Yoder Smokers Community Forum

So my YS480 has been on the sidelines all year. I went back to using my old Traeger BBQ124 and it's been such a crazy year I never bothered with my Yoder in all this time.

Sometime back in probably March or April I decided to do some chicken wings. I set the temp at 400F or 450F, I don't remember, but whatever happened, I got a grease fire inside. I smothered it, cleaned things up and since then my Yoder hasn't wanted to heat up.


I tried it again this morning for giggles - it seems to start normally, fans running, I hear pellets dropping, and in a few minutes I can smell the smoke and see a tiny bit coming from the stack. This is usually my signal that things are good and I can walk away.

Now, when all this happens, it just never heats up. I hit the start button and it displays the default 350 temp. However, it never heats up, and the display continuously reads 350, but occasionally switches to 3 dashes trending downward (the usual display when the set temp has been overshot) and just keeps repeating this.

Now, I primed the burn pot with some extra pellets and it does ignite, put out lots of smoke initially, and if I pull the diffuser plate off I can see the fire burning merrily.

However, these extra pellets burn up and while I can still hear a rare pellet drop, it never heats up.

I am assuming (big word, I know) that my thermocouple got burned up in my flash grease fire this spring. Can anyone confirm this for me before I just buy a new one?

So, recap - smoker comes on, pellets start, never gets hot, displays 350F set temp alternating with 3 downward stepping lines.


Serial - 18627
Build date - 2/25/15
Firmware r35

Hope that helps. Really like my Yoder, want to get back at it. Lotsa cooking needing to be done in Dec.

I tried emailing [email protected] and got the response that my email was blocked.

Got through on the phone, ordered a new thermocouple. Overnighted. Should be back in business this weekend, I hope.