I've had this model for about 6 months and done several briskets as well as other items on it. I was watching this hoping to see how to tune the temperature or clean/clear it. But do want to advise, as a frequent user about the cleaning process: 1. I have always left the pellets in the hopper and my auger has never jammed/clogged. Going forward, I'll drop it back into the bucket more often but I didn't experience this as much of a problem as it's potentially portrayed in the video. 2. I do "clean" it after every other brisket... which may not be frequent enough because the top of the sear/smoke lid does collect fat (esp. from briskets) and will cause a small fire at times for your next cook. My "clean" process is much simpler than he outlines; just remove all the easily-removable grates and lid and clean grease off those to avoid fires. 3. I have never taken the components apart to clean it like he did. But after 6 months and wanting to make sure my temperature gauge is working accurately (i have questioned this), I will probably do this.
I just got this smoker. I recommend when smoking, put meat on the top 2 shelves and out a water pan on the sear grate. It kept a the gunk off the deflector.
It would have been great if you had shown the location of the 6 screws that you have to remove to gain access to the burn/ash pot. All I seen was a guy turning a screw driver and using a vacuum.
This was a great video. Question Derrick. for that Augur, if mine ever jams, what if I stuck my hose in the augur intake, where you pour in the pellats, and reversed my industrial shop vac to blow hair through the augur. Would that work?
I had to return my DLX. The metal seal at the top started to warp after the first cook. The paint started to bubble and more warping occurred after the second and third cook. The sear/smoke main grate area gets too hot and I could never cook over it. I think my temp readings on the control panel were low while it was hotter inside unit. I purchased the rib rack accessory but the ribs would bend, slump, and sag and was not ideal.
I have a very serious auger jam and to (unfortunately) go to the "ultimate" auger removal procedure. My "newest" problem is now that I have removed the control panel and disconnected wiring and then removed the (4) screws attaching the hopper, the hopper is loose but will not pull away from the smoker...like it's "stuck" on something. (I followed OK Joes' video for this process to a Tee). Any ideas ??
My within minutes of turning on my dlx. Smoke is billowing from the grill and is on fire! Any ideas/advise on what I should do? Also I have never cleaned out the ash collector
I secured a great deal on a brand new 900 Rider because the previous owner never let the unit go through the cool down procedure in order to clear the tube of any pellets. Needless to say I had to take the unit apart to an include the auger and clear the tube because the tube was literally packed with pellets like cement, which is why the auger could not move. Once i cleared and cleaned the tube & auger it works like a champ. So word of advice, do not bypass the cooling procedure which is meant to clear the auger tube of any residual pellets.
My ignitor burned out my controller, so the warranty is going to send me replacements now..... Because the unit came preassembled I can't find any instructions on how to change it out
That grease starts to smoke if you try to sear something. Gets grease smoke all over your food. I get it off. I also just use my blower to get the excess ash out. Seems to work.
Depending on what you are cooking, I would suggest every 15 to 20 hours of cook time for a deep clean. As for jams. I haven't had one with about 100 hours of run time.
Point #1 I just hit my pellet smoker with the leaf blower and then dust the deck off. Point #2 If that is the clean out process then it's a hard pass on the DXL.
9:10 "Now I have access to the firepot...." why not show this? he also references the ash screen verbally but doesn't show it. I have a Rider 900 and I always removed the ash tin and was always wondering why there wasn't much ash in it?? Now I know why. I've used it for 6 months now, not heavy use, but I did my first brisket last week. Last several times it was doing strange things on startup. It would take longer and burn really really hot with visible flames even though I set it to 225 to warm it up.... Strange, but it lit so whatever. AFTER my 14 hour brisket there was two tablespoons of ash in the ash tray??(I should have known something was up) So next time I go to grill a steak, it didn't light!! and I could hear and see the auger pushing pellets.??(actually overflowed unburnt pellets out of the fire pot) I took everything out and I had at least 1-2 gallons worth of ash piles in the bottom of the unit outside the fire pot!!?? ( I know what you are thinking... and NO this condition is not visible unless the drip trays are removed!) So that screen in the bottom of the firepot was not letting ash (like mentioned in Derrick's vid here) gravity feed to the ASH tray. All this time!!!. OKJ owners check your fire pots and the area around it for ash! I was quite shocked. I know if I call OKJ they will just assume I never emptied it. (its always user error) but I did, trust me. This makes me wonder if the quality of pellets really does make a difference?? I use primarily Pit Boss Competition blend for most of my use because its the cheapest! CHECK YOUR FIRE POTS people! Thanks for the video Derrick!
