# Rectec what's bad about them



## skorepeo

So I am thinking about a pellet grill. Does anyone have any complaints about their purchase of a RecTec?


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## seenred

Honestly I can't think of much bad to say about my Rec Tec.  I believe it's hard to beat the quality for the price.  Now, mind you, if I had 3K+ to spend on a grill, there are a few higher end products (Memphis Elite, for example) with some very cool features, but for a thousand bucks, Rec Tec is hard to beat.  Very well made, accurate and consistent temp control, and outstanding customer service.

Red


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## finn99

Great product, good size for the price & everything works as advertised. Of course
I'm sure you've heard of their awesome customer support that come with it.


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## preacher238

I love my Rec Tec.  I have used it more than any smoker or grill I have ever owned.  And I have owned 10+......

The only issue with my rec tec is that sometimes it takes a little while to get up to high temps.


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## frog1369

Skorepeo said:


> So I am thinking about a pellet grill. Does anyone have any complaints about their purchase of a RecTec?


I think you'll be hard pressed to find many complaints.  I searched long and hard for negatives before I bought mine.  There was one negative on Amazon, his bitch was about too little smoke flavor which is subjective and easily remedied if you do want more smoke.  Like Red said, the quality for the price will be hard to beat and the customer service is amazing, before and after the sale.  I mean, seriously, the owners include their cell phone numbers with the shipping documentation.  I've never used their cell numbers, but each time I have called the shop after hours and  left a message, I get a return call within an hour, usually an answer to my question in minutes, plus a lot of patient conversation on tips and tricks.  My family loves ribs and while I usually put out good ribs on my other cookers, the Rec-Tec is soooooooo consistent, my ribs are the best I've ever done and I can consistently do them that way.  Everything else cooks amazingly well, also.  If I had one thing to say and it's not a complaint ........... You can definitely reverse sear a steak on the Rec-Tec, but you have to wait between the preheat of the steak and the heating to sear temp on the Rec-Tec.  So, I preheat my steak on the Rec-Tec at 200 degrees to get smoke, then I move quickly to my pre-heated Weber gasser to finish it off to medium rare.  But, I'm a grill junkie, three different cookers and thinking about adding a Weber One Touch Gold to the arsenal.  I don't think you will be disappointed with a Rec-Tec, especially for the price and the customer service.


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## skorepeo

OK so does anyone have any problems.  Like paint chipping peeling rust malfunctioning parts? Pellets cost more than wood Etc.


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## frog1369

Skorepeo said:


> OK so does anyone have any problems. Like paint chipping peeling rust malfunctioning parts? Pellets cost more than wood Etc.


The powder coat is great, done very well.  The cooker is heavy duty, more so than even my Weber Genesis.  I had the cooling fan on my auger rub against the housing and stop the auger, that took about five minutes to troubleshoot and fix.  All solved on Memorial Day afternoon with a quick phone call.  Did we tell you about the customer service?  
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






Pellet costs, I can get Cookin'pellets for $20/40#, Lumberjack for $17/40# adn have seen others range as high as $22/20#, so just depends on what you want to buy.


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## shtrdave

I have had mine since labor day, I am not sure what to actually call them, they aren't a smoker as they really don't impart a smokey taste, and mine can't e called a grill as it takes an hour to get it to 450° to do an 8 minute steak. I have a cookshack electric and have been used to it giving me the smoke flavor I wanted, but it is on the small size so I went with one of these.

I have pretty much given up on any high temp usage, about as high as I go is 375° if I am doing poultry.

If you are a low slow cook guy 225 and under it may be what you are looking for, if you are a 250-300 cook guy when you smoke, I like to do briskets at 275 you aren't going to get much of the wood smoke flavor. And adding an Amazin Tube will help but not as much as one would think, as placement for the tube plays a big part in how much smoke gets to the product. Ideally I believe the tube should be under the drip pan but that is a pain to do all the time and if it goes out an even bigger pain to relight.

For the size and a lot of the features it is a great deal, couple that with the ability to finance should you need it.

Don't get me wrong I enjoy mine, but if I had to do it again I would definitely put more time and research into it before buying and probably would have a different brand.


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## frog1369

shtrdave said:


> I have had mine since labor day, I am not sure what to actually call them, they aren't a smoker as they really don't impart a smokey taste, and mine can't e called a grill as it takes an hour to get it to 450° to do an 8 minute steak. I have a cookshack electric and have been used to it giving me the smoke flavor I wanted, but it is on the small size so I went with one of these.
> 
> I have pretty much given up on any high temp usage, about as high as I go is 375° if I am doing poultry.
> 
> If you are a low slow cook guy 225 and under it may be what you are looking for, if you are a 250-300 cook guy when you smoke, I like to do briskets at 275 you aren't going to get much of the wood smoke flavor. And adding an Amazin Tube will help but not as much as one would think, as placement for the tube plays a big part in how much smoke gets to the product. Ideally I believe the tube should be under the drip pan but that is a pain to do all the time and if it goes out an even bigger pain to relight.
> 
> For the size and a lot of the features it is a great deal, couple that with the ability to finance should you need it.
> 
> Don't get me wrong I enjoy mine, but if I had to do it again I would definitely put more time and research into it before buying and probably would have a different brand.


