# Pellet smoker problems



## Boss Ross

Hi All, I'm sure that this may have been posted before but can't find it so..... Against my better judgment I bought a pellet smoker. I thought I would just use it until I build a new offset. So I used it once and it worked okay. When I got home from work, the brisket was perfect but I noticed that some of the pellets hadn't worked their way down to the auger. So I did my first overnight smoke today and in just less than 5 hours I went back to check it out and the temp on the grill was 74°. So I looked at the hopper and again the pellets were stuck to the side and none in with the auger! So I pushed the down and added more. I put the temp up to 400 real quick to get them to the hot pot and then turned it back down within less than a minute. I hung out until it was up to temp but then it kept going. I turned it off at about 350 but it kept getting hotter. So I pulled off the brisket, the grates, the grease pan, and the deflector and found that the pellets had over flowed and were in the bottom of the smoker. Like over a pound of them!
This is a Members Mark pellet grill which is a Embers Grill trail embers pellet grill. It got good reviews other than some stuff not working right. No one said anything about the pellets not falling to the auger.
There is also a lot of smoke loss during the start up. Is this normal or should I seal it up so it's not so affected by wind? What can I do about the pellets not falling? 
All help is welcomed! 


Ross


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## mike243

I have used a few different brand of pellets and seen some that were xtra long and wondered if they could cause feed issues,i would clean the sides good and see if that helps it any, next would be to apply some type of dry food grade silicone spray and wipe it down. Not sure on the over temp other than it has a programdd startup feed possibly


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