I also have the rider 900 it always works great for me ….. but i have 25 to 30 degree higher temperature readings than what it’s set at. Have you noticed this?
@@davidweeks9144 yes. Same. I use a rain bird 4 probe Bluetooth thermometer and one of those 4 is dedicated to ambient temp clipped to the top of the bottom rack and shows usually 20 deg f lower temps.
@@davidweeks9144 also, on a frequent basis I recommend removing the grates and drip pan and cleaning out all the ash. It builds up fairly often. Plus scrape the drip pan before long cooks because last brisket I did for Christmas the butcher paper caught on fire 🔥!!! It was right before I pulled it so I still cut it up and served it. Also I did have one malfunction based on the ash collector on the bottom of the fire pit filling up with ash Eve though I unscrewed it and dumped it. It could be because I use the cheapest pellets available. Pit boss Competition blend. It seems to church up and cause ash screen to plug up.
See. My biggest issue is when I cook, I get drunk, and by the time I'm done cooking. I'm drunk. So I pull the food off, and shut it down like an idiot. 🤣🤣
Wish you would have showed inside when everything was disassembled. How many cooks did you do before doing this maintenance?
I've had this model for about 6 months and done several briskets as well as other items on it. I was watching this hoping to see how to tune the temperature or clean/clear it. But do want to advise, as a frequent user about the cleaning process:
1. I have always left the pellets in the hopper and my auger has never jammed/clogged. Going forward, I'll drop it back into the bucket more often but I didn't experience this as much of a problem as it's potentially portrayed in the video.
2. I do "clean" it after every other brisket... which may not be frequent enough because the top of the sear/smoke lid does collect fat (esp. from briskets) and will cause a small fire at times for your next cook. My "clean" process is much simpler than he outlines; just remove all the easily-removable grates and lid and clean grease off those to avoid fires.
3. I have never taken the components apart to clean it like he did. But after 6 months and wanting to make sure my temperature gauge is working accurately (i have questioned this), I will probably do this.
I just got this smoker. I recommend when smoking, put meat on the top 2 shelves and out a water pan on the sear grate. It kept a the gunk off the deflector.
Do you have any recommendations on fixing it? We had to get a new motherboard and igniter, but keeps throwing a ER2 code.
It would have been great if you had shown the location of the 6 screws that you have to remove to gain access to the burn/ash pot. All I seen was a guy turning a screw driver and using a vacuum.
This was a great video. Question Derrick. for that Augur, if mine ever jams, what if I stuck my hose in the augur intake, where you pour in the pellats, and reversed my industrial shop vac to blow hair through the augur. Would that work?
It might. Auger jams can be stubborn but clearing as many pellets as possible should help.
I had to return my DLX. The metal seal at the top started to warp after the first cook. The paint started to bubble and more warping occurred after the second and third cook. The sear/smoke main grate area gets too hot and I could never cook over it. I think my temp readings on the control panel were low while it was hotter inside unit. I purchased the rib rack accessory but the ribs would bend, slump, and sag and was not ideal.
Man i feel for your bad experience.
So far on low grill with sear mode on no issue but i just kept an eye on flair ups.
I have a very serious auger jam and to (unfortunately) go to the "ultimate" auger removal procedure. My "newest" problem is now that I have removed the control panel and disconnected wiring and then removed the (4) screws attaching the hopper, the hopper is loose but will not pull away from the smoker...like it's "stuck" on something. (I followed OK Joes' video for this process to a Tee). Any ideas ??
If you got all the screws and everything ready to come apart, you need some percussive maintenance.