You might want to call Ron about that hour to 450.  It was in the low 60s here last weekend when I started it up to clean the grates before a cook.  I set it to 500 and checked the clock, 30 minutes later I went out to see if it was hot enough to brush the grates, it was 490.


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## seenred

shtrdave said:


> I have had mine since labor day, I am not sure what to actually call them, they aren't a smoker as they really don't impart a smokey taste, and mine can't e called a grill as it takes an hour to get it to 450° to do an 8 minute steak. I have a cookshack electric and have been used to it giving me the smoke flavor I wanted, but it is on the small size so I went with one of these.
> 
> I have pretty much given up on any high temp usage, about as high as I go is 375° if I am doing poultry.





frog1369 said:


> You might want to call Ron about that hour to 450.  It was in the low 60s here last weekend when I started it up to clean the grates before a cook.  I set it to 500 and checked the clock, 30 minutes later I went out to see if it was hot enough to brush the grates, it was 490.


The times to get up to high temps in your rigs are concerning...Agree with Frog about calling Rec Tec for some help.  It has never taken longer than 20 minutes to get mine to 500*, even with the drip pan left in place.  Most of the time when I'm direct grilling, my setup includes removing the drip pan, putting some foil in the bottom of the barrel to catch grease, then putting my Grill Grates across the right side.  With this setup, my Rec Tec is usually at 500* in 10 minutes or less....and with those Grill Grates, its a grilling, searing machine!  And shtrdave, I'm sorry to hear you're not getting enough smoke from yours...I've been very happy with the smoke production from mine, especially at cooking temps below 250*

Red


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## frog1369

SeenRed said:


> The times to get up to high temps in your rigs are concerning...Agree with Frog about calling Rec Tec for some help.  It has never taken longer than 20 minutes to get mine to 500*, even with the drip pan left in place.  Most of the time when I'm direct grilling, my setup includes removing the drip pan, putting some foil in the bottom of the barrel to catch grease, then putting my Grill Grates across the right side.  With this setup, my Rec Tec is usually at 500* in 10 minutes or less....and with those Grill Grates, its a grilling, searing machine!  And shtrdave, I'm sorry to hear you're not getting enough smoke from yours...I've been very happy with the smoke production from mine, especially at cooking temps below 250*
> 
> Red


Yeah, I'll bet with the drip pan out and grill grates in she should heat up plenty fast.  I only go hot to burn off the grates, I still have a Weber gasser for those high sears.  I, too, am surprised about the smoke.  I worried about that when I bought it, coming from a Smoke Vault, and used a smoke tube a couple times.  That gave me too much smoke for the most part, on a butt not bad because you pull and mix, but on ribs, just too overpowering.  I get good smoke at 275, better at 250 and about all a person would want at 225.













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__ May 19, 2014


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## shtrdave

I have spoke to Ron a couple of times, he sent me a new auger motor saying he didn't think that would fix it. I put it in and I could tell it run differently, but still no good, I called back and he told me that I should set it at 350 and then let it stabilize for 20 minutes before setting to 500, so 35 minutes or so to get to 350 and then another 20 and it still didn't hit 500 this was with the white bag pellets they send with them. I have switched to another pellet, swapped out the auger motor to one of the faster ones and it still took close to an hour and would not come close to 500 460ish was best it would do. I am going to try another pellet. But I feel I am just spinning my wheels here.

I can say that I wish I had saved up some more cash and went for the FEC100 but they are a lot more coin new have seen used ones for decent deals though.

For the OP here, as you can see there are some out there that have issues, mine is not the only one like this, but I believe you will have that with just about any brand you buy unless you are willing to drop the big dollar on one of the Maks or Memphis unit.


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## skorepeo

After last night's 15 hour marathon pork butt babysitting the chargriller I am looking forward to getting my new RecTec! Now how long does it take to arrive?


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## finn99

Ordered mine on a Thursday @ 4:30pm & had it the following Tuesday in central Illinois. Of course this was in February,
demand wasn't that high probly @ that time of year tho.


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## frog1369

Skorepeo said:


> After last night's 15 hour marathon pork butt babysitting the chargriller I am looking forward to getting my new RecTec! Now how long does it take to arrive?


I think most times it's about a week. I also had a pork butt marathon yesterday, on my Rec Tec.  Of course, I didn't baby sit it, I put the butts on, all 24# of them.  Then I took a trailer of yard waste to the dump, loaded a grill and door on the trailer and delivered it about 45 minutes away.  Stopped at Lowes on the way home for some yard stuff, then at a little Italian deli for some lunch.  Got home, checked the butts, they were about 145 so I mowed the lawn before I wrapped them in foil.  Then I went in, made some beans and watched a little TV (BBQ Pitmasters recorded) until I pulled them off and put them in  cooler to hold. Pulled them right before bed last night about 11:00.













