# Pit Boss vertical smoker - No smoke on any setting other than "Smoke"



## yqyxzroh (Aug 17, 2020)

I very recently bought a Pit Boss vertical pellet smoker. I start up the smoker like so:

Set dial to "Smoke"
Power on smoker with the cabinet door open
When I see smoke, close door and set to my desired cooking temperature
Once smoker is close to my desired temperature (measured with a probe thermometer), I open the door and put food in
When the smoker was set to 300F, my probe thermometer was showing approximately 270F and there was no smoke.
When I tried lowering the set temperature to 250F, my probe thermometer showed 230F and there was still no smoke.
Does anyone have any tips on how to get this thing to smoke?


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## jcam222 (Aug 17, 2020)

TNJAKE
  has a Pit Boss I believe


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## TNJAKE (Aug 17, 2020)

I don't know much about the verticals but they all operate the same. Check your P setting first. The lower the setting the more time before you have a smoke cycle. 4 is your factory preset so should smoke fine on that. I use 6. The higher the setting the more often it will smoke. Also the higher you set the smoker temp the less visible smoke you will have as the pellets will be burning up before creating smoke. You will get best smoke 200-250. Don't sweat the temp swings. No smoker regardless of fuel holds constant steady temps


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## yqyxzroh (Aug 17, 2020)

TNJAKE said:


> I don't know much about the verticals but they all operate the same. Check your P setting first. The lower the setting the more time before you have a smoke cycle. 4 is your factory preset so should smoke fine on that. I use 6. The higher the setting the more often it will smoke. Also the higher you set the smoker temp the less visible smoke you will have as the pellets will be burning up before creating smoke. You will get best smoke 200-250. Don't sweat the temp swings. No smoker regardless of fuel holds constant steady temps


My smoker does not have a P setting. The control panel has two buttons - Power and Prime, and the temperature dial has the following settings: "Smoke", 150F, 175F, 200F, 225F, 250F, 275F, 300F, 350F, 400F, HIGH
I don't mind small temperature differences but the fact that there is no smoke is a bit disappointing. My previous smoker (MES + AMNPS) had visible thin blue smoke all the way up to ~250F...


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## TNJAKE (Aug 17, 2020)

yqyxzroh said:


> My smoker does not have a P setting. The control panel has two buttons - Power and Prime, and the temperature dial has the following settings: "Smoke", 150F, 175F, 200F, 225F, 250F, 275F, 300F, 350F, 400F, HIGH
> I don't mind small temperature differences but the fact that there is no smoke is a bit disappointing. My previous smoker (MES + AMNPS) had visible thin blue smoke all the way up to ~250F...


You should have a very tiny button with a P on it


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## TNJAKE (Aug 17, 2020)




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## yqyxzroh (Aug 17, 2020)

TNJAKE said:


> You should have a very tiny button with a P on it


This is what my control panel looks like, no P button... The two holes to the left and right of "PIT BOSS" are temperature probe holes.


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## TNJAKE (Aug 17, 2020)

Which model?


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## yqyxzroh (Aug 17, 2020)

TNJAKE said:


> Which model?





			https://pitboss-grills.com/Shop-Pit-Boss/4-pro-series-vertical-wood-pellet-smoker
		

It seems to be a Copperhead clone specifically made for Lowes.


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## TNJAKE (Aug 17, 2020)

Gimme a minute and I'll be back


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## yqyxzroh (Aug 17, 2020)

TNJAKE said:


> Gimme a minute and I'll be back


No problem, I really appreciate your replies and help!


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## TNJAKE (Aug 17, 2020)

Ok did some research. Weird but your p setting isn't adjustable. Your's smokes based on temp Alone. Start it up and after it's going turn to 225 for 30 minutes. See if it settles into rythmn. Takes 30min for the smoker to settle in usually. You should see smoke every 5min or so at that temp once it's settled. If it doesn't work come back and we'll try something else. I'll be around


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## yqyxzroh (Aug 17, 2020)

TNJAKE said:


> Ok did some research. Weird but your p setting isn't adjustable. Your's smokes based on temp Alone. Start it up and after it's going turn to 225 for 30 minutes. See if it settles into rythmn. Takes 30min for the smoker to settle in usually. You should see smoke every 5min or so at that temp once it's settled. If it doesn't work come back and we'll try something else. I'll be around


I set it to 200 and 225F and it started pouring out smoke so I guess it was just the temperature being set too high. For future chicken cooks I guess I'll start the chicken around 200-225 to smoke for an hour or so before cranking up to 300F to crisp the skin. Thanks for your help!
If the smoke coming out is too thick/white, do you have any suggestions on what to do?


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## TNJAKE (Aug 17, 2020)

yqyxzroh said:


> I set it to 200 and 225F and it started pouring out smoke so I guess it was just the temperature being set too high. For future chicken cooks I guess I'll start the chicken around 200-225 to smoke for an hour or so before cranking up to 300F to crisp the skin. Thanks for your help!
> If the smoke coming out is too thick/white, do you have any suggestions on what to do?


