to 225 and the pit held the temperature spot on. To verify the temp, I placed a thermometer in the stack and verified the accuracy of the digital display. So far, I am very pleased with my smoker.

 

[laminack16]

I bought this smoker from Lowes less than two weeks ago and while smoking a chicken the glass in the door shattered. It was around 300 degrees and about 50 degrees outside. As you can see in the picture, there was no glass on the inside of the smoker nor in the chicken. It was all laying on the ground in front of the smoker. Now I'm having hell finding a new door to replace the shattered glass. We can't find the receipt from when we bought it so there is no chance of returning it. Just kinda screwed....

 

[GeekChef]

I bought this smoker from Lowes less than two weeks ago and while smoking a chicken the glass in the door shattered. It was around 300 degrees and about 50 degrees outside. As you can see in the picture, there was no glass on the inside of the smoker nor in the chicken. It was all laying on the ground in front of the smoker. Now I'm having hell finding a new door to replace the shattered glass. We can't find the receipt from when we bought it so there is no chance of returning it. Just kinda screwed....

Your drip pan is pointing backwards. Your grease probably dripped forward, ignited and caused excessive pressure in the smoker. Just a guess.
As far as the door issue....call PitBoss and give them your serial number and they should replace the door for sure

 

[Mike From R.I.]

Wow.....the instructions do not tell you the proper way to have the heat deflector plate installed. I had mine in backwards as it looks like a handle to aid in pulling it out to clean, it's actually a stopper when it hits the back of the smoker. Call Pit Boss 877 303 3134 option 2.
Lowe's is good at looking up purchases, even if it was a cash sale. Good luck and I hope know one got hurt.

 

[Ricktara]

I too originally put that drip tray in backwards, thought that was a handle. I figured it out when my first smoke was a chicken and the grease went the wrong way, then I saw the tapered sides. Instructions don’t address that at all.

 

[laminack16]

I thought that was how the instructions were telling me to install it.. Well, now I know. Lesson learned!!! I did get ahold of Pit Boss.. They are creating a case for me. Hopefully they will send me a new door. thanks for the help guys..

 

[MikeInFla]

I thought that was how the instructions were telling me to install it.. Well, now I know. Lesson learned!!! I did get ahold of Pit Boss.. They are creating a case for me. Hopefully they will send me a new door. thanks for the help guys..

Keep us updated

 

[laminack16]

Will do...

 

[ChuckD]

I bought this smoker from Lowes less than two weeks ago and while smoking a chicken the glass in the door shattered. It was around 300 degrees and about 50 degrees outside. As you can see in the picture, there was no glass on the inside of the smoker nor in the chicken. It was all laying on the ground in front of the smoker. Now I'm having hell finding a new door to replace the shattered glass. We can't find the receipt from when we bought it so there is no chance of returning it. Just kinda screwed....

Joining this thread. Man, sorry that happened to you. That’s a major bummer. Apparently I also installed the drip pan backwards base on feedback here. Can someone tell if it’s done right now? Thanks and keep smoking!

 

[Mike From R.I.]

Joining this thread. Man, sorry that happened to you. That’s a major bummer. Apparently I also installed the drip pan backwards base on feedback here. Can someone tell if it’s done right now? Thanks and keep smoking!

Looks good now, notice how it will drain the grease where it belongs into the grease tray and is angled towards the left rear. Look's like the fire pot needs to be in all the way, before you fire it up.

 

[ChuckD]

Looks good now, notice how it will drain the grease where it belongs into the grease tray and is angled towards the left rear. Look's like the fire pot needs to be in all the way, before you fire it up.

Awesome! Appreciate the help. Yeah I need to push it back in. I’m giving it a break from yesterday’s smoke out.

 

[Mike From R.I.]

Awesome! Appreciate the help. Yeah I need to push it back in. I’m giving it a break from yesterday’s smoke out.

Everything looks awesome!