Pulled Pork 2.jpg



__ frog1369
__ Jun 1, 2014


















Pulled Pork 1.jpg



__ frog1369
__ Jun 1, 2014


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## skorepeo

The RecTec arrived last night. I got it together and didn't have any spare parts left.  Got it broke in and seasoned. So a couple of things that I don't like is that the light is always on, the lid doesn't have a seal and the temperature read about 15 degrees higher than my maverick. 

This morning I put a 10 pound butt on and set it to forget it for about 8 hours then I will check it. 

Not gonna be easy since I am used to putting a stick of wood on every hour or so.


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## frog1369

Skorepeo said:


> The RecTec arrived last night. I got it together and didn't have any spare parts left. Got it broke in and seasoned. So a couple of things that I don't like is that the light is always on, the lid doesn't have a seal and the temperature read about 15 degrees higher than my maverick.
> 
> This morning I put a 10 pound butt on and set it to forget it for about 8 hours then I will check it.
> 
> Not gonna be easy since I am used to putting a stick of wood on every hour or so.


Ok, so the light is an issue ........ you should call them on that one for sure, it should go on and off just fine with the light switch.  The lid does not have a seal but that is easy enough to mod if you really find that necessary, which I doubt.  As far as the temp, it depends on where you measure, what you have inside the grill, etc.  15 degrees is really irrelevant, swings on most grills are probably higher than that.  Check out a high end kitchen oven with your Maverick, see how that pans out.  My point is it's not going to be spot on every day. I spent a lot of time with Rec Tec on the phone asking questions about all kinds of things before I bought my grill, the best advice they gave me was to use the grill for a few weeks once I got it, cook the food trusting the displayed temperature and then let them know if there were any issues.  I've only called them once since I got it, Memorial Day afternoon, I thought I had an auger problem.  They answered the phone on the holiday, asked me a few questions, we figured out the fan on the auger motor was hitting the shroud, minor adjustment, problem solved.  I don't even use my Maverick anymore, I just set the temp I want, put the food on and  check it when I think I need to with a Thermapen.  I have three cookers and it would drive me crazy trying to get temps spot on in any of them.  I see guys on here obsessing over it all the time.  Temps are going to swing, typically no two measurement devices side by side are going to be spot on.  There was a time before digital thermometers that people put out some really great Q, concentrate on cooking the food, not all the peripherals. You'll have great food and a lot less stress.  That's what this is supposed to be about, low stress and enjoying what you produce.


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## shtrdave

There is a switch for the light to the right of the controller. The temp differential is something you will get used to and it will vary depending on where you put your maverick probe. The RT guys say the RT sensor is calibrated to read the temp in the center of the grill, so if doing a temp test put the probe directly in the middle. I usually put mine close to where I am cooking close the meat and if there is a big difference then I adjust the set temp to get the maverick to read what I want. Your temps will change through out the temp spectrum, or at least mine does it may start off lower than the RT but as temps go up it ends up the maverick ends up reading higher. 20° isn't so bad if you know about it and can make an adjustment to compensate.

for the lid if you want to seal it up this is where I got mine. I got the self adhesive 1/2x1/8x15 foot I believe and had enough to to do the lid and then some. a tip here is look at the ends of the lid where it closes against the barrel. notice the ends of barrel is raised you may want to try to keep the seal i a bit or something to compensate for the difference. I didn't and mine still leaks some but not so bad. mostly from the top and bottom of the lid. I picked up a Qt of acetone at work or you could get it at a paint store maybe even lowes to clean the lid of the smoke and grease before I put the seal on.

Look here for something that you would like to use.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/islandoutdo..._DefaultDomain_0&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

It is a good piece of machinery, but with anything there are little things that will bug you, but then it is only a $1000.00 dollar thing and not a 3 or 4 thousand dollar Memphis, Mak or Cookshack.

Have fun make some great food and enjoy it, an Amazin Smoke tube from Todd is a great addition, and when ordering get some of the Qmatz from him I use them all the time.


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## skorepeo

Where do you put the amazn tube? 

Wait did you say there's a light switch! Boy do I feel stupid.


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## shtrdave

You can lay the tube on the rack, I usually put mine in the left rear of the cooker the air coming up helps to keep it burning. If you are happy with the smoke flavor you may not want one, I was after a bit more of the smokey taste, even with the tube I am not where I wanted to be flavor wise but the GF is happy so that means so am I. I liked the flavors out of my electric better when it came to smoke. But the Qmatz are great if you are doing small stuff like shrimp or eggs, cheese some veggies.

We won't talk about the light switch.

Please try to give us some shots of the cook and I am really going to be interested in what you think about the flavors, coming from a stick burner to this.


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## skorepeo

Oodate

Pulled pork turned out pretty good as far as smoke flavor compared to a stick burner it seems about the same. I did use the AMAZN tube on the bottom next to the fire pot. it seemed to work pretty good there. I changed out the pellets to fruit wood and am currently doing 2 racks of ribs.I will update everyone when I'm done.


