Odd question but has anybody come up with a good way to clean the auger area? Between splashback and a hopper fire it seems to be a little gummed up and am kinda wondering if it is making my pellets have a flow problem.
If the stainless steel area is not smooth, you can use a 600 or higher grit sandpaper (the higher the grit the more smooth the surface will be) to smooth the area, and then use a good auto wax to make the area slick.
Thanks Herb, but I am actually talking about the auger itself and the little chamber it is housed in. I had a hopper fire a few months ago and everything has run fine until last night. Not sure if by chance something could have got stuck in the auger area but I did in fact have another issue.
I will answer most of your questions for you ahead of time:
The pit was extremely clean. I had just vacumed out the firebox and whole pit. Added a handful of Lumberjack pellets to the firebox and turned the pit on as I do normally. Was only doing a short cook @200 (fish) so after a few minutes I reset the set temp. Warmed up for 10-15 minutes then put the cedar planked brined salmon in. Within 5 minutes heavy smoke started billowing out of the hopper. After a couple minutes I decided to turn the unit off and cool down with the pit door closed but of course was still concerned about the hamper so took most of the pellets out and smothered the slow burning embers until they were suffocated.
I probably should have took pictures but seeing it was night time and I hate the smell and taste of the acid smoke in my cooks I decided to vacume out the hopper. At that time I noticed the firebox if anything had probably less ash than it should have but seeing everything was so clean maybe not.
My pellets are never on concrete, kept in my garage so that should not be the problem. Build date of 7/02/14 serial #16436. The permatex still seems to covering properly so I am kinda left with thinking either something got stuck in the auger or possibly the auger and housing might need a little cleaning as there seems to be a little buildup.
I would like to see a picture of the burn grate in the firebox, and a picture of just the firebox without the burn grate. You can post them here or email them to customerservice@yodersmokers.com
Any reason you added pellets to the firebox before turning it on? I have never done that. Might of had too many pellets so the auger dumped even more, then there was too many. Poof!
The only time I ever added pellets to the firebox is the one odd time many cooks ago it seemed the igniter didn't light the pellets and I had to get cooking so I manually lit the pellets with a small hobby torch. And didn't put much at all, wayyy under an handful. If you watch it startup without the diffuser plate, you can see the auger doesn't drop much at all really. I now have a spare igniter and thermo couple if I ever need it. Bought them for just in case.
As far as the actual auger and auger tube, dunno how to clean that area. Made some compressed air? My tube looks pretty clean inside. Also never had to do anything about the hopper, I keep it pretty full so pellets always feed well.
Lastly, 600 grit sandpaper can also be 2000 grit, depending on the way the # is expressed. I use 600/2000 grit to pretty much almost glass smooth polish aluminum at work. It almost feels like paper it's grit is so small. You probably can't get fine enough sandpaper at a home store like Home Depot. You want to make the surface ohh so smooth.
I could post a link here to what I mean but I can't do that on this site. No links or mentions of any other place.
I actually never make a habit of adding pellets before I turn on the pit. This time seeing as though I had just vacuumed out the grate and was getting ready to put the diffuser plate back in I added a small handful as I had read of many people doing just that. Either way don't think that was the problem as it did ignite and raised the pit up to temperature.
Wes, does the auger spin/turn? I had a couple of bags of pellets a few years back that had screws in them that had (according to the vendor--who I will not name) gotten there by loosening out of the pallets during shipping and going through the plastic pellet bags. The mfr swore they had changed pallet vendors as a result and resolved the issue. Fortunately, I caught them while adding pellets into the hopper and they never made it into the auger, but it could have been a problem for sure. I've seen a lot of brands of pellets that have some small rocks, concrete or other small debris that could get lodged in an auger. Hopefully that's not your issue, but worth a look if it's not turning. Doesn't sound like it's your problem but just something to be aware of with pellets. I always add them now with a small coffee can or plastic container (out of the 40 lb bags I get) so I can look carefully while pouring the pellets in the hopper for anything that shouldn't be there...
Good luck w/ figuring this out. Sounds almost like a grease fire backing up into the auger/hopper area from the earlier cook. Wonder if you can remove the auger cover inside the cooker and remove the auger and just clean it well and clean the auger tube? I know it would be disturbing to get a fire and smoke anywhere it shouldn't be for me too. Plus, downtime means no BBQ time! Hope it's an easy fix.
P.s., I always start my 640 with a small amount of pellets added to the firepot grate, centered directly over the igniter. I thought that's what the recommendation was from the factory in my owner's manual. Works great for me everytime. I don't add a lot--probably somewhere around 1/4 cup or less--just enough for the igniter to have something in contact with it while trying to light the pellets.
Hi TJ,
Unfortunately in my haste I vacuumed out the auger area so there is really no way of knowing if there was an undesirable object in the hopper/auger area. At this time the auger seems to be turning correctly but I have not tried a complete cook as I was waiting to hear back from Herb.
Seems like we are thinking along the same lines as my second guess is that it might be a little blowback from a previous cook and am hoping to be back to normal today. Herb has told me that with use the natural fire/heat should help clean up the auger...not his exact words but I think the jest comes across.
Anyway, thanks for the input
Sorry I can't be more helpful. I'm sure Herb and Yoder will help you diagnose it and get it resolved soon. I'm interested to hear what it is just so I have it in mind if I ever have a similar experience. Fortunately, so far, no such problem. Good luck fixing it soon.
TJ
Finishing up a little test run. I tried to duplicate the cook sans the meat and diffuser plate and after 45 minutes everything seems to be working properly. I will do a regular cook tonight to make sure but at this time feel pretty confident.
Not sure what caused the problem but as stated above I feel like either something was lodged weather it was for a short period of time or until I vacuumed or possible a little blowback from an earlier high temp cook.
SO...auger turning, pellets dropping and burning correctly and most importantly no fire or smoke coming from the hopper...all is good.
Thanks Herb and others for all the input and help.
Is the bottom of your diffuser plate clean from grease from previous cooks too? Do you foil it or no?
Bottom of the diffuser plate is clean. I do foil and try to keep it as max 1/2" of overlap on the ends and do try to meticulously fold under and secure.
I just finished my test run and am happy. The only thing that gives me time to pause is the bottom of the housing for the auger. Although there is not a lot of build up, I am wondering If there should be any. My pit is about 16 months old but I use it a lot. I have used over a ton of pellets in that time.
I should add, even though most jump to the cleaning angle when problems arise....I am a little OCD. My wife thinks I'm overboard and has many comments on my cleaning prowess. The latest of which...I'm the only one she has ever known that cleans the cleaning bottles after each use.
Either way...thanks again. Gunna try to stretch things out tonight time wise and temp wise tonight.
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