Here I am again mak will not reach temp

turbov6camaro

New member
update- 12OCT 2019
wanted to run some before i updated, the perfect mix pellets were the issues, MAK suggested a few brands and the Lumber were close to me, no issue in nearly 4 bags of pellets.



1 hour 20 min in now
Fresh pellets
First 30 minutes wouldn't go above 150 I turned it off and took everything out and scraped and vaccummed

For 50 minutes been sitting here with it set on grill
Highest temp is 190 hovering around 150 160 now

Set temp at smoke grill set me message it was at temp

Put temp at 350 not at grill nothing

The surgery is running like it's smoke and not grill
 
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turbov6camaro

New member
I do yes.

I found in the manual to put in manual mode and after it started throwing a fire alarm (at 350 ish) I put it back in auto and then it heated up, to 350/400 it didn't hit 450 until after i was dont eating dinner, I let stay there until it burnt all the fuel (it needed a good long hot cook to "self clean" anyway

i haven't tried to heat it back up again yet, ill have to vaccum it out again first

im using perfect mix brand of pellets i store them in charcoal storage bins'
 

TentHunter

Moderator
I know a lot of people seem to like the perfect mix, but I didn't care for it on its own. It's very ashy, and does not seem to be a good mix for high heat. And that was in two different pellet grills, and different batches of pellets. The "no oak" advertisement on them isn't a selling point for me. Try mixing it 50/50 with some oak and see if they don't perform better.
 

mcschlotz

Member
I do yes.

I found in the manual to put in manual mode and after it started throwing a fire alarm (at 350 ish) I put it back in auto and then it heated up, to 350/400 it didn't hit 450 until after i was dont eating dinner, I let stay there until it burnt all the fuel (it needed a good long hot cook to "self clean" anyway

i haven't tried to heat it back up again yet, ill have to vaccum it out again first

im using perfect mix brand of pellets i store them in charcoal storage bins'

When turned on, the MAK defaults to web/wifi control being ON. When not planning to control via the makgrillsmobile app the first thing I always do is turn that off and manually set the Pellet Boss to my desired temp.

Regarding the perfect mix pellets, I'm of the same opinion as Cliff. The perfect mix isn't my first choice (or second). There are other (better) pellet options IMHO. I've tried a few of them and finally settled on BBQr's Delight which I've been using exclusively now for the last 4 years. YMMV
 
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Salmonsmoker

New member
I know a lot of people seem to like the perfect mix, but I didn't care for it on its own. It's very ashy, and does not seem to be a good mix for high heat. And that was in two different pellet grills, and different batches of pellets. The "no oak" advertisement on them isn't a selling point for me. Try mixing it 50/50 with some oak and see if they don't perform better.

BTU ratings for the wood types involved are: Hickory 4327, Oak(white or red) 3757, Maple 3757, Apple 3712, Black Cherry 2880. If the four wood groups in Perfect Mix (Hickory, Maple, Apple, Black Cherry) are in equal proportions the combined BTU is 3769, which is a little higher than Oak at 3757 BTU. The Perfect Mix may produce more ash, but the heat issue doesn't hold water. My $.02 :)
 

rwalters

New member
BTU ratings for the wood types involved are: Hickory 4327, Oak(white or red) 3757, Maple 3757, Apple 3712, Black Cherry 2880. If the four wood groups in Perfect Mix (Hickory, Maple, Apple, Black Cherry) are in equal proportions the combined BTU is 3769, which is a little higher than Oak at 3757 BTU. The Perfect Mix may produce more ash, but the heat issue doesn't hold water. My $.02 :)

If the MAK cannot exceed 200° degrees... then unless the pellets are wet, I seriously doubt that PM pellets are the culprit... I just find that extremely hard to believe. I have burned hundreds and hundreds of pounds of Perfect Mix and have never had an issue hitting 450° which is the hottest I ever cook on my MAK. There has to be something else going on at the controller level or perhaps a mechanical issue. I have no doubts MAK will figure it out :)
 

TentHunter

Moderator
BTU ratings was a major discussion years ago on this forum (but that section has since been removed).

BTU ratings for the wood types involved are: Hickory 4327, Oak(white or red) 3757, Maple 3757, Apple 3712, Black Cherry 2880. If the four wood groups in Perfect Mix (Hickory, Maple, Apple, Black Cherry) are in equal proportions the combined BTU is 3769, which is a little higher than Oak at 3757 BTU. The Perfect Mix may produce more ash, but the heat issue doesn't hold water. My $.02 :)




Boy, I sure hate to point this out, but look at the BTU chart again and you'll see that what you added was the weight of wood per cord.

Based on that chart, the BTU Ratings FOR FIREWOOD (not pellets) are as follows - expressed in million BTUs per cord:

Oak: 24 - 36.6 (depending on species, and you don't know - red/white = 24)

Shagbark Hickory: 27.7
Black Cherry: 19.5
Sugar maple: 24
Apple: 25.8

The average BTU for the PM (assuming they are in equal proportion) would be 24.25

Now, here's the issue with that chart:

First, it's rated on how many BTU's are in a cord of wood (which is how people but firewood), not BTU's per pound (which is how we buy pellets). The only way to get a true comparison would be to compare equal amounts of weight.


Second, those BTU ratings are for split firewood, NOT pellets, which changes things a bit. The density of the wood plays a role in how tightly they compress into pellets.