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## shtrdave

That is interesting, I have never gotten the smoke flavor that I had from other cookers. Glad you like it and enjoy the time you have now since you are not adding wood all the time.


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## skorepeo

Iforgot to mention I know someone said they had trouble getting it up to 400 to 500 Degrees. I think they need to get you another grill because this one will get up to about 400 Degrees in about 15 minutes.


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## skorepeo

Ok first try at pics or Qvue. Here are the ribs at 3 hours 













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__ skorepeo
__ Jun 8, 2014


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## seenred

Skorepeo said:


> Ok first try at pics or Qvue. Here are the ribs at 3 hours
> 
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> 20140608_170033.jpg
> 
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> 
> __ skorepeo
> __ Jun 8, 2014


Lookin good so far!  
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






   Keep that Qview coming!

Glad to hear you're liking that new Rec Tec!  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Red


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## shtrdave

Looks like you have the picture thing down, ribs are looking good.

Mine doesn't do high temps, took 18 minutes to get to 275°, did a rack of St Louis cut today, 3 hours at 275 turned out great. mine has only seen 500 once and it took over an hour to get there.


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## skorepeo

All sauced up and ready to go.













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__ skorepeo
__ Jun 8, 2014


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## todd wooten

It took me over an hour to get to 460, and she wouldn't budge after that.  Anybody with similar problems that figured it out?  Over all, I'm pretty happy with it.  Had some problems with UPS damaging the first body that was sent.  But, Ben took care of it the same day had another one shipped, and the damaged one returned.


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## colorthumb

Ive had my Rectec up to 568.. over 500 a couple times.. And it doesn't take an hour to get there either. Seriously, I think it will go higher.. I love my Rectec..

Ch


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## colorthumb

colorthumb said:


> Ive had my Rectec up to 568.. over 500 a couple times.. And it doesn't take an hour to get there either. Seriously, I think it will go higher.. I love my Rectec..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ch









I stopped taking pics but it got hotter.


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## westby

Anyone having problems getting to a high temp can just give Rec Tec a call and they can walk you through adjusting the settings.  I have no desire to go above 450 or so with mine and rarely go over 300 with it (I use my gasser for searing).  It shouldn't need to be said, but make sure you don't have a water pan in it if trying to get to high temp (you really shouldn't use one at all in it).


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## todd wooten

My problem was with the fan.  They sent one out right away, and I easily hit higher temps now.  I rarely cook at higher temps, but when I want a quick steak without having to fire up the Weber Kettle, it's nice to be able to sear one on the Rec Tec.


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## seenred

Todd Wooten said:


> My problem was with the fan.  They sent one out right away, and I easily hit higher temps now.  I rarely cook at higher temps, but when I want a quick steak without having to fire up the Weber Kettle, it's nice to be able to sear one on the Rec Tec.


Hey Todd...glad to hear they got you fixed up.  One more positive RT customer service story...

Red


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## tongatim

I've had my Rec Tec for a year.  Overall, I'm very happy with it. My opinions:

PROS:

-Very high quality for the price

-Customer service is indeed superb.  When the inevitable issues with a new piece of machinery have arisen, I've been able to get through to one of the owners almost immediately, and they have stuck with me until the problem was solved, including pronto shipping of replacement parts on one occasion.

-I get to sleep at night during a long cook of a brisket or pork shoulder.

-Very high capacity for the price.  Easily does 2 briskets or 4 pork butts, and I have managed 3 briskets or 6 butts at a time.

-My family and friends rave about the degree of smokiness, which as I state below, is less than I prefer.

CON:  (only one)

I prefer the strong smokiness to my briskets and butts that I grew up with in the south.  I have put great effort into smoking techniques, different pellets, and mods on the Rec Tec, and have concluded that the flavor I am looking for is not possible on pellet smokers.  It is solely related to the fact that the heat and smoke are produced by a fan, and this fan rapidly pushes the smoke through the cooker and out the stack.  Trying to choke down the unit to get more smoke interferes with its inherent modus operandi. The "Xtreme Smoke" function does not provide significant improvement in smokiness, though seems to even out some of the temp differentials across the grill.

That being said, there are a few things that have gotten me closer to my goals on the Rec Tec (long slow cooks with brisket and butts):

-Presmoking for 4 hours with the A-Maz-N tube smoker (I put it over the upside-down heat deflector with the unit off and the drip pan removed, then reinstall drip pan and fire it up)

-Use 100% hickory pellets for the pre smoke and for the cook, until the bark is formed; then switch to cheaper Bear Mountain (alder base wood) pellets for the remainder of the cook.

