Finally had an issue with my OG

[Bogy]

As some of you know I have one of the original OGs, made in Holland, MI. Model #PG12-1000, Serial #2437. Probably 8 to 10 years old, from back when they had dealers, more than just the store in Columbia, MO. Mine was a dealer's floor model. It has worked great, until I ran into two problems that are probably unrelated. The igniter shorted out, and we have gotten over 6 inches of rain in the past week. Evidently my son put fresh pellets on top of wet soggy pellets, and jammed things up. I had lit it using the blowtorch method of starting the pellets without a hot rod, then got a ton of smoke coming out of the hopper, so I shut it down and I'm waiting to the embers to cool down enough to clear the hopper.

But, back to the more significant issue. I need an igniter. Grilla, whoever owns the company now, does not consider the original OGs to be their problem. To be honest, it is past the time when models are supported. So I'm looking for a replacement on the aftermarket. According to my ruler, the igniter is 2"x.5". All the igniters I find seem to be either 3/8 or .376. It's entirely possible that I don't know how to measure, so I had my wife doublecheck and she confirmed this. It also has two spade connectors, but that isn't really a concern since replacing a molex connecter with spade terminals is a simple fix. I'm about ready to buy a burn pot igniter kit and replace them both, so I have the right fit for the igniter. The OG has the hot rod holder screwed to the underside of the floor of the cooking chamber. Another difference with the original, the burn pot has no screws holding it in place, it just drops in. The guys who started the company were plotting their own course, they weren't attempting to be like all the other pellet burners, not that there were that many others 10-12 years ago. Any thoughts?

[MBMorgan]

There is a guy on FB (Good Ole Rog in the Grilla Grills BBQ Nation group) that had the same problem with his original OG. He took his burn pot with igniter to a company in Grayslake, IL (Smoke Daddy (I think it's these guys: https://smokedaddyinc.com )) and they fixed him up with an aftermarket replacement. Their techs even fixed the wiring to be compatible with his OG. You might check them out and see if you can ship yours to them if you're too far away for a visit.

Here's a link to the FB conversation I found: https://www.facebook.com/story.php?s...46454118984854

Good luck!

[Bogy]

Thanks MBMorgan. I figured someone here would have a lead. Looking at the thread I'll probably get a burn pot with the attachment for the hot rod. Like I said above, changing out to the spade terminal, or vice versa, is not an issue. I'm not an expert, but I'm cheap and I've done way more working on stuff like this than I want to.

[Bogy]

I went ahead and bought a burn pot (stainless steel) and the "higher quality" hot rod from Smoke Daddy. I've bought stuff from them before, so I figure I can make their stuff work. Thanks. Mostly I just needed to stop scrolling and order something.

[tenphases]

just want to second smoke daddy they will hop on the phone with you and set you up.

[jtw]

Thanks for a very informative post! My OG is about to hit its 8th birthday and is on its second igniter so I’ll probably be in the same boat soon. Maybe by then the guys at Smoke Daddy will have a conversion kit ready for us Grilla dudes!

[Bogy]

Update: I thought the primary problem was the igniter, with the additional issue of the compromised pellets. The augur was still turning and dropping pellets, and when I unplugged the igniter the GFCI stopped tripping. Being an inquisitive guy, after I saw just how jammed up thing were, when I had the hopper cleaned out (thank goodness for pellet dumps, although I have never had to pry the door open like I did this time) I plug the igniter back in, plugged in the OG and turned it on. And everything worked just like it's supposed to,.

So what's going on?. We all know that fans and augur draw very little current. The only part of a pellet smoker with a large demand is the igniter. Once the pellets are lit the igniter's job is done, and the smoker uses very little juiice. There are basically three reasons why pellet burners trip a GFCI. I don't remember right now what the third one is but the first one is a bad igniter. You check that by unplugging the igniter and seeing if the GFCI stops tripping, which I did and it did. Second is with the augur motor, such as being jammed. Mine was still turning, but struggling, and I assumed the igniter was the issue. I figure the combined draw from the igniter, added to the augur motor working harder than normal, put the draw on the circuit over the limit. By itself the auger did not exceed the circuit limit.

This is backed up with a couple of other things I did not mention earlier because it didn't seem pertinant. I started the smoker with a blowtorch, but the temp in the cooking chamber never got up to where the controller was set, which indicates the augur was not delivering sufficient pellets to the fire pot. Also, the augur was turning to slowly, and because of this there were pellts beginning to smolder in the augur tube.

Anyway, currently the smoker appears to be workiing, although it has no pellets in the hopper. More rain predicted for Wednesday, so why tempt fate. I have anotherr firepot and hot rod on the way, and considering the age of the OG, I'm going to let them come and keep them in reserve, assuming for the time being it's going to work.

Live and learn!

[DrJimmy2112]

Thank you for sharing this problem, Bogy , for us OG’ers. Certainly is a puzzling issue, the issue of how it started working again with the old igniter.
GFIs are touchy and possibly all the rain you had was a factor.
Thanks for the tip on the Smoke daddy folks. That is very good to know.
Keep us posted on how things work

[jtw]

yep, my first igniter only showed up as a tripped GFCI on my outdoor receptacle. but that same GFCI has been finicky for other reasons (all user error).
the couple of occasions where my pellets got wet in the hopper made a big mess but thankfully i've never had to mess with the auger.
you're exactly right; the age of the thing is a factor but we can try to keep it going as long as it's practical.