Need some help with my woodwind.

[Edgarcruztacoma]

So i have use my woodwind three times. On the third time it caught fire. I dont know what caused it because it was working fine.

So i tried turning it on a week later, after cleaning it, and a ton of smoke started coming out of everywhere. I had it at 175 degrees.

I am paranoid after the first fire so i don't know if thats normal or not. Any advice?

 

[bobbygee]

I have the WW and heavy smoke billowing out when first starting is normal for me as well. As long as the fire wasn't in the housing where the auger screw lives or in the pellet hopper, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Edgarcruztacoma]

Thank you. How long does it take for it to normalize the smoke after turning on? And should i keep the lid closed when first starting it? Again thanks a bunch i will try it again this weekend.

 

[TulsaJeff]

I am not sure about the fire.. that does concern me however when you first start it up, leave the lid open until you hear the roaring fire down below in the firepot.

To break it down..

When you first start it up, you'll hear the pellets begin to drop into the firepot. The hot rod is heating up and just as soon as the pellets come in contact with the hot rod, they will begin to smoke.

After a few minutes, you start seeing a lot of smoke for about 3-5 minutes then it bursts into flame and you'll hear it roaring and the fire will burn up the smoke. The smoke will literally disappear within 15 seconds or so after the roar of the fire starts.

At that point, you can close the lid and turn the knob to the temperature you want to maintain.

Total time from start to closing the lid is about 8 minutes.

I recommend leaving it on "Lo Smoke" to preheat until you place the meat on the grate. After the meat is in the smoker, turn it up one notch to "Hi Smoke" to maintain an average of 225°F.

The Woodwind has wide temperature swings in the Lo and Hi Smoke settings and this is by design to help create more smoke while still maintaining an average of the set temperature.

 

[mofo]

Good info Jeff. Thanks!
I just received a new controller, thermometer and meat probe due to a temp spike I had while cooking ribs. This was the 5th time I have used my smoker. It went up to the 375 - 425 range and did not want to come down. This was towards the end of my 5 hour cook. Prior to the spike it was around 220 - 240 degrees on HiSmoke setting. Customer service was great and quick to send out new parts plus a bag of competition pellets to test with. Have not smoked with the new parts added yet, but tried several different temp combinations and it appears to be working ok.