-Start with cold meat

-Cook at 250 degrees using Xtreme Smoke

-I use a downdraft hood similar to the one commercially available, but saved $90 by fashioning it out of 3" venting from the hardware store (see below)

-Plot the temps at various locations and heights across the grill. There is no substitute for getting to know the peculiarities of your unit.  I've learned that with my setup, the heat gradient goes from hottest at the upper right rear of my unit to coolest at the lower left front of my unit.  The gradient is as much as 60 degrees and doesn't correspond to the temp that the RecTec probe shows. This is not a flaw, but a characteristic that it helps to understand.  Thus I orient my brisket with the point to the right, and the flat to the left.  I also cook with the fat side up to protect the brisket from the higher temps above.  Butts are much more forgiving, and I simply rotate them.

*I would strongly recommend this cooker and this company, with the single caveat regarding smoke level.*

Obviously, others may have different takes, but hope this helps.

Tim













IMG_5361.jpg



__ tongatim
__ Oct 26, 2015






*Downdraft hood....*













IMG_5363.jpg



__ tongatim
__ Oct 26, 2015






*..made from cheap 3" ducting from hardware store*













IMG_5364.JPG



__ tongatim
__ Oct 26, 2015


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## bucsrno1

shtrdave said:


> There is a switch for the light to the right of the controller. The temp differential is something you will get used to and it will vary depending on where you put your maverick probe. The RT guys say the RT sensor is calibrated to read the temp in the center of the grill, so if doing a temp test put the probe directly in the middle. I usually put mine close to where I am cooking close the meat and if there is a big difference then I adjust the set temp to get the maverick to read what I want. Your temps will change through out the temp spectrum, or at least mine does it may start off lower than the RT but as temps go up it ends up the maverick ends up reading higher. 20° isn't so bad if you know about it and can make an adjustment to compensate.
> 
> for the lid if you want to seal it up this is where I got mine. I got the self adhesive 1/2x1/8x15 foot I believe and had enough to to do the lid and then some. a tip here is look at the ends of the lid where it closes against the barrel. notice the ends of barrel is raised you may want to try to keep the seal i a bit or something to compensate for the difference. I didn't and mine still leaks some but not so bad. mostly from the top and bottom of the lid. I picked up a Qt of acetone at work or you could get it at a paint store maybe even lowes to clean the lid of the smoke and grease before I put the seal on.
> 
> Look here for something that you would like to use.
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/sch/islandoutdo..._DefaultDomain_0&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562
> 
> It is a good piece of machinery, but with anything there are little things that will bug you, but then it is only a $1000.00 dollar thing and not a 3 or 4 thousand dollar Memphis, Mak or Cookshack.
> 
> Have fun make some great food and enjoy it, an Amazin Smoke tube from Todd is a great addition, and when ordering get some of the Qmatz from him I use them all the time.


Thanks 4 the link.

I got a traeger tx elite & I have a problem with the lid not wanting 2 completly seal.

Good Post.


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## tongatim

Amen to Frog's spiel about not fretting too much about precise temps.  If you relax and enjoy the cook, you'll want to cook more. If you cook more, you'll get to know your machine's peculiarities and how to adjust to get even better and more consistent results. And you just keep traveling around the circle of BBQ happiness. Check out the forums, and you'll find as many complaints about the $3000 machines as you find about the $1000 Rec Tec.


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## edron

I am wondering if you have had any issues with the interior glaze coming off your RecTec?  We got ours in May 2015, and just recently (December 2015) started having large areas of the interior glaze/paint peeling off and exposing metal that appears to be now forming rust.  I've not seen people post concerns about this.  I've reached out to the RecTec service folks, but was curious if this is something unusual or if it happens to all pellet grills.

Thanks,

Ed


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## mrudi

Great forum!  So helpful.  I'm new to smoking and looking to get a Rec Tec based on the reviews I have read and forums like this.  I currently have a Masterbuilt electric smoker and really haven't been pleased.  The unit works as advertised but I just don't like the taste.  Everyone says its good but I think they are just being nice.

I'm thinking cooking with wood (as a heat source as well as smoke) will give it the little something extra.  Long time ago I used to cook on a weber using charcoal and I know that would give the meat some flavor so I'm thinking its something similar but in a more convenient manner.

What I'm after in a REC TEC is both a grill and a smoker as I really don't want separate equipment taking up space in my backyard/garage.  It sounds like this unit can do hot dogs and hamburgers just as well as it does a brisket (obviously not at the same time).  Do you think its easy enough for the wife to turn on quickly if the kids want a few hot dogs?  I would assume regular grilling is between 350 - 450.  I realize it wouldn't be as quick as my gas grill to get to those temps but it sounds like (with a few exceptions) most are experiencing 15 min or less to get to those temps, correct?

Also, considering it requires to be plugged in - any issues using it in the rain?


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## westby

Temps of 350 - 400 are no problem.  Gets up to 500 if needed.  Grill grates will help with searing if you want that ability.  It will take 15 minutes or better to get to those temps.  I keep mine under cover, so have little experience with rain, but many use them in the rain.  I think it's a good idea to protect the electronics a bit.  Pellet smokers definitely have a milder smoke flavor than what some are used to.  I think many people are used to over-smoked food, but that's another topic.   You can supplement the smoke with a smoke tube (I use an amazen tube when I do ribs, butts and brisket).  I suggest trying food cooked on a pellet grill before making the plunge.


