Man this thing worked great for the first season. I have the KC combo. The argument system seems very weak. Takes FOREVER to pre heat!!!. I can light a fire faster than this smoker. Temperature fluctuations are crazy! I had two green eggs before this and thought THEY were inconvenient?!?! I didn't know it was going to take a weekend to seer steak. The hopper slope is not steep enough to allow the pellets to ACTUALLY slide down to the augur. So I constantly have to stir them. Anyone else wish they just kept the Treager or Green Egg?
No.
Have you checked your new PITBOSS smoker for the PitBoss air gap issue and done the air gap mod to fix it yet?
Air Gap Modification - Models Affected: Austin XL 1000 (except ONYX) and Rancher XL 1000, 1000SC, 1000t2, 1000t3, 1000t4, 1000d3, ProSeries 1100, KC Combo, Charleston, PB 500, 1250 and 550 Sportsman, ProSeries 600, ProSeries 1150, 1600 Pro and Elite, and Navigator 550 & 1150 and Laredo 1000. Also the older 850 in the Competition series.
Unfortunately there is a well known, but easily corrected, design anomaly in some units ... a gap between the bottom of the drip tray and the top of the left side grease tray lip that allows firepot heat to blow directly on the digital temperature probe... see the photo below… it’s causes slower startups, flameouts and other low temperature related issues.
Since, due to the air gap, the firepot heat is blowing directly on the digital temperature probe, (see the other photo below)this will cause the smoker to flameout for no apparent reason. It’ll cause that flameout because the digital temperature probes temperature readings are falsely reading too high and it causes the digital temperature probe to register higher than your set temperatures and suppresses the auger runs. And that’ll cause a flameout every time by shutting down the auger runs and starving your fire of pellets
The air gap mod is a big deal on the Austin XL , the pro series 1100, PS2 1150, 1600, Laredo and basically ANY 1000 inch barrels AND the KC Combo. It takes them forever to settle down especially in the Smoke setting, and that's why, when people have them set to Smoke they're wondering why it's up around 250 or 300 degrees ... and it's all because the firepot heat is all blowing directly on that digital probe. Do the air gap mod and it will then register the temperatures correctly and it settles them right down.
Additionally, a QUICK and simple foil fix will temporarily work to address the issue ...(see the photo below) Fold sufficient aluminum foil to cover the air gap from side to side and put in place on the left side of the drip tray. Try a minimum of 4-5 layers … Done right, the foil will fold over and sit on top of the drip tray and as it hangs in the gap, this quick fix blocks the firepot heat from blowing directly on the temperature probe.
A detailed Instructional Video is below ... AND the Video is also in Announcements section of this page ... and if you’re interested, the prefabricated mod plate available at
https://smokeslikeaboss.com/
This video explains better ..
