The inevitable happened... my pellets got a bit moist
So, I was lazy about putting the cover on my CampChef DLX this weekend, and we inevitably experienced a monsoon in Michigan.
The pellets got moist, I dumped what I could from the hopper, and used the "feed" setting to push all of the big stuff out of the tube and out bottom of the fire pot. Luckily the feed tube wasn't solidified.
Anything else I should do? Oil the auger? Feed paper towels down the tube to clear residual gunk? Spray with canned air/compressor?
Oh man, I saw what happens to pellets when I noticed a couple on the deck after a rain and vowed to never leave the grill out. Not banging you on the head because we all do something like that from time to time. Personally, if you purged all of the cruddy pellets and the auger seems to be functioning properly I'd just do a test run to ensure it's operating properly. It also wouldn't hurt to contact customer service for your grill manufacturer. I have had great CS from Traeger.
Worse comes to worse just remove your auger, it’s not that difficult. Also I bet if you run some dry pellets thru the auger the dust should soak up any moisture.
I have had a pellet grill for around 8 years and so far have never run in to this situation before. I usually keep all my grills covered with factory covers but occasionally forget to put them on and have left them out in monsoons but I have never had the pellets get moist. The lids on the hoppers always stay closed and have never leaked. I would say that as long as you run all the moist stuff out and there are no visible signs of any of that left over in the auger tube you should be ok.
You got lucky, cscheib! Run your cooker. Heat from combustion should take care of any remaining moisture.
Last time I had to deal with pelletcrete, it was a nightmare. I was at an IBCA contest, planning on firing up the pellet Jambo about 4 am. Got everything ready and went to sleep. Came a gully washer of a thunderstorm. When I got up the pellets were a solid mass in the auger. Decided I was going home in the morning, so went back to sleep. My neighbor was using a propane fire starter to get his fire going. I borrowed him and the firestarter and heated the auger tube. It started smoking and finally we could move that mass out of there. I cooked hot and fast that day. Russell won GC and I got RGC.
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