Yoder Smokers Community Forum

I've had my YS480 for about 18 months and love it. Smoked/grilled lots of stuff... one thing I notice is whenever I lower the set point to anything lower than around 200 degrees, I start seeing smoke coming out of the bottom and around the hopper. So much to the point that I take the set point back up to at least 225 and it gets back to the nice TBS coming out of the stack.

Should I just ride this out when it happens and let it try to stabilize at that lower temp? I've always increased the temps back up for fear I'll have a hopper fire or something else.

Anyone else experiencing this.

Is there anybody out there?

Hey Maste,
I really do not have a concrete answer for you but do wonder how long you are leaving the temp at or below the 200 mark before giving up. I have had two hopper fires but only after what I think was splatter from high temp cooking rather than low temps. I also notice for some reason the heaviest amount of smoke I get is after cleaning...I chalk that up to stirring things up until the cook themselves away.

My first thought is to let things work themselves out by leaving at the low temp for a long time, but if you have already done this for more than 30 minutes I doubt if that will make a difference.

Honestly, I would pm Herb. Maybe for some reason he is busy of has not seen your post. If you cannot wait, give the customer support # a call and someone there should have a few suggestions.

westhemess1 wrote:Hey Maste,
I really do not have a concrete answer for you but do wonder how long you are leaving the temp at or below the 200 mark before giving up. I have had two hopper fires but only after what I think was splatter from high temp cooking rather than low temps. I also notice for some reason the heaviest amount of smoke I get is after cleaning...I chalk that up to stirring things up until the cook themselves away.

My first thought is to let things work themselves out by leaving at the low temp for a long time, but if you have already done this for more than 30 minutes I doubt if that will make a difference.

Honestly, I would pm Herb. Maybe for some reason he is busy of has not seen your post. If you cannot wait, give the customer support # a call and someone there should have a few suggestions.

Thanks for the response, I don't monitor this on a daily basis so just now saw it.

Actually, I haven't given it much time at all because I've got food going and don't want to mess things up. I'd say maybe 5 to 10 minutes at the most. Soon as I turn it back up, 225 or higher it corrects itself.

The only response I have is....I have learned to keep my hopper filled at a minimum, meaning I try to only have as much as I need for the days cook. That way if there is a hopper fire you can control and empty a little easier. Honestly I would try just putting a cup or two of pellets in and setting below the 200 degrees that seems to be the base line for your problems. Let it run for a while and monitor. These things usually work themselves out if you let them. Might even try it more than once to make sure. Also, I always let the pit settle in to the preset temp (350) before backing it down...might use a little more pellets in your test but in the end you get a more reliable test sample.

westhemess1 wrote:The only response I have is....I have learned to keep my hopper filled at a minimum, meaning I try to only have as much as I need for the days cook. That way if there is a hopper fire you can control and empty a little easier. Honestly I would try just putting a cup or two of pellets in and setting below the 200 degrees that seems to be the base line for your problems. Let it run for a while and monitor. These things usually work themselves out if you let them. Might even try it more than once to make sure. Also, I always let the pit settle in to the preset temp (350) before backing it down...might use a little more pellets in your test but in the end you get a more reliable test sample.

Thanks again, I'll try that when I have a chance.