Howdy, Pelletheads! I've been sittin' here smokin up a 10 pound Boston Butt and figured I'd actually post something on here. I've been lurking for a while now, I reckon it's about time to contribute. Y'all can be the judges on whether or not this post is actually a contribution.
My introduction to pellet grills was back in 2012. Every year I get together with 2 soldiers I went to Iraq with and we hang out, doing the things we do. I had been using a typical offset charcoal/wood smoker that had been given to me. When I got to my friend's house for our party, he had a Green Mountain pellet grill and cooked us some of the best burgers I'd ever had. I'd never even heard of a pellet grill prior to this, but I knew one thing..... I had to own one. Thus, the search and the quest began. In very short order, I went to ATBBQ looking for a Green Mountain grill. (This was the first time I'd been there). That was the day I fell in love with a YS640. The lady I spoke to (Sorry, I can't remember her name, but she's one of the owners.....) showed me the cooker, and answered my questions. She also told me about how she does most of her "oven" cooking outside on a YS640 in the summer time. It was then that she sold me a YS640. Trouble is.... I didn't buy it that day.
I quickly started doing research and discovered that there are dozens of pellet grills out there. Now, I'm a huge "Buy American" kinda guy. I can't tell you how many times over the years I've gone without something simply because I refuse to buy Chinese junk if there's another option. This is no different. I discovered that the other pellet grills were less expensive. I also found that the vast majority are Chinese built. And there's Traeger. Yet another company that started out building a quality American made product, then started having them built in China, without lowering the prices to reflect the inferior quality of materials and slave labor. So i waited. And waited. And waited. Finally in March of this year, I had the money saved and bought my YS640 with Stainless shelves, 2 piece diffuser plate and Grill Grates for the entire lower cook surface.
The day I brought her home, I did the burn in and waited for the family to get home. Now, we have 8 kids at home, (which is another reason for the YS640.... all that cooking area allows me to cook enough to feed a Dothraki Horde), and I decided to grill burgers on the first cook. Since then, I've done ribs (typically 6-8 racks at a time), burgers, dogs, brats, pork chops, lamb chops, steaks, meatloaf, pizza, pasta bake, pie, cake, cobbler, cookies... basically everything a typical family would grill or bake. We haven't fired up the indoor oven all summer, which has helped greatly with the heat in the house.
I've only had 2 issues with my cooker so far. The first hardly worth mentioning. The second had me furious. The first - went to fire it up one day. Turned on the switch, set temp, hit start, but got no ignition. Unplugged and re-pugged, all was right. Cost me maybe 5 minutes of time. No big deal. Since then, I simply make sure I have ignition before I walk away, and it's never done it again.
Now, I typically set the cooker at 150 degrees and put meat on the top shelf. I don't really preheat, per se, but I like that large smoke injection that happens when she's heating up. So, like I said, I'll throw meat on the top rack, turn it on, set to 150 and let er go for an hour or so, then adjust my cooking temp to what I want and rock on.
We were having a birthday party for my brother-in-law, so we got rid of all the kids, had both brothers-in-law, a girlfriend, and mother-in-law over for the gathering. I'd been bragging up my steaks, and everybody was jonesing to have one. I went to the local meat market and had 6 Cowboy Cut Ribeyes cut 1.5" thick for this feast. I get the meat prepped, put it on the top rack, turn it on, set to 150 degrees, and got ignition like normal. About 5-6 minutes in, it shut down. No power. I remembered it's plugged into a GFCI outlet, so I give it a look. Yep, she's tripped. Reset the GFCI, fire the cooker up. About 5-6 minutes, she shuts down. Reset GFCI a final time, and again a few minutes later, it trips. I have questioned that circuit before, so plugged it into a different outlet (non-GFCI) on a different circuit. Fire it up again. A few minutes later, it shuts down again. Blown fuse.
I do a quick bit of research and discover my ignitor is the most likely culprit and that I can simply disconnect it, and fire the grill back up using a propane torch. Simple. Not so much. The grill was hot by this point, so I had to unload it, remove the diffuser plate and the firebox to get to the ignitor plug. Got that done and went to put in a new fuse. That's when I realized it's a non-standard, non easily-obtainable fuse.2 hardware stores, 3 auto supply houses. No one carried that janky sized 1.6 amp fuse. I decided to roll the dice when I found one that was the right dimensions but was a 2 amp. By now, I'm reminded of my hatred for engineers.
I got home with the 2 amp fuse, lit the pit with the propane torch and was able to have a successful (albeit late) cook. The family was impressed, and my mother-in-law was forced to admit it was better than Texas Roadhouse (Month old leftover Fried Bologna surpasses TR in my opinion).
Back to the ignitor and engineers. Now, I'm not an engineer, but I am a mechanic, and if there's one thing nearly every mech despises, it's an engineer (and I'm married to one). Engineers don't care about accessibility to actually work on something, and don't care about availability. They decided for whatever reason to use a non-standard fuse, instead of designing the system around a standard, easy-to-obtain fuse. Not only that, but what a major PITA to disconnect that ignitor in a hot grill loaded with food. I have since connected the ignitor to a toggle switch. It remains in the on position. However, next time it fails, I can simply turn the switch off, which will electrically remove it from the system and I can fire it up with a torch.
ATBBQ was friendly and didn't hesitate to warranty the ignitor. That really never was a concern as I knew their customer service is first-rate all the way. This cooker is nothing more than another piece of equipment, with electronics. There's never been a piece of equipment made that didn't require maintenance, and as a mechanic I understand that. Electrical and electronic components fail at any time, often without warning. That's just the nature of the beast. I get that, and I don't fault Yoder for the ignitor fail.
I would challenge YS to find a way to make the ignitor plug more accessible in the event that they burn out during a cook, and use a standard run-of-the-mill fuse.
I love my YS640 and wouldn't trade it for anything. I don't intend for this post to be a YS640 bashing session. In fact, just the opposite. Despite the hiccup I had, I'd buy another in an instant if needed. I believe y'all provide the best product on the market built from the best materials, and built right here, 40 miles from home. I'm a huge fan of promoting the American economy, and the local economy. Thanks YS, for such an amazing cooking machine. Now, I gotta go pull some pork!!!
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