The white smoke is only visible for a few seconds. Then it burns clear. Called thin blue smoke. And yes I smoke chicken low and slow and walk the temp up to crisp skin. Glad you got it figured out and post up some food pics. We like those


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## yqyxzroh (Aug 17, 2020)

TNJAKE said:


> The white smoke is only visible for a few seconds. Then it burns clear. Called thin blue smoke. And yes I smoke chicken low and slow and walk the temp up to crisp skin. Glad you got it figured out and post up some food pics. We like those


So would this be the "proper" way to start my future cooks?

Set dial to smoke
Turn on smoker
Wait for smoke to appear
Set to 200 or 225
Let smoker heat up & wait for thin blue smoke
Put food in
If low and slow (brisket, pork butt, ribs), keep temp at 200 or 225. If chicken, keep at 200/225 for 1-2 hours and then turn up to crisp skin
Will definitely take pics of my next cook, thanks again for your help! 

Another quick question if you don't mind:
When I ran the smoker through the initial burn off a few days ago, I messed up and primed too many pellets. The temperature of the cabinet got to 500F+ (measured by my probe thermometer) and I saw a RAGING orange flash underneath the flame tamer. I panicked and quickly turned off the smoker. When the fire seemed to die down a bit (orange flash less intense), I used mitts to remove flame tamer. The burn box had a small fire and the pellets on the edge of the hopper were black and smoldering. I was worried about the hopper catching on fire so I blew everything out and used a spoon to scoop all of the smouldering pellets into a stainless steel box...
Was this the proper way to stop an out of control fire in a pellet smoker? What should I have done instead?


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## TNJAKE (Aug 17, 2020)

Yes on your start up procedure. Wait for the heavy smoke then the fan will turn on and clear it. That's when you set temp and close the door to let it heat. Try to wait 30 minutes to let things settle in.

When you prime all you need are a couple pellets to fall in pot then stop priming. You won't need to prime again unless you let your pellets run out or change wood flavors. Other than that the smoker will auto prime during start-up

Since you won't be priming often a out of control fire shouldn't be an issue but if it is....keep door closed and shut the smoker down with normal shutdown procedure


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## yqyxzroh (Aug 17, 2020)

TNJAKE said:


> Yes on your start up procedure. Wait for the heavy smoke then the fan will turn on and clear it. That's when you set temp and close the door to let it heat. Try to wait 30 minutes to let things settle in.
> 
> When you prime all you need are a couple pellets to fall in pot then stop priming. You won't need to prime again unless you let your pellets run out or change wood flavors. Other than that the smoker will auto prime during start-up
> 
> Since you won't be priming often a out of control fire shouldn't be an issue but if it is....keep door closed and shut the smoker down with normal shutdown procedure


Thanks!


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## TNJAKE (Aug 17, 2020)

No problem bud


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## Mikeonthelake (Aug 17, 2020)

yqyxzroh said:


> So would this be the "proper" way to start my future cooks?
> 
> Set dial to smoke
> Turn on smoker
> ...


I have the same Pit Boss Smoker from Lowes. I get good smoke at temps 250 and below. Above that and hardly any smoke because pellets are burning fairly efficiently. So far so good with food I've cooked (chicken, ribs, beef, fish, pulled pork) and I'm getting good smoke flavor as long as I keep temp in the right range.


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## yqyxzroh (Aug 19, 2020)

Mikeonthelake said:


> I have the same Pit Boss Smoker from Lowes. I get good smoke at temps 250 and below. Above that and hardly any smoke because pellets are burning fairly efficiently. So far so good with food I've cooked (chicken, ribs, beef, fish, pulled pork) and I'm getting good smoke flavor as long as I keep temp in the right range.


Do you have any issues with the set/measured temperature being too far off from the actual temperature? The smoker is set to 225 and is reading 225, but my thermometer is only reading 180F.


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## Mikeonthelake (Aug 19, 2020)

yqyxzroh said:


> Do you have any issues with the set/measured temperature being too far off from the actual temperature? The smoker is set to 225 and is reading 225, but my thermometer is only reading 180F.


No, not really. Mine holds temp fairly well and is within 5 degrees of my bluetooth temp probes. It will spike up about 20 degrees occasionally, but settles back down to my set temp fairly quickly.  I do make sure my water pan always has water.


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## yqyxzroh (Aug 20, 2020)

Mikeonthelake said:


> No, not really. Mine holds temp fairly well and is within 5 degrees of my bluetooth temp probes. It will spike up about 20 degrees occasionally, but settles back down to my set temp fairly quickly.  I do make sure my water pan always has water.


Interesting. From what I've noticed, mine is consistently 25F cooler than my external thermometer but I've noticed literally 0 temperature swings throughout a 6 hour cook, except when I opened the cabinet. 
My temperature probe however is placed at the very top near the exhaust so that might be why? How much smoke do you usually get when the controller is set to 250F?


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