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## bertman98

I love the huge pellet hopper easy to smoke all night , now the negative , right side a lot hotter then left side and  no smoke at all. When I first got it the smoke was ok and the heat Fairly even, now after a few years both of those problems exist


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## skorepeo

So I am thinking about a pellet grill. Does anyone have any complaints about their purchase of a RecTec?


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## seenred

Honestly I can't think of much bad to say about my Rec Tec.  I believe it's hard to beat the quality for the price.  Now, mind you, if I had 3K+ to spend on a grill, there are a few higher end products (Memphis Elite, for example) with some very cool features, but for a thousand bucks, Rec Tec is hard to beat.  Very well made, accurate and consistent temp control, and outstanding customer service.

Red


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## finn99

Great product, good size for the price & everything works as advertised. Of course
I'm sure you've heard of their awesome customer support that come with it.


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## preacher238

I love my Rec Tec.  I have used it more than any smoker or grill I have ever owned.  And I have owned 10+......

The only issue with my rec tec is that sometimes it takes a little while to get up to high temps.


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## frog1369

Skorepeo said:


> So I am thinking about a pellet grill. Does anyone have any complaints about their purchase of a RecTec?


I think you'll be hard pressed to find many complaints.  I searched long and hard for negatives before I bought mine.  There was one negative on Amazon, his bitch was about too little smoke flavor which is subjective and easily remedied if you do want more smoke.  Like Red said, the quality for the price will be hard to beat and the customer service is amazing, before and after the sale.  I mean, seriously, the owners include their cell phone numbers with the shipping documentation.  I've never used their cell numbers, but each time I have called the shop after hours and  left a message, I get a return call within an hour, usually an answer to my question in minutes, plus a lot of patient conversation on tips and tricks.  My family loves ribs and while I usually put out good ribs on my other cookers, the Rec-Tec is soooooooo consistent, my ribs are the best I've ever done and I can consistently do them that way.  Everything else cooks amazingly well, also.  If I had one thing to say and it's not a complaint ........... You can definitely reverse sear a steak on the Rec-Tec, but you have to wait between the preheat of the steak and the heating to sear temp on the Rec-Tec.  So, I preheat my steak on the Rec-Tec at 200 degrees to get smoke, then I move quickly to my pre-heated Weber gasser to finish it off to medium rare.  But, I'm a grill junkie, three different cookers and thinking about adding a Weber One Touch Gold to the arsenal.  I don't think you will be disappointed with a Rec-Tec, especially for the price and the customer service.


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## skorepeo

OK so does anyone have any problems.  Like paint chipping peeling rust malfunctioning parts? Pellets cost more than wood Etc.


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## frog1369

Skorepeo said:


> OK so does anyone have any problems. Like paint chipping peeling rust malfunctioning parts? Pellets cost more than wood Etc.


The powder coat is great, done very well.  The cooker is heavy duty, more so than even my Weber Genesis.  I had the cooling fan on my auger rub against the housing and stop the auger, that took about five minutes to troubleshoot and fix.  All solved on Memorial Day afternoon with a quick phone call.  Did we tell you about the customer service?  
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






Pellet costs, I can get Cookin'pellets for $20/40#, Lumberjack for $17/40# adn have seen others range as high as $22/20#, so just depends on what you want to buy.


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## shtrdave

I have had mine since labor day, I am not sure what to actually call them, they aren't a smoker as they really don't impart a smokey taste, and mine can't e called a grill as it takes an hour to get it to 450° to do an 8 minute steak. I have a cookshack electric and have been used to it giving me the smoke flavor I wanted, but it is on the small size so I went with one of these.

I have pretty much given up on any high temp usage, about as high as I go is 375° if I am doing poultry.

If you are a low slow cook guy 225 and under it may be what you are looking for, if you are a 250-300 cook guy when you smoke, I like to do briskets at 275 you aren't going to get much of the wood smoke flavor. And adding an Amazin Tube will help but not as much as one would think, as placement for the tube plays a big part in how much smoke gets to the product. Ideally I believe the tube should be under the drip pan but that is a pain to do all the time and if it goes out an even bigger pain to relight.

For the size and a lot of the features it is a great deal, couple that with the ability to finance should you need it.

Don't get me wrong I enjoy mine, but if I had to do it again I would definitely put more time and research into it before buying and probably would have a different brand.


