MAK Grills Tech Talk, Fan and Air Flow

MAK DADDY

Moderator
MAK Grills uses a Tubeaxial Fan to produce 100+ CFM of airflow into the firepot and cooking chamber. There are a lot of advantages to this fan vs. most other pellet grills that use a muffin fan. The muffin style has to have half the blades exposed in order to produce air so they either leave it exposed or put some sort of wire cage over it.

There are a few main advantages to this fan:

1) We can totally inclose the fan inside the grill housing and still produce airflow because the fan exhausts it own air through the fins. This is why you can feel a little air blowing out the vent holes on your MAK, its not blowing air the wrong direction but instead exhausting any back pressure air then returning it right back into the grill.

2) We can apply different voltages to the fan to change speeds! This is how we are capable of burning fewer pellets than grills with a constant speed fan. Other advantages to this is temperature control, by controlling the O2 to the fire we can maintain better temp's especially at the lower range as well as produce more smoke. If you listen carefully you can hear the fan slow down or speed up depending on your temp set point of the grill. The fan may also change speeds on its own during certain built in scenarios the Pellet Boss controller may encounter (like cool down, changing temps, ignition cycle etc.).

3) The fan is extremely durable, they are rated for 25,000hrs of use (probably 100yrs of BBQ).

Air Flow: The MAK uses the fan for cooling the auger motor, pushing super heated air through the igniter, adding O2 to the fire pot and convection cooking in the grill. Airflow is really important for a pellet grill, especially when you slow down the fan! To maintain a good flow you need to keep your exhaust louver vents clear. If you use foil be sure to not block the vent slots in the grease pan.

You should never have to change the fan but if you do, simply unplug it from the controller and remove the screw holding the fan air panel in place (2 star only) then pull the fan and the air panel all out together.

Did you know: The fan is also an original part of the first MAK Grills, we have been using the same fan since 2009! We have however made many changes to the fan air panel in the 2 Star to reduce the vibrating of the auger motor including the latest 2018 grills.
 

Big Poppa

Administrator
another great post and more information supporting just how much thought, design and quality parts go into our smokers!
 

MAK DADDY

Moderator
Thanks, I was given the idea from a customer who drove here from out of state to pick up his MAK and tour the shop to see them made. He said he had researched pellet grills and the MAK in particular for months before deciding to buy. While on tour putting my engineer cap on I was telling him all about these type of details along the way. While I'm not very good at "selling the sizzle" as they say I am really good at the technical innovation of the grills (puts some people to sleep I know). The customer stated that he had no idea about these inner workings of the grill and that I should find a way to share them on the internet for others to read and learn how truly great the MAK is from a design and engineering standpoint. So here we go, hope you enjoy this half as much as I do :)
 

rwalters

New member
Is it true that the Pellet Boss, when set to 450°+, that the fire is stoked and fed in a more aggressive manner than say 425°? I have heard that the pit will come to temp quicker when set to 450° vs 425° because of how the fire is treated.
 

MAK DADDY

Moderator
Is it true that the Pellet Boss, when set to 450°+, that the fire is stoked and fed in a more aggressive manner than say 425°? I have heard that the pit will come to temp quicker when set to 450° vs 425° because of how the fire is treated.

No, both set points (425 or 450) would have the same path. Feed pellets until the grill reaches set point then stop and monitor the temp for next calculation of pellet dumps to maintain desired temp.

We will discuss more of this in the Pellet Boss Topics to come.

The "High" or "Grill" (depends on the version of your pellet boss controller) set point will feed pellets continuously regardless of pit temp until the grill reaches 500 degrees at which point the grill will stop feeding pellets until the temp falls below 500 again.
 

rwalters

New member
Alright, we’ll let you slide this time... IF you’ll promise us we’ll see the unveiling of the MAK mini this summer ;)
 

MAK DADDY

Moderator
I like this guy :)
Can't promise anything except we are working extremely hard on the next generation of the Mini-MAK.
 

rwalters

New member
Fair enough! Have a great and well deserved vacation :)

Who’s holding down the fort in your absence? If it’s Bruce, I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for billowing smoke...lol!!! Although smoke coming from MAK HQ, is probably a good thing ;)
 
Top Bottom