Z Grills Smoky Hopper

If you have smoke coming from the hopper, start by:
1. Opening the grill and hopper lids
2. Disconnect the grill from power
3. Empty the hopper of wood pellets
4. Once cooled down, do a full clean of the fire-pot and hopper.

Smoky hopper causes

Smoke coming out from the hopper (burn back) is a problem that most pellets smoker grills can sometimes experience.

Here are the reasons why this can happen:

• MAIN REASON: Excessive ash build up in the fire-pot, due to:
  • Haven’t vacuumed fire-pot out recently
  • Using very ashy or moist wood pellets
• Large accumulation of pellets in the fire-pot leading to a huge fire in the fire-pot. This can happen if the fire has gone out and then reignited.
• Operating at a high temperature and turning directly to Shut Down (basic PID controllers).

What to do

Grill already turned to Shut Down Cycle or OFF

If the grill is already in Shut Down Cycle (you have finished cooking) or turned OFF, proceed to the Clean Out Hopper section below.

Grill still operating (in middle of cook)

1. Remove the food from the grill.
2. Open the grill and hopper lids and directly unplug the grill from power. This stops more air flow feeding the burn-back.
3. Proceed to Clean Out Hopper.
4. It is sometimes possible to keep the grill running and clear the burn-back, but the fact that it occurs in the first place indicates something is wrong so highly recommended to turn of the grill and do a full clean.

Clean out hopper

1. Unplug the grill from power.
2. Remove all the pellets from the hopper right down to the auger. Do NOT use a vacuum as it can suck live sparks through into the hopper and even into the vacuum.
3. The guard in the hopper can be removed temporarily by undoing the screws under the front rear lip (700 series grills, shown below) or right side (450A) allowing access to the bottom of the hopper. Take care not to drop the screws down the auger as they can get jammed.

4. Once the grill is cooled down enough to safely do so, remove the grease tray and heat baffle and look inside the fire-pot. If it is 1/3 or more full of ash and pellets wait at least 1 hour until totally cold then vacuum out the fire-pot. If minimal ash, then proceed directly to the next step.
5. Feed the remaining wood pellets out of the auger tube, but firing up the grill and running until empty (PID controller) or using the Feed Pellet function in the menu (Wireless controller).
6. Vacuum out the hopper, fire-pot and feed tube so totally clean of ash and pellets.
7. Complete initial startup procedure to prime the auger tube with pellets for normal operation. The grill does not need to be burnt in again.

Preventing a smoky hopper

• Vacuum out the fire-pot after each long cook, or short cook if using high ash (oak based) pellets.
• Some brands of pellets product huge amounts of ash and will very easily cause this issue. Avoid using them if possible. For more information about wood pellets, click here.
• Avoid pouring wood pellets dust from the bottom of the bag into the hopper. Consider scooping pellets from a bag/bucket with a sieve (to remove the dust) when adding to the hopper.
• PID Controller: After running the grill at high temperature (>160ºC) turn it down to a low temperature (107ºC or lower) for at least 10 minutes to allow the fire to die down, then turn to Shut Down.
• If the grill ever shows an LER or Flame Out errors, never turn the grill directly back on again. Always check the fire-pot first as it could be full of wood pellets. Learn more about LER here.

Extra keywords: smokey, burnback, smokeback