Pine heating pellets, for example, are known to have a HIGHER BTU rating than hardwood heating pellets. Go figure!


I have yet to see a BTU chart of cooking pellets, rated pound for pound, by species of wood. Until then we only rely on shared experiences.

Now... Having said all that, I remember years ago, Candy Sue (the owner of BBQer's Delight) talked about this. She said that BBQer's Delight was oak blended, because their research showed oak was what burned consistently the hottest and cleanest.

The first time I ever burned 100% hickory, I could not believe how much more ash it produced.


Either way, I do not believe the pellets were his issue. Just my 2¢ about my experience with those pellets.

Add that to your 2¢ and we now have 4¢! :cool:
 
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Salmonsmoker

New member
You're right Cliff, BTU's by volume, and by weight don't do a lateral comparison. All the species in the BTU chart are measured by the same method(volume), but doesn't include the weight, which is measured in lbs/1000BF. That's easily found, but as you stated, it doesn't account for density when being pelletized.
 

turbov6camaro

New member
okay guys start out a ckicken on smoke, like i always do for the first 60 minutes, then i bump the grill up to 350-400 (depeding on how hungery we are lol

The Wifi disconnected witch it has NEVER done, on at least 4 overnight cooks.

i walked out to fix it and it had a flame out, so i had it restart, the smoke smell horrible, almost like plastic.

it had 3 big "poof type explosion like back draft.

I shut it down and the fire was still burning and i had to use water to put it out.

the fire box was nearly completely full witch I just clean this thing out. I have burn 2 full pellet boxes and never had an issue before and ther was only a little ash in the box

im not sure what is going on, while this is a new batch of pellets I dont really know what is going on
 

rwalters

New member
Man, sorry to hear about these issues. Perhaps I should know this, but I don’t...
-How long have you owned this MAK? Is it brand new?
-Does this MAK have the brand new “k-style probe” Pellet Boss controller?
-What version of firmware are you running? If you don’t know, turn on the Pellet Boss and hold down the UP arrow til it displays.
-Have you spoken with MAK support about these issues?

This has gotta get resolved so that you can start enjoying and loving your MAK like so many of us get to do numerous times each week :)

Robb
 

TentHunter

Moderator
The Wifi disconnected witch it has NEVER done, on at least 4 overnight cooks.

i walked out to fix it and it had a flame out, so i had it restart, the smoke smell horrible, almost like plastic.

it had 3 big "poof type explosion like back draft.

I shut it down and the fire was still burning and i had to use water to put it out.

the fire box was nearly completely full witch I just clean this thing out. I have burn 2 full pellet boxes and never had an issue before and ther was only a little ash in the box

...while this is a new batch of pellets I dont really know what is going on



First, the fact that your MAK stayed connected for at least four overnight cooks is awesome, but it doesn't mean a thing! WiFi to ANY device can disconnect at any time, without notice for a myriad of reasons. I don't care what brand the router is, etc. Just something to be aware of.

Second, about the mini explosion; this has happened to others, and not just MAK owners. If you ever have a flame out, you must turn the grill off and empty the now full firepot before restarting the grill. Not doing so can cause a lot of excess smoldering because the pellets around the igniter are burried and starved of oxygen. Once the pellets do finally ignite, the buildup of smoke gasses can also ignite causing that "poof" you heard, followed by a fire pot full of burning pellets.


Was this "new batch of pellets," perfect mix?
 
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turbov6camaro

New member
This is a 2018 modle I bought in Feb/mar 2019

The pellets are PM I cannot get bbqd anywhere local that I know of.

Also I do wireless for a living and use commercial hardware at my house, it's very rare for the wireless to be the cause
 
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rwalters

New member
This is a 2018 modle I bought in Feb/mar 2019

The pellets are PM I cannot get bbqd anywhere local that I know of.

Gotcha! So you’ve had this MAK for about 6 months and all was well until just recently? In other words, you’ve been happily cooking away and all of a sudden these temp issues started?
 

sschorr

Member
I also have a 2018. I also had issues with WiFi dropping. Back then, the MAK's controller firmware would drop into "smoke" setting if your WiFi disconnected. This could be particularly problematic if you were cooking at a higher temp, suddenly switching to "smoke" setting may, depending on many circumstances, have created the conditions that would lead the "poof" situation.

So, as the others have advised, call MAK support. There is a firmware update that changes the behavior of the MAK losing WiFi connectivity AND a change to the firmware that appears to have stabilized the WiFi disconnects, at least for me. MAK Support will get you through this I am sure. Great people, easy to talk to you and very, very ready to make things right.
 

turbov6camaro

New member
I also have a 2018. I also had issues with WiFi dropping. Back then, the MAK's controller firmware would drop into "smoke" setting if your WiFi disconnected. This could be particularly problematic if you were cooking at a higher temp, suddenly switching to "smoke" setting may, depending on many circumstances, have created the conditions that would lead the "poof" situation.

So, as the others have advised, call MAK support. There is a firmware update that changes the behavior of the MAK losing WiFi connectivity AND a change to the firmware that appears to have stabilized the WiFi disconnects, at least for me. MAK Support will get you through this I am sure. Great people, easy to talk to you and very, very ready to make things right.
I'm on mak 3.2, thought this already had WiFi fix?
 
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