How To Clean A Pit Boss Vertical Smoker

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Pit Boss Copperhead 5 - detailed cleaning and notes on pellet dust buildup

Thread in 'Pellet Smokers' Thread starter Started by dward51,
Start date Aug 8, 2019

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OK, I've been playing with the PB5 for a while and figured it was time to do a clean out.

One question I keep seeing is "how much pellets does it burn". Since I knew what I started with in a new, unseasoned PB5, I figured this would be an ideal time to find out that answer also. There are also threads I've seen on pellet smokers & grills back burning through the auger tube into the hopper. Disco has a Louisiana Grills LG900 and in another thread on this forum we have been discussing the issue of dust (LG and PB are both made by the same company and share most components). Now yes, I have a vertical smoker and his is a horizontal grill, but there are a lot of similarities. I've seen a few threads that suggest the back burn via the auger tube may be related to pellet dust.

Ok, how many pellets did the PB5 use? I started with 20 lbs of Pit Boss brand hickory flavor pellets. I did notice a good bit of "dust" when I dumped those pellets into the hopper (more on that later). So after the initial burn in, and then playing around with running the temps up and down an hour or so, plus 4 additional smokes with startup and shutdown, I took 10.1 pounds of Hickory pellets out of the hopper today. I used the pellet dump and then an ash vacuum to get as many out as I could. There was probably another 1/3 to 1/2 pound in the auger assembly. So in all fairness I would say I have used 9.5 pounds total over the initial burn in, testing, and 4 different smokes. That's pretty dang good IMO as 2 of those smokes were at 400*. Easily 1 pound or less per hour.

I bought a 4 gallon Powersmith ash vaccum on Amazon for $84. Will use with the pellet smoker, the grills, and the fireplace. Note: I got the 4 gallon for $84 with all the accessories and an extra filter, but if you buy the smaller 3 gallon model you have to pay extra for the accessories and extra filter. The 4 gallon was only $17 more than the 3 gallon, but to buy all the extra stuff that came with the 4 gallon, its another $33. So the 4 gallon package is actually $15 less than the 3 gallon with comparable accessories (and it hold more ash per clean out). This is the one I bought:

Pellets I had left (turned out to be about 10.5 pounds) before the clean out:

This is as far as you can get using a flat tool to push pellets out the pellet dump door. Still a good bit of pellets left and note all the pellet dust (sawdust) in the hopper.

Again, note the pellet dust!

Yes, I vacuumed all of that dust out in the final clean out.

Inside of smoker before vacuuming - note the pellet ash (more like small burned fines)

Cleaned the burn pot out.

I also had vacuumed the hopper area and pellet auger as much as I could to get the ash out (and a few pellets). I then decided to run the smoker on the "FEED" setting to push the remaining pellets and dust out of the auger tube into the burn pot. Only took about 45 seconds of holding the feed button. Note the amount of dust intermixed with the pellets in the auger. This is why I'm wondering if pellet dust is not acting like a sawdust tray and possibly giving a smoldering path of dust for the fire to advance back into the hopper. Remember the fan is constantly pushing air so it sounds like a reasonable theory to me for a stream of dust to burn back to the hopper once it lights.

No more pellets or dust to push out - clean system!

Going forward, I'm going to find a way to sift out as much of the pellet dust from a bag of pellets before I put it into the hopper. I think this is the likely cause of hopper fires or smoldering in a pellet smoker/grill. It would also help if clean outs were more thorough and often.

Oh, I also did my 2nd mod. I added a Tel-Tru 2" BQ225 thermometer to the PB5 door. If you unscrew the wing nut on the inside of the door at the back of the PB logo, there is a 3" recess and 1/2" hole in the glass for a thermometer. Unfortunately all the Tel-Tru 3" models have a 2" NPT mount which requires a 7/8" hole (do not try to drill tempered glass - it will shatter). So unless we can find a 3" dial thermometer with a 3/8" mount that will fit in a 1/2" hole, the 2" BQ225 and similar are what will fit (uses a 1/4" wing nut).

