Unsticking wet pellets-pit boss

willness33

willness33

Here for the memes
Joined
May 3, 2005
Location
Alexis,NC
Has anyone had their pit boss get rained on to the point that the feed tube pellets get wet, swell and jam up the works? Mine is on its second time of doing this. My fault entirely since it started raining as we were eating dinner and I hadn't covered it yet after cooking waiting for it to cool. First time they pretty much turned to concrete. This time I expect exactly the same. If anyone is interested I'll do a little tech writeup on how I plan of combating this problem (other than covering the dam thing).

FWIW, I acquired a free pellet stove that was in a flood and it was the same situation. Pellets dried into a clump of very hard packed sawdust. After a ton of cleanout and a new control board, draft fan and blower fan it is good as new and has been heating my house for the last 5 years.
 
I have a pitboss pro 850. It's sat outside uncovered during hard rain and the pellets have always been dry etc. I did take some heatshield tape(bought at lowes in the grill section) and went around the grill top to further hold in the smoke so that might help as well.
 
I cant speak directly for a pitboss, but all pellet grills are similar.

You will likely need to remove the hopper, and remove the auger from the motor, if possible. The easiest way to clean it, i have seen, is put a drill on the end of the auger and spin it backwards with the drill. Otherwise, just twist and try to remove the auger from the tube. Then put it all back together.
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
I cant speak directly for a pitboss, but all pellet grills are similar.

You will likely need to remove the hopper, and remove the auger from the motor, if possible. The easiest way to clean it, i have seen, is put a drill on the end of the auger and spin it backwards with the drill. Otherwise, just twist and try to remove the auger from the tube. Then put it all back together.
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Oh yeah been there done that already. My mistake not watching the weather or it would have been a 1 time thing. They aren't sealed very well between the hopper and firebox. That's an open "crack" for water to get into the pellet tube. Before I took the auger motor off the screw and backed it out with vice grips. Then its scrape scrape scrape down the pellet tube to clear the mortar.
 
Alright since I have a little time on my hands I'm going to do an unsticking wet pellets techish thread. Bottom line is wha ha happen was I was busy stuffing an awesome ribeye in my face and didn't realize it had started to pour rain on my uncovered pit boss pellet smoker. Standard NC evening and I should have known better but this shit was good.
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Ok the tree is cleared. Now back to the TECH!lol. Ok so anyone that can turn a screwdriver and every single person on here can handle this problem but I'm bored so here we go. If you soak your pellet smoker in the rain and the pellets in the feed tube get wet your shit will get all jammed up. First up take the bottom cover off the hopper and disconnect all the wires. They are fairly color coded but take a pic of all the plugs just in case if you're drinking heavily. Next remove the screws holding the hopper on and take that shit off. It will look like this.
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Next take off the motor with the one screws holding it to the auger. Nest take out the screw holding the auger bushing to the screw tube. When the motor is off grab the shaft with vice grips. You're gonna wiggle that sob until its loose and screw the auger out of the caked in shit.
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Next you're gonna take your favorite super long ass bent to shit screwdriver and ream that whore out like you're Peter North. Knock all that stuff loose all the way into the firebox.
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Take the auger screw and work it in and out of the pellet tube line you're getting paid to. That'll clear the rest of the cake out. Reassemble and smear RTV all over any of the seams between the hopper and the smoker. Smear it on like pookie on a plenum (hvac guys will get it). I used ultra red cause that was my least dried up tube that was on the shelf but black would have been better. No matter. It's my smoker and if anyone doesn't like it they can just not eat my foods.
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Not gonna be ready for tonight but I had no delusions it would be. Gonna throw some chops beside the butt in a little bit.
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This is where it helps to know your rig. I'm set at 250. Temp on the LCD shows 260. That fluctuates a good bit depending where in the burn/smoke cycle it is. It'll show close to 220 before it lights back off and goes up again. The probe for the LCD is pretty close to the fire pot and not all that accurate. The last pic is the good old analog gauge and it's been verified accurate with the meat probe set up on the upper rack. Set it at 250 and the smoke temp is closer to 220. I gotta say, this thing is a lot of fun to play with for around $250 and it makes all my grilled and smoked things better.
 
Ok pellet smoker guys. Corn on the cob is phenomenal smoked. The chops we about as good as a boring pork chop could be. Pulled the butt just a bit ago, threw it in a pan, hit it with my super ultra secret finishing sauce and back to the smoker all day to let it marinate. Pics later.
 
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