# Having Your Pellet Smoker Outside (covered) Year Round, A Problem?



## slapshot1 (Oct 1, 2019)

Hello,

About three years ago, I bought a Green Mountain Daniel Boone grill to start my adventures in smoking. I have a great love for smoked meats and was really excited to open this new chapter in my food life. The first year, all went pretty well, and I enjoyed some great meals. 

Starting with he second year, I had some problems, off and on with the Green Mountain. The pellet feeder jammed up a few times, the temp probe also failed me a few times, I once ended up with a pork roast which was literally raw inside after the temp probe told me it was done. People in various smoking forums told me that they feed mechanism wasn't the best, and that the temp probes were sometimes known to fail.  Now I have yet another issue with the grill. When I last used it, I put some chicken wings on and set it to smoke them. All went well for about 20 mins, the smoker was up to temperature, and then, the temp started slowly dropping, and nothing I could do would impact it. Everything checked out, but it wouldn't work. I shut the grill off and restarted it, thinking that might help, it went through the starting sequence and then completely died. It will not restart, and is completely dead. 

Now this is not intended as an indictment of Green Mountain. Though, the smoker has not been at all heavily used due to a severe concussion, and the recovery from it, that left me  barely able to function for the last eighteen months. Thankfully, just in the past six weeks, I have overcome those issues and am now just about 100%. 

Several people have told me that keeping the smoker outside year round may be the issue, that it is simply not good for any grills with electronics, as the Green Mountain and, I think, all pellet smokers have. My issue is that the smoker is on the deck outside my kitchen and dining room. The deck is about 100 feet from the back door of my garage. My home is in the woods, and has no grass in the yard (try growing grass successfully in the woods). It would take two strong men to carry any regular sized pellet grill from the deck to garage over the uneven, and somewhat rough woodland terrain of my back yard. And two strong men arent available. For that reason, it stays on the deck, as I smoke/grill year round. If anything, I smoe more in the fall and winter as the bugs are gone, at those times. I'm in Michigan, where the temps run from 90's at times in the summer, to -10/15 below on rare occasions in January. I do l keep the grill covered at all times except when using it, and even have a special covering to use on it when grilling in cold temps. 

I'm about to write off this experiment as one where you get what you pay for, and probably invest in a RecTec which are universally highly reviewed. However, if keeping the grill outside year round isn't feasible, it may make no sense to do that. Your thoughts, and expertise would be appreciated. Thanks.


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## chef jimmyj (Oct 1, 2019)

In general, there should be no issue. My MES sat out on the deck, year round, with just a plastic storage container over the Electronic controller. Regarding you GMG, there are a few owners here that should be more help. 
Congrats on you Full Recovery...JJ


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## Jabiru (Oct 1, 2019)

I would simply call GMG support, probably a simple software update if inside electronics are not damaged.
They are just like a computer - Hardware & Software, try to diagnose if the issue is software or hardware.
I work in IT and see people throw out computers and it is usually a $30 part to replace.

Auger - Is it working to feed pellets.
Igniter - Is it lighting the pellets
Thermo (Heat) Sensor - Temp problems.

A motor turns an auger which feeds pellets into a firebox. There, a hot rod automatically ignites the pellets, and a combustion fan keeps them burning. A fan inside the hopper maintains positive pressure which prevents burn-back in the auger tube. A sensor mounted inside the grill sends data to the on-board computer ten times every second, and the controller adjusts the air and pellet flow to maintain the temperature you set.

https://greenmountaingrills.com/products/how-it-works/

Mine sits outside under our deck winter & summer with a cover.

Edit: Sorry I didnt read where it wont start at all. Does the auger feed into the fire pit ok? If yes, Sounds like the igniter. Pull everything out, drip pan, heat shield etc and turn her on and watch what happens.


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## sandyut (Oct 1, 2019)

It worth a call to them and see if they have a solution.  I would make that attempt for sure (as recommended above).  I do think leaving a pellet grill outside covered (with a vinyl cover not a roof) should be fine.  My Rec Tec sat outside all winter through rain, snow, very cold etc.  where i live in SLC we get a s**t ton of snow.  it always fired up after a break of a month or more.  I did call Rec Tec about leaving it out in winter weather and if I should do anything like remove pellets, and such.  they said not unless it will be months and months.  otherwise should be fine.


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## ravenclan (Oct 1, 2019)

I bought a PitBoss 700 and keep it on my covered patio with a cover over it, BUT I also empty the un-used pellets from the hopper.
The pellets are "dry" and when it rains the pellets seem to suck up the moisture and not burn as well. I did make sure the cover is water proof and i did that by buying the spray on waterproof stuff used on clothes and shoes works very well and the water does run off of the cover.


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## slapshot1 (Oct 1, 2019)

Thanks to everyone for the replies, so far. I have the official, heavy duty, Green Mountain cover (heavy fabric of some type, covered with vinyl) made especially for this model grill over it, at all times.


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## JWFokker (Oct 1, 2019)

Should be fine covered. Pellets can swell due to ambient humidity and cause problems if left in the cooker for long periods of time, but other than that you shouldn't run into problems.


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## retfr8flyr (Oct 2, 2019)

I have a Timberline 1300 and it sits on my back deck with just a cover on it. I have not had any problems with it and I leave the pellets in it, even when I don't use if for a while, in the warm months. In the colder months, I do remove the pellets, as I use my Kamado Joe more in the colder months. I would say it's either a software, or moisture in the pellets problem. If it were an igniter problem, the grill wouldn't stop after it is running well. I would reach out to GM and see what they have to say.


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