My within minutes of turning on my dlx. Smoke is billowing from the grill and is on fire! Any ideas/advise on what I should do? Also I have never cleaned out the ash collector
I secured a great deal on a brand new 900 Rider because the previous owner never let the unit go through the cool down procedure in order to clear the tube of any pellets. Needless to say I had to take the unit apart to an include the auger and clear the tube because the tube was literally packed with pellets like cement, which is why the auger could not move. Once i cleared and cleaned the tube & auger it works like a champ. So word of advice, do not bypass the cooling procedure which is meant to clear the auger tube of any residual pellets.
My ignitor burned out my controller, so the warranty is going to send me replacements now..... Because the unit came preassembled I can't find any instructions on how to change it out
Looking at one of these. Is this the cleaning procedure outlined in the manual? Thanks.
That grease starts to smoke if you try to sear something. Gets grease smoke all over your food. I get it off. I also just use my blower to get the excess ash out. Seems to work.
How many hours of cooking before you need to do a deep clean? How many times have you had an auger jam?
Depending on what you are cooking, I would suggest every 15 to 20 hours of cook time for a deep clean. As for jams. I haven't had one with about 100 hours of run time.
Hey these are some good tips and things to know. Thxs.
How did you go from dlx to a grill?
Point #1 I just hit my pellet smoker with the leaf blower and then dust the deck off.
Point #2 If that is the clean out process then it's a hard pass on the DXL.
I always hear most people use a Shop VAC??
Probably would of been better to use a shorter auger, put the hopper on the back side.
I have made it a habit to vacuum out the firepot.
One thing you don’t explain, is grill on smoke or sear, when you reheat the grill after cleaning.
9:10 "Now I have access to the firepot...." why not show this? he also references the ash screen verbally but doesn't show it. I have a Rider 900 and I always removed the ash tin and was always wondering why there wasn't much ash in it?? Now I know why. I've used it for 6 months now, not heavy use, but I did my first brisket last week. Last several times it was doing strange things on startup. It would take longer and burn really really hot with visible flames even though I set it to 225 to warm it up.... Strange, but it lit so whatever. AFTER my 14 hour brisket there was two tablespoons of ash in the ash tray??(I should have known something was up) So next time I go to grill a steak, it didn't light!! and I could hear and see the auger pushing pellets.??(actually overflowed unburnt pellets out of the fire pot) I took everything out and I had at least 1-2 gallons worth of ash piles in the bottom of the unit outside the fire pot!!?? ( I know what you are thinking... and NO this condition is not visible unless the drip trays are removed!) So that screen in the bottom of the firepot was not letting ash (like mentioned in Derrick's vid here) gravity feed to the ASH tray. All this time!!!. OKJ owners check your fire pots and the area around it for ash! I was quite shocked. I know if I call OKJ they will just assume I never emptied it. (its always user error) but I did, trust me. This makes me wonder if the quality of pellets really does make a difference?? I use primarily Pit Boss Competition blend for most of my use because its the cheapest! CHECK YOUR FIRE POTS people! Thanks for the video Derrick!
I also have the rider 900 it always works great for me ….. but i have 25 to 30 degree higher temperature readings than what it’s set at. Have you noticed this?
@@davidweeks9144 yes. Same. I use a rain bird 4 probe Bluetooth thermometer and one of those 4 is dedicated to ambient temp clipped to the top of the bottom rack and shows usually 20 deg f lower temps.
@@davidweeks9144 also, on a frequent basis I recommend removing the grates and drip pan and cleaning out all the ash. It builds up fairly often. Plus scrape the drip pan before long cooks because last brisket I did for Christmas the butcher paper caught on fire 🔥!!! It was right before I pulled it so I still cut it up and served it. Also I did have one malfunction based on the ash collector on the bottom of the fire pit filling up with ash Eve though I unscrewed it and dumped it. It could be because I use the cheapest pellets available. Pit boss Competition blend. It seems to church up and cause ash screen to plug up.
The temperature swing I had from day one, so I adjust accordingly.🤔
See. My biggest issue is when I cook, I get drunk, and by the time I'm done cooking. I'm drunk. So I pull the food off, and shut it down like an idiot. 🤣🤣
Just got one can't wait to smoke me some meat.