Controller Problems!?! Weber SmokeFire ex4. Software Issue? But I still love this grill!

[@unclegeorgesbbq1085]

Skip to Minute 2:11 to see the problem.

[@Roadrage-oq5js]

I love Weber grills. I have 40 years of experience with them. I couldn't say a bad word about them... until now. My wife bought me the Gen 2 Smokefire. Just put it together yesterday and attempted to season it today. On the first attempt, the grill made it to 400F, then smoke started to pour out of the pellet hopper. I poked around the pellets in the hopper and a bunch of them dropped down into the auger feed. Then, the temperature started to drop, and eventually, the grill went into automatic shut-down because the fire went out. I let the unit cool down, cleaned out the firepot, and tried again. On the second attempt, the grill only went up to about 200F and went into shut-down mode. I let it cool down until the app told me it was OK to power off. I then took everything out of the cooking pot, thoroughly cleaned the burn pot, emptied the pellet hopper, blew out the auger tube with compressed air, vacuumed out all of the ash, and unburned pellets from the bottom of the cooking pot and the grease tray and then made my third attempt at seasoning the grill. Third attempt...ditto second attempt. At this point, I just allowed the unit to cool, powered down, unplugged, and covered to protect from expected showers. I don't want to deal with this thing anymore. I'm calling Weber on Monday morning and looking into returning this poor excuse for a grill for a refund. I'll base my future opinion of Weber on how they deal with this. I don't want to hate on Weber. I have a 12-year-old Weber Spirit gas grill that still operates and cooks perfectly. I've replaced parts here and there over the years, but that's to be expected because I use it a lot. I have a WSM I bought used from a neighbor. It heats up quickly and once you get the air vents adjusted, it holds temperature rock solid and smokes to perfection. I've literally taken Weber grills out of the trash and used them for years with no issues. Everybody fucks up. I'm cool with that, but I'm counting on Weber to do the right thing... We shall see.

[@mXrp13]

This has happened to my EX4 controller 3 times. It will respond, but with a 10-15 second delay of the dial when it does it. Ultimately it always corrects itself and works like normal, but it takes about 30 mins. I am not on an extension cord. Of all the times it has done it, I have had the probes in. Not sure if that's related...

[@unclegeorgesbbq1085]

Hello mike. Do you still have the problem? I havent had the problem since the FW update.

[@mXrp13]

@@unclegeorgesbbq1085 its happened a couple of times since but has never messed up my cook.

[@thomasjacques5286]

Weber, get your shit together. I’m holding off buying a new smoker after my old one died. If you can’t get this fixed I’ll buy the Smokey Mountain charcoal powered smoker.

[@thecaptain2000]

Is the software currently allowing to set the smoke level? Pelletmsmokers are notorious to provide just a ligth smoke touch and other smokers fixed this issue by allowing smoke boost modes via software.

[@unclegeorgesbbq1085]

Renato Dallarmi not yet. I had many pellet smokers and I can tell you that the RecTecs and the smoke fire are the best at giving a good smoke profile on food. Trager timberline is good too, the other traegers not so much.

[@discusthrowerstate]

Do you have an extension cord running to your grill? im sure that can slow down the response

[@unclegeorgesbbq1085]

discusthrowerstate yes I have an extension cord this time. I was using a cheap one thats made for Christmas lights, but I have been using it for years with other pellet grills and never had a problem. But when I use the industrial extension cord, I have not had any issues yet.

[@CookingJoeFoods]

Have you tried using it without the extension cord?

[@unclegeorgesbbq1085]

Yes and I didnt have any problems.

[@CookingJoeFoods]

@@unclegeorgesbbq1085 Nice!

[@the_Crawling_Stones]

The reason for this was the extension cord? 😳 Greetings from Austria 🇦🇹 and thanks for the Information about the smokefire! I'll get mine in a few days!

[@dwormon8525]

Controller bs fix it webber ???

[@unclegeorgesbbq1085]

I replaced the controller twice and still same issue

[@ScottysBackYardBBQ]

you need a #12 cord

[@lildapp76]

Call Weber and open a problem case they may send u a new controller

[@unclegeorgesbbq1085]

lildapp76 I think is a FW issue and it may be fixed in the next update.

[@lildapp76]

I hope so, is Weber sending u a hopper insert? They are suppose to send me one but nothing yet very frustrating