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## frog1369

shtrdave said:


> I have had mine since labor day, I am not sure what to actually call them, they aren't a smoker as they really don't impart a smokey taste, and mine can't e called a grill as it takes an hour to get it to 450° to do an 8 minute steak. I have a cookshack electric and have been used to it giving me the smoke flavor I wanted, but it is on the small size so I went with one of these.
> 
> I have pretty much given up on any high temp usage, about as high as I go is 375° if I am doing poultry.
> 
> If you are a low slow cook guy 225 and under it may be what you are looking for, if you are a 250-300 cook guy when you smoke, I like to do briskets at 275 you aren't going to get much of the wood smoke flavor. And adding an Amazin Tube will help but not as much as one would think, as placement for the tube plays a big part in how much smoke gets to the product. Ideally I believe the tube should be under the drip pan but that is a pain to do all the time and if it goes out an even bigger pain to relight.
> 
> For the size and a lot of the features it is a great deal, couple that with the ability to finance should you need it.
> 
> Don't get me wrong I enjoy mine, but if I had to do it again I would definitely put more time and research into it before buying and probably would have a different brand.


You might want to call Ron about that hour to 450.  It was in the low 60s here last weekend when I started it up to clean the grates before a cook.  I set it to 500 and checked the clock, 30 minutes later I went out to see if it was hot enough to brush the grates, it was 490.


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## seenred

shtrdave said:


> I have had mine since labor day, I am not sure what to actually call them, they aren't a smoker as they really don't impart a smokey taste, and mine can't e called a grill as it takes an hour to get it to 450° to do an 8 minute steak. I have a cookshack electric and have been used to it giving me the smoke flavor I wanted, but it is on the small size so I went with one of these.
> 
> I have pretty much given up on any high temp usage, about as high as I go is 375° if I am doing poultry.





frog1369 said:


> You might want to call Ron about that hour to 450.  It was in the low 60s here last weekend when I started it up to clean the grates before a cook.  I set it to 500 and checked the clock, 30 minutes later I went out to see if it was hot enough to brush the grates, it was 490.


The times to get up to high temps in your rigs are concerning...Agree with Frog about calling Rec Tec for some help.  It has never taken longer than 20 minutes to get mine to 500*, even with the drip pan left in place.  Most of the time when I'm direct grilling, my setup includes removing the drip pan, putting some foil in the bottom of the barrel to catch grease, then putting my Grill Grates across the right side.  With this setup, my Rec Tec is usually at 500* in 10 minutes or less....and with those Grill Grates, its a grilling, searing machine!  And shtrdave, I'm sorry to hear you're not getting enough smoke from yours...I've been very happy with the smoke production from mine, especially at cooking temps below 250*

Red


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## frog1369

SeenRed said:


> The times to get up to high temps in your rigs are concerning...Agree with Frog about calling Rec Tec for some help.  It has never taken longer than 20 minutes to get mine to 500*, even with the drip pan left in place.  Most of the time when I'm direct grilling, my setup includes removing the drip pan, putting some foil in the bottom of the barrel to catch grease, then putting my Grill Grates across the right side.  With this setup, my Rec Tec is usually at 500* in 10 minutes or less....and with those Grill Grates, its a grilling, searing machine!  And shtrdave, I'm sorry to hear you're not getting enough smoke from yours...I've been very happy with the smoke production from mine, especially at cooking temps below 250*
> 
> Red


Yeah, I'll bet with the drip pan out and grill grates in she should heat up plenty fast.  I only go hot to burn off the grates, I still have a Weber gasser for those high sears.  I, too, am surprised about the smoke.  I worried about that when I bought it, coming from a Smoke Vault, and used a smoke tube a couple times.  That gave me too much smoke for the most part, on a butt not bad because you pull and mix, but on ribs, just too overpowering.  I get good smoke at 275, better at 250 and about all a person would want at 225.













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## shtrdave

I have spoke to Ron a couple of times, he sent me a new auger motor saying he didn't think that would fix it. I put it in and I could tell it run differently, but still no good, I called back and he told me that I should set it at 350 and then let it stabilize for 20 minutes before setting to 500, so 35 minutes or so to get to 350 and then another 20 and it still didn't hit 500 this was with the white bag pellets they send with them. I have switched to another pellet, swapped out the auger motor to one of the faster ones and it still took close to an hour and would not come close to 500 460ish was best it would do. I am going to try another pellet. But I feel I am just spinning my wheels here.

I can say that I wish I had saved up some more cash and went for the FEC100 but they are a lot more coin new have seen used ones for decent deals though.

For the OP here, as you can see there are some out there that have issues, mine is not the only one like this, but I believe you will have that with just about any brand you buy unless you are willing to drop the big dollar on one of the Maks or Memphis unit.


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## skorepeo

After last night's 15 hour marathon pork butt babysitting the chargriller I am looking forward to getting my new RecTec! Now how long does it take to arrive?


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## finn99

Ordered mine on a Thursday @ 4:30pm & had it the following Tuesday in central Illinois. Of course this was in February,
demand wasn't that high probly @ that time of year tho.


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## frog1369

Skorepeo said:


> After last night's 15 hour marathon pork butt babysitting the chargriller I am looking forward to getting my new RecTec! Now how long does it take to arrive?


