Yoder Smokers Community Forum

I was cooking a smoked pot roast and had been cooking at 350 for about 3 hours in my YS1500. I went to open the hopper door to check on my pellet level and smoke began to emit from where the auger feeds the pellets. I tried to move the remaining pellets out of the way hoping to prevent a hopper fire but the smoke was coming from within the auger hole. Closing the hopper door seemed to stop the smoke from happening but reopening the hopper door it would begin to emit smoke again. I ended up just leaving the hopper door closed and it never did erupt into a full hopper fire but now I'm concerned about one occurring and wondering if there is something I need to keep an eye out for it. I hadn't really seen this happen before in any of my cooks. I had vacuumed the ash from my smoker before starting the cook as I do before every cook.

You need to verify that the silicone seals around the firebox, especially the one on the hopper wall are not compromised.

You need to verify that the burn grate fits as tightly as possible in the firebox. This is the number one reason for a hopper fire, lack of maintenance and fitment of the burn grate in the firebox. The smaller the gap between the hopper wall and the burn grate, the better your cooker will perform, and the more efficient your fire will be.

Lastly, you need to verify that both fans are running: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=354

Does it make sense to try to keep the hopper full to reduce the chance of air feeding a potential hopper fire?

tlputer wrote:Does it make sense to try to keep the hopper full to reduce the chance of air feeding a potential hopper fire?

It really doesn't matter how many pellets are in the hopper, other than the amount of damage if there is a burn back.

A burn back is completely avoidable by doing the required maintenance to the cooker, burn grate and firebox, cleaning the ash before every cooking session, making sure to use premium, non-moisture contaminated pellets, and keeping the lid closed during the cool down after turning the cooker off.

If the internal fan fails, which is very rare, the ash can build up in the burn grate and cause a burn back, but again, this very rare. Here is a test to see if both fans are running: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=354

This happened again on another 350 degree cook. I took a lot of pictures this time which I'll send to Herb to see if he can notice something odd. I did do the fan test and I have confirmed both fans are working. I'll follow up on this thread after we know what is happening.

What is the serial number and build date of the cooker?

Make sure to take pictures of the ash in the burn grate before you clean it out.

Do you verify the burn grate is fitting as tightly as possible in the firebox before each cook?

Do you clean the ash from the burn grate before each cook?

What brand and flavor of pellets are you using?

Sent the emails and here are the answers to your questions:
- Serial: 17847, 11-10-2014
- Yep, took shots, sent them. Also took shots after I vacuumed.
- Yes, I had cleaned out the burn grate area completely before the cook and placed the burn grate in as tightly as it would go.
- Yes, I vacuum the ash from the burn grate before every cook
- Lumberjack, in this instance it was Oak/Mesquite (60/40)

With Herb's help it seems the cause may be my use of or the condition of my Lumberjack Mesquite pellets on my 5+ hour 350 degree cooks building up too much ash. Next time I do this I'll try out another pellet flavor and see how it goes. Based on today's 13hr @250 brisket cook all systems are working as they are supposed to.

Yup, did another 5+ cook at 350 but this time with OHC pellets and my ash collection was normal. I'll try not to use my Mesquite pellets for these cooks.