Yoder Smokers Community Forum

Hello there, I am having trouble getting my YS640 to start properly. The firmware number is U26. It is about -20 C here today and I started it up like I usually do, H3 in this weather, and I heard pellets starting to drop so I closed the cover and walked away. I seen smoke starting to come out the chimney after about 10 min or so and I came back after about 25 min, temp was increasing and at about 150. Came back in another 10 min and it was heating showing 350 but there was no fire. I turned it off, unplugged it, removed the grates and there was no fire in the pot, just some burnt pellets. I cleaned it up put a handful of pellets in and tried it again. I got a flame going came back 20 min later no fire and fire pot was 1/2-3/4 full of unburned pellets. The same thing was happening around Christmas time but I finally got it to work properly, after numerous trys. Today I tried 5 different times and it kept going out. I also tried H1, H2, H3 and there was no difference in the starting times, or it staying lit. I could always hear pellets start to drop, but it sounded like it always took a while for them to start dropping. Im using bbq delight sugar maple pellets, and the previous time was hickory. Any suggestions on anything it could be?

What mode is the controller displaying, heat up, cool down or maintenance?

It was showing heat up.

Where are you storing your pellets?

I would remove all the pellets, and put in fresh, known good pellets and try again.

They are being stored in the bags they came In, in a big wooden crate in my shed. I've always also have left the pellets in the hopper between cooks. I used the same practice last winter with no problems at all. I will try another bag and see if there is a difference.

In reviewing your communications with us, it appears that you have resolved your issues, and have found that the pellets that you were using were the problem. Once you switched to known good pellets, your cooker worked as it should and as expected.

Just wanted to post the results for other that may be wanting to know the outcome and for those in the future that search the forum for answers.