Smoky wood pellet hopper - What to do?

If you ever see smoke coming from your Z Grills wood pellet hopper, follow these steps.
1. Open both the hopper and grill lids
2. Turn the controller to the Smoke setting
3. Watch the rest of the video so you understand why it happened and how to prevent it happening again.

Check out this video on how to keep your pellets dust free:

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[owenstefura]

I love the intro, straight to the point because chances are you’re watching this video because it’s just happened or you want to know what to do just in case. Thank you

[frontcentermusician]

How refreshing. No music. To the point. Done! Thank you sir!

[dveal]

You just literally saved dinner! Just purchased my Traeger today so I was a little alarmed when this happened. Thanks for the great video.

[kylebacc]

For all the reasons everyone already said, you’re the man. Thanks!

[CindaMurphyRealEstate]

Thank you for starting with the most important part first!
On my very first Cook, I accidentally let the grill run out of pellets and it turned itself off. When I got home from work, the brisket was 145°. I dumped a bunch of pellets into the hopper, turned it to shut down cycle to re-reset it and then back up to 250.
Everything seemed to be going well, so I went inside and completed some chores. When I came back out, the grill had shut itself off AGAIN and now my brisket temperature was 125° (51° Celsius) 😩
I saw smoke coming from the hopper, and I got very concerned that there was going to be a fire in the hopper.

I took the brisket off and put it in my kitchen oven at 250° (121° C) THEN I found your video.

While I don’t intend to ever run out of pellets again, there is no video addressing what to do in this scenario.

I can tell you from personal experience, filling the hopper with more pellets and restarting, is not a good plan 😂

We need more videos on what to do when things go terribly wrong.

[Gabriel-fhms]

Thank you! I love how you got straight to the point, then taught me everything else I need to know! 😅

[MBolesy]

Great video. Straight to the point and fixed the problem. Keep up the great work mate.

[davidnollmusic]

Thanks so much for your very helpful video. This just happened to my new Z Grill 550 B. I've only used it a couple of times and it's worked fine. Today I started it on "smoke" and then set it to "high" in order to get some searing on chicken breasts and thighs. It took a few minutes to put the chicken on the grill so the lid was open for a little while. Soon after putting the chicken on the grill I turned it to the "smoke" setting and when I came back out to the porch (after going in the house for a few minutes) a great deal of smoke was pouring out of the pellet box - just like in your video. I turned it to the "shut down cycle" and it kept smoking. Vacuumed out all the pellets and dust. I've always vacuumed out the pellets and the dust after use but learning about the pellet dust will help. Will follow your instructions and hope for the best!

[jimwaller]

Brilliant. Thank you. I’m fairly new at pellet fired smokers and grills. This has happened the last two times I’ve fan high for steaks. I genuinely thought the machine had a defect. Thanks again for the great information.

[AJ-zyjf]

Just bought a zgrill and this happened.
Thanks for the video.

[Doonsauce]

Starts off with how to fix it. Awesome. Thanks, man.

[Jimbo]

Yep. Just did this reset process. Worked. Thank you for advice moving forward..

[Gregdary]

Thank you for the video. It was just what was happening

[lisaperry]

Love your videos, they are short and very informative! I have the same problem as another comment on here, smoke coming out of the hopper. I had been smoking ribs for about 2 hours, and smoke started coming out of hopper. I freaked out and did what you said, opened both lids and left it on smoke then shut down. (this was a brand new bunch of pellets also) When I primed the auger, it was making the sound of being jammed, but eventually all the burned pellets came out. Obviously there was a fire in the auger. So, I'm about ready to give up on pellet grills but want to make sure I try everything. I noticed there was a lot of dust, even with a brand new load of pellets (Traeger Signature Brand) and the fact that my grill was 2 days old. Sifting is crucial, but even after sifting I see a lot of dust in the hopper. High heat means more pellets being pushed out, so you would think that on lower heat settings (smoke), there would be less chance of a fire in the auger. Am I wrong, or am I missing something? I have a Pit Boss Lexington, and I've read some bad reviews. Is this just a case of "You get what you pay for"? Any advice you can give will be much appreciated. :)

[CoD_Majstk]

The second time I used my brand new z grills smoker this happened. A friend was installing our new hvac system and tripped the breaker. Obviously losing power and when it started back up this happened.

[kicknadeadcat]

I did what some guy on YouTube recommended. Bought some 5 gal Home Depot buckets. Bought a bucket head vac $28 that fits on their buckets. When I’m done grilling for the week, I vacuum out the hopper into an empty bucket, burn off what’s left in the auger. Then I use another bucket and vacuum out the ash. Shake out vac bag and I’m ready for the next time. I use the ash in my compost bin. One more thing, there are two points to insert the hose. One blows and there other sucks. Sounds redundant I know. When everything is clean, blow through the hopper through the auger. That will clean out any dust that may be caught the auger. Also never pour the pellets from the bag. Pellet dust settles to the bottom. Use a large scoop. About $6 on Amazon. When you get to near the bottom of the pellets, use a fine mesh sieve to take out the pellet dust. Happy smoking……

[outcold]

Mine does it three hours into the cook at 250 it will burn backwards into the hopper

[MichaelRei]

I always dump the pellet dust in my hopper. Never had smoke back into the hopper.

[rushrocks]

Great to know for this has happened to me a few times

[jonnydwolf]

I had a fire in mine! 😱 I ended up pulling the plug and then I dumped some water.