I think most times it's about a week. I also had a pork butt marathon yesterday, on my Rec Tec.  Of course, I didn't baby sit it, I put the butts on, all 24# of them.  Then I took a trailer of yard waste to the dump, loaded a grill and door on the trailer and delivered it about 45 minutes away.  Stopped at Lowes on the way home for some yard stuff, then at a little Italian deli for some lunch.  Got home, checked the butts, they were about 145 so I mowed the lawn before I wrapped them in foil.  Then I went in, made some beans and watched a little TV (BBQ Pitmasters recorded) until I pulled them off and put them in  cooler to hold. Pulled them right before bed last night about 11:00.













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__ frog1369
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## skorepeo

The RecTec arrived last night. I got it together and didn't have any spare parts left.  Got it broke in and seasoned. So a couple of things that I don't like is that the light is always on, the lid doesn't have a seal and the temperature read about 15 degrees higher than my maverick. 

This morning I put a 10 pound butt on and set it to forget it for about 8 hours then I will check it. 

Not gonna be easy since I am used to putting a stick of wood on every hour or so.


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## frog1369

Skorepeo said:


> The RecTec arrived last night. I got it together and didn't have any spare parts left. Got it broke in and seasoned. So a couple of things that I don't like is that the light is always on, the lid doesn't have a seal and the temperature read about 15 degrees higher than my maverick.
> 
> This morning I put a 10 pound butt on and set it to forget it for about 8 hours then I will check it.
> 
> Not gonna be easy since I am used to putting a stick of wood on every hour or so.


Ok, so the light is an issue ........ you should call them on that one for sure, it should go on and off just fine with the light switch.  The lid does not have a seal but that is easy enough to mod if you really find that necessary, which I doubt.  As far as the temp, it depends on where you measure, what you have inside the grill, etc.  15 degrees is really irrelevant, swings on most grills are probably higher than that.  Check out a high end kitchen oven with your Maverick, see how that pans out.  My point is it's not going to be spot on every day. I spent a lot of time with Rec Tec on the phone asking questions about all kinds of things before I bought my grill, the best advice they gave me was to use the grill for a few weeks once I got it, cook the food trusting the displayed temperature and then let them know if there were any issues.  I've only called them once since I got it, Memorial Day afternoon, I thought I had an auger problem.  They answered the phone on the holiday, asked me a few questions, we figured out the fan on the auger motor was hitting the shroud, minor adjustment, problem solved.  I don't even use my Maverick anymore, I just set the temp I want, put the food on and  check it when I think I need to with a Thermapen.  I have three cookers and it would drive me crazy trying to get temps spot on in any of them.  I see guys on here obsessing over it all the time.  Temps are going to swing, typically no two measurement devices side by side are going to be spot on.  There was a time before digital thermometers that people put out some really great Q, concentrate on cooking the food, not all the peripherals. You'll have great food and a lot less stress.  That's what this is supposed to be about, low stress and enjoying what you produce.


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## shtrdave

There is a switch for the light to the right of the controller. The temp differential is something you will get used to and it will vary depending on where you put your maverick probe. The RT guys say the RT sensor is calibrated to read the temp in the center of the grill, so if doing a temp test put the probe directly in the middle. I usually put mine close to where I am cooking close the meat and if there is a big difference then I adjust the set temp to get the maverick to read what I want. Your temps will change through out the temp spectrum, or at least mine does it may start off lower than the RT but as temps go up it ends up the maverick ends up reading higher. 20° isn't so bad if you know about it and can make an adjustment to compensate.

for the lid if you want to seal it up this is where I got mine. I got the self adhesive 1/2x1/8x15 foot I believe and had enough to to do the lid and then some. a tip here is look at the ends of the lid where it closes against the barrel. notice the ends of barrel is raised you may want to try to keep the seal i a bit or something to compensate for the difference. I didn't and mine still leaks some but not so bad. mostly from the top and bottom of the lid. I picked up a Qt of acetone at work or you could get it at a paint store maybe even lowes to clean the lid of the smoke and grease before I put the seal on.

Look here for something that you would like to use.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/islandoutdo..._DefaultDomain_0&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

It is a good piece of machinery, but with anything there are little things that will bug you, but then it is only a $1000.00 dollar thing and not a 3 or 4 thousand dollar Memphis, Mak or Cookshack.

Have fun make some great food and enjoy it, an Amazin Smoke tube from Todd is a great addition, and when ordering get some of the Qmatz from him I use them all the time.


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## skorepeo

Where do you put the amazn tube? 

Wait did you say there's a light switch! Boy do I feel stupid.


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## shtrdave

You can lay the tube on the rack, I usually put mine in the left rear of the cooker the air coming up helps to keep it burning. If you are happy with the smoke flavor you may not want one, I was after a bit more of the smokey taste, even with the tube I am not where I wanted to be flavor wise but the GF is happy so that means so am I. I liked the flavors out of my electric better when it came to smoke. But the Qmatz are great if you are doing small stuff like shrimp or eggs, cheese some veggies.

We won't talk about the light switch.

Please try to give us some shots of the cook and I am really going to be interested in what you think about the flavors, coming from a stick burner to this.


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