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Let me add this. I sifted out the 10.5 pounds of pellets and got at least 1 1/2 cups of pellet dust (very fine sawdust). IMO that's a lot of pellet dust. I'm going to look at sifting pellets when they go into the hopper going forward.

It would have been more as there clearly has been some of the dust burned with the pellets (just look at the photos of the burn pot feed - mix of pellets and dust).

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Nice to hear the nitty gritty of your experience.... Nothing is all roses, but the Pit Boss seems like a good unit. Forewarned is forearmed.

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I don't think its a flaw, but these things (and pellet grills also) will require some regular cleaning. I have not had an issue in mine, but others have reported problems with auger back burn. I'm thinking this is the best way to avoid it.

Note, the manual does talk about regular cleaning of ash and pellet dust so this probably should be considered routine cleaning items.

It's sort of like keeping the grease cleaned out of a smoker. Neglect it long enough and you WILL have a grease fire. Note I've done 4 smokes in this PB5 and you see what the bottom of my unit looks like. Almost no drippings. I try to catch them before they get to the bottom, and don't let them build up. What is there is where one of the chicken wings "skeeted" some grease towards on the back of the smoker and it ran down during the high temp wing smoke. Other than that, no drippings on the bottom at all (all caught in a foiled full size pan).

This is before the clean out & up - the dripped grease is barely visible in the back left corner (already carbonized, so I left it). Everything else was just pellet ash fines.

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I always vacuum out my Rec Tec after a couple of short smokes, or one long one. It's just part of the process. Traeger makes a neat product that includes a sifter that fits in a five gallon bucket along with a lid with a pour spout. I pour my pellets in, and give it few shakes before I fill my hopper. It doesn't get all of the dust, but it gets a lot of it. I use the sifted dust in my A-Maze-In tray for cold smoking cheese in the winter.

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I've got some 14" pizza screens I used for jerky in the WSM (stack the screens with 1" spacer wood blocks). I'm thinking of picking one of these pans up at Tractor Supply for $5.49 and cutting the bottom so the pizza screen will fit over the opening. Add a couple of pop-rivets and I've got a pellet dust sifter. This pan is 16" diameter. I'm going to take a pizza screen with me to the store to see if it fits when dropped in. It's a 3 gallon pan so it should hold a good pit of pellets for sifting.

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Do you have any thoughts on how much dust is in the bag , and how much ( if any ) is caused by the feed action of the auger ?

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I remember noticing a lot of dust as I dumped the pellets in. Since it was Pit Boss brand and a Pit Boss smoker and the first run, I figured I would see how it did. I have not had any issues, but others have reported problems with the fire back burning through the auger. I would presume pellet dust in the auger to be the likely culprit, but I may be wrong. Again, I have not had an issue.

I was surprised at the amount of dust that came off the 10.5 lbs remaining in my hopper. I can only imagine how much total was in the original 20lbs as since I've become aware of the potential for dust to be a problem, I did notice the dust did feed with the pellets, so i presume a good bit was burned with the first 10 pounds or so. I'm going to start sifting my pellets to be on the safe side going forward.

I don't think the auger is going to bust off that much dust from the pellets. In the ones it fed after my cleaning, I did not see any dust. I have read Pit Boss was generally dustier than other brands such as Lumberjack. I have a good bit of lumberjack in back stock, but wanted to burn through the couple of bags of Pit Boss I bought with the smoker before dipping into the LJ as it's not sold around here and I have to pay shipping unless I can find the rare sale with free shipping on them.

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I've only seen that much "dust" in my hopper from a bag of pellets one time and I threw the last of it away. Pellets I'm using don't have near that much dust - hardly any really.

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Even though I don't use a pellet smoker, very nice write up!
Thanks for sharing.

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Try some Lumberjack pellets and see what you think. You will always have some dust with pellets but there are may ways to cut down on that problem.

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I've got about a third of a pallet of Lumberjack. I just bought the Pit Boss pellets for the burn in and some initial smokes (mostly to play with the unit), plus they were marked down also. I'm going to make a pellet sifter from some parts I have and a $5 metal feed pan I bought at Tractor Supply yesterday.

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