700 degree's ain't pretty!! rocks Stepped up to rectify!

Harry Nutczak · Last edited by Harry Nutczak on Oct 02 2007; edited 1 time in total

I fired up the stumps this evening to get it warmed up for a real early start in the morning, I went out to check it becuase i was smelling something that did not smell too good,

it smelled like a house fire!!

the fan was still running even though my set temp was met 500 degree's ago!!, the stoker temp read 737 degrees!!! yes it was correct!!

the door thermometer lapped itself!! it went all the way around!

WTF!!! now my probe wires are all melted to schitt!! and I got an Insulated stumps that is too hot to touch on the outside!!

isn't technology wonderful? I got the stoker so I could run the stumps lightly attended to unattended of needed.

The fan turned that firebox into a blast furnace!!

Damn-it!! I hope my insurance covers any damage to the smoker that this may have caused!

And I got a cook tomorrow that I need to do 360 pounds of beef!!

Not like I can rent a cooker around here!!

So, be careful using a stoker, I thought I could trust it.

EDIT:.............

Rocks BBQ called me today to apologize, had me check the fan for damage & proper operation., (it is fine) and is replacing the damaged pit probe and adding a food probe to the deal.

He was sincerely concerned, he also asked if there was any monetary losses involved from damaged foods that needed to be compensated for.

Customer service is excellent! I made the correct choice by choosing the stoker. it had an issue that could have had less severe consequences by me setting the over-temp alarms.

So, based on product quality and customer service I will defenitely stay a customer of Rock's BBQ and the stoker product.
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Birchwood76 · Joined: 10 Sep 2007 Posts: 13 Location: Birchwood Wisconsin

I hope that all is well with the stumps and you can get things together for your cook, I am thinking of ya and wishing you all th best.

elk · BBQ Fan Joined: 19 Jun 2006 Posts: 328 Location: St. Louis

That really sucks!

Kosmos Q · Posted: Sep 30 2007 Post subject:

Dang! That sucks! Crying or Very sad

let us know how your smoker is doing.
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Muscle Head BBQ · Posted: Sep 30 2007 Post subject:

Harry, if you lived closer I would let you borrow mine. Hope everything goes well.

flex....................
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gpalasz · Posted: Sep 30 2007 Post subject:

That blows...thats why I wouldnt use a stoker or something to control my pit...besides...whats the fun having something do all the work. Hope your equipment is all fine.
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Sa-Mokin · Posted: Sep 30 2007 Post subject:

OH what a bummer!

So did it completely toast you Stumper? Got any idea what what actually went wrong?
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Harry Nutczak · Posted: Sep 30 2007 Post subject:

it took a while to get everything cooled down, alot of funky noises going on while I was misting the interior with water.

No apparent damage, the stumps chugged along great since.

I need to re-oil & coat everything with a heavy smoke again. The interior is as dry as a popcaorn fart after that and I do not want it to get rusty now.

So, what is the correct way to open the door on a smoker running at 750 degrees??? carefully maybe??
Can we say "Flash Over" with a brilliant blue flame that seemed to hover weightlessly in the cold air.

I had a pretty good chance of having a ball of flame come bursting out when the fresh air hit the oil residue on the interior form past cooks.

I did not have the "Over-Temp" alarm set, maybe that would have stopped it from getting that high.

The thing has worked flawlessly on every cook we have done, sometimes running for 48 hours non-stop.
Nothing odd during start-up to warn me things were amiss either.
I love the way it gets the pit up to temp in less then 1-hour.

Well, it shows me that stumps don't make no junk!! it seems fine after that which impressed me pretty good. I bet a WSM or any other non-insulated cooker would have melted or blown off all the paint and turned into a rust ball.
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Just remember that the toes you may step on during your climb to the top will also be attached to the a$$es you'll be forced to kiss on your way back down!

gpalasz · Posted: Sep 30 2007 Post subject:

withing what temp range do the GF models hold temps w/out a stoker? It seems they would hold them vey close..dont see why one of those models even need a stoker or guru? I have a Stumps uninsulated model...and I know everything is top notch.
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Smoke on the Horizon · Posted: Sep 30 2007 Post subject:

Harry,

Glad that you are all right and the cooker seem to survived o.k.

I always believe that anything man made can fail and at some point it will.
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Big Tom · Posted: Sep 30 2007 Post subject:

The smoker should have been fine. Except for the growing pains from the themal expansion. Eventhough the insulation is rated at 1200 degrees there are some conductive joints that will transmit the heat to the skin of the cooker to let you know things are cooking. Normally in the 225 degree smoking range it is not a obvious.

Now when the temp controller shoots a wad on you and the fan goes into after burner mode, all bets are off.

Good to hear that things are back in control.
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ceedubya · Posted: Sep 30 2007 Post subject:

That sucks, glad to hear everything came out well. My wife just bought me a stoker for our 10th anniversary after listening to me drop hints for months. Hope I don't have issues....

Harry Nutczak · Posted: Sep 30 2007 Post subject:

Birchwood76 · Joined: 10 Sep 2007 Posts: 13 Location: Birchwood Wisconsin

Its good to hear that all is well with your stokes, but how did the smoke go after wards did all turn out ok?

SoEzzy · Posted: Oct 01 2007 Post subject:

So now you know you can get it up to 700, are you adding pizza to the menu? Laughing

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adolpho · Posted: Oct 01 2007 Post subject:

Harry Nutczak · Posted: Oct 01 2007 Post subject:

VictoryRay · Posted: Oct 02 2007 Post subject: This is funny

so heres what happened to me on sunday. i was cooking ribs on my big grren egg, and used the storker in it for the first time. to make a long story short, i had unpluged the blower to keep it from running while i did some work with the dome open. after i closed the dome, i pluged the blower back in, and it started running. i wanted to watch to see how long it would take for the temp to get back to its setting, so i sat down and watched the readout. the temp way over shot its target and the blower KEPT running. turns out, you can plug the blower (most of the way, but not all) in and it will contunuesly run. i then pluged it ALL the way in and it went back to working great again.

just a little story and some FYI

ray

swinebuck · Posted: Oct 02 2007 Post subject:

I use a poor man's stoker on my Stumps. I open the ball valve full and hold a hair dryer over the valve opening for a few minutes (about one beer) and the Stumps is up to temp. I then close the valve about half way to keep the temp constant. When I open the door I hit it again for about 30 seconds and then let her go. It holds temp untill I open it again. Unfortunatly there are alot more things on the priority list ahead of the Stoker for the near future.
Thanks
Mike
Swinebuck
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Harry Nutczak · Posted: Oct 02 2007 Post subject:

I edited my original post,

Rock's BBQ stepped up to the plate and handled the issues like the professionals that they are.

I am very pleased.
He has gone above & beyond, no blame games were played, and he wassincerely concerned about damage & possible loss of food product!
Read the edit on the first post if interested.
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Just remember that the toes you may step on during your climb to the top will also be attached to the a$$es you'll be forced to kiss on your way back down!