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**Pellet cookers** - YS480, YS640
**Competition Pellet cookers** - YS480 Comp, YS640 Comp, YS1500 Comp, Cimarron Comp
**Pellet Cooker Warranty**
January 4th, 2015, 10:34 am
#1
* Abilene ** Abilene *
  • Joined: January 3rd, 2015, 8:56 am
  • Posts: 3

I am new to the forums. I have been researching for months and will buy a Yoder as my next cooker, but am struggling between a YS640 or a Witchita/Durango. I know that they are very different but hear me out. I tend to be a weekday griller but a weekend smoker. I just don't have a lot of time during the week.

That said, I am concerned with everything I read in general around the electronics, electrical motors/fans/augers, needing updates, replacements, and general troubleshooting. On one hand a YS640 seems to be ideal bc I can turn it on, load it up and cook like normal. But then I hear about all of those above things and I wonder if I will be spending a lot of time goofing around with the machine and not cooking.

Something like the Loaded Witchita/Durango would be more familiar to me and not have any technological issues. Just good old fashioned grilling/smoking management.

So I guess my question is, am I getting too worries about uncommon or remote issues that only a handful of people experience with their YS, or is this part of what comes along with a high performing machine. Like an exotic sports car if you will. Not necessarily a negative on the YS but want to have my expectations properly set.

Thanks.
HHH.

January 4th, 2015, 12:15 pm
#2
* Kingman ** Kingman *
  • Joined: September 3rd, 2014, 11:04 pm
  • Posts: 422

It is the very very few that experience any issues with the Yoder pellet smokers. You turn it on, let it come to temp and add the meat. It cooks automatically for a LONG time, so you can put the Butts on at 10 PM watch it for a 1/2 hour and go to bed. Up at 4AM, foil them, add pellets, go back to bed. Yes it's that easy. A nice bonus is it cooks steaks perfectly due to the high sear temps, can't do that on stick burner smokers.

I've had mine for over a year, had a scare about the igniter I though was bad, but it was fine. It was just silly me.

Ohh on upkeep. Vacuum it out and replace the foil on the diffuser. If I'm doing ribs and then cooking again the next day I won't clean it out, it's fine left like that. If I'm doing long cooks like pork butts I always use a plastic scraper on the bottom gently (not really needed but I'm like that), vacuum out the pellet burn pot and the surrounding area where some ash blows out of the burn pot. Replace the foil on the diffuser plate, and empty the grease bucket. It doesn't need cleaned every time for sure.

It's an awesome, reliable, and versatile unit.

January 4th, 2015, 1:11 pm
#3
* Abilene ** Abilene *
  • Joined: November 21st, 2014, 5:41 pm
  • Posts: 12

While I also had a "scare" in the first month of usage, I would say mine has been reliable and consistent. My learning curve involved "unlearning" some things which I did with my previous pellet grill (now living a happy life at my son's home), and reading through the forums.

Another reason for the posts on this forum (my opinion) is that the experts here are eager to answer questions or let you learn from their experience. I have heard of temperature variation issues on the Yoder which concerned me, and ended up being referred to one of the experts here who gave me a very detailed explanation of his personal test procedure to evaluate this non-issue. Turns out that my problem was mis-understanding how the YS640 controller worked and a few minor adjustments to the smoker. Again, this was an "unlearning" experience from my earlier pellet smoker.

As your choice is really between the 640 and a Durango or Wichita, the bigger issue (to me) would be how you intend to treat your smoker and the lengthy cooking process. To me, the major disadvantage of a non-pellet grill is the constant tending to the fire/temp. Some people enjoy that and incorporate it into their weekend activities. I prefer to set the 640 and get other tasks/chores done, and occasionally checking in, that "convenience factor".

January 7th, 2015, 8:33 pm
#4
* Abilene ** Abilene *
  • Joined: November 21st, 2014, 5:41 pm
  • Posts: 12

Another note, in the interest of full disclosure: I will say that my YS640 is more dependent upon being thoroughly cleaned before using than my old smoker (different brand). I used it the other day and it did not ignite. Had to remove the diffuser, and realized that I had failed to clean out the ignitor area. Did that and restarted the smoker, and all worked fine.

I suppose that this is possibly one of the things I don't like about the smoker, simply because my other one was more trouble free than this one, and I didn't have to clean it after each use. This is a hassle factor. I wish the ignitor was slightly longer and easier to start the fire. Once started, it worked fine.

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