What to Do If Your Pit Boss Smoker Keeps Shutting Off (Causes + Easy Solutions)

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Does your Pit Boss smoker keep turning off? During a cook, some Pit Boss users have had their grills turned off including me. This isn’t quite ‘normal,’ but it does happen now and then, and you shouldn’t get too worked up about it.

Keep reading on to learn why this happens with Pit Boss grills plus how to fix it. 

Why Does My Pit Boss Smoker Keep Shutting Off?

‘Flame outs’ refer to when the smoker just completely shuts down. It is also important to note that this doesn’t happen suddenly. An initial sign would include a significant drop in temperature. It’ll usually drop from your normal cooking temperature range to 100 ℉.

After that, you’ll notice that the fire will begin to go out as the grill temperature decreases. 

How Can I Fix This?

When this happens not only does your appliance stop working but it will also affect whatever you are cooking. The key to overcoming flameouts is to recognize early on when it is about to happen and to figure out what is causing it.

Here Are the Most Common Reasons Why This May Be Happening

Once you know the root of the issue, you’ll be able to solve the problem. Unfortunately, there are a fair few reasons as to why this may be happening.

For example, you could be using bad pellets — they could be cheap pellets or damp pellets, or it could a faulty electrical component, meat probes that need replacing, or even a dirty cooking chamber. 

Let’s go through the most common causes and how to remedy them.

Bad Pellet Quality

One reason why your pellet stove may be turning off by itself is because of your pellet supply. Wet pellets can cause a flame out. This is because they won’t burn as they should, and could jam your auger or over smoke.

You may not know this but you want to avoid cooking with white smoke. This kind of smoke will add a bitter and unpleasant taste to your food. Instead, you should aim for your smoker to produce bluish smoke instead. 

The best way to avoid this issue is to use the right type of pellets. You’ll want to stick to brands of pellets that work well with Pit Boss grills. Pit Boss suggests that you should always use wooden pellets — 100% hardwood.

Could Your Pellet Grill Be Too Dirty?

As with all types of grills and smokers you must keep your Pit Boss clean. It’s best to wipe the interior and exterior of your cooker with a clean cloth after every few cooks.

You’ll want to make sure that you clean the temperature probe too. If you need to know how to clean the Pit Boss temperature probe, you will need to detach it from the brackets and use soapy water and a cloth to remove the residue.

A dirty pellet smoker won’t be able to function normally and a dirty temperature probe could cause even more issues. For example, it won’t allow your control panel to display proper temperature readings and it’ll most likely show the common error code — Erl Code. 

Should You Adjust the P Setting Button?

Not adjusting the grill’s P setting correctly can also result in your Pit Boss automatically shutting off mid-cook.

Pit Boss grills are famously known for their P-setting feature. This setting helps you to better control and remedy any temperature issues you may have with the smoker. 

The ‘P’ stands for ‘pause’, It controls the time between each pellet cycle. And you can also use it to control the amount of pellets dispensed within each cycle, this in turn is what controls the temperature of the grill. 

The P settings go from P-0 to P-7. The higher the number, the longer the smoker’s auger is off. Setting it to a P-7 setting (150 seconds off) on a cold day might decrease the grill’s temperature too much and it might result in it shutting off during a cook. 

It’s best that you get to know how to use this feature a little better. That way you can learn how to achieve the perfect temperature, despite the weather.

Appliance Age

A Pit Boss should operate perfectly fine for up to 10 years. Perhaps if you’ve had your appliance for many years, some of the parts could be acting up as a general sign of wear and tear. 

This can also trigger your Pit Boss to shut off by itself. In this case, you might need to call for a professional or even contact the Pit Boss customer care team. They’ll be able to help you identify which parts need to be replaced.

An Issue With the Electrical Component

Sure, there are so many positive aspects of using an electrical smoker. However the smoker ultimately cannot function as it should if there’s an issue with its source of power. 

There could be many causes of this too. For example, your electricity output might not be high enough. Or there could be a problem with the smoker’s electrical plug, wire, or even the wall socket. 

To solve this, you’ll have to check that there’s nothing wrong with your electrical wall outlet. You will also have to confirm that there’s nothing wrong with the appliance’s power cord. 

If there are any issues, it’s always best to speak with Pit Boss customer service or call in an electrician to make any necessary fixes. 

Make Sure to Check the Meat Probes

This issue may be the most surprising of all. While it does not happen often, sometimes your Pit Boss grill may shut off as soon as you connect in the meat probes.

You can check whether the meat probes are the issue just by pulling out the meat probes from the smoker. If your Pit Boss begins to work just fine when you disconnect them, then the meat probes are the cause for the unexpected shut-off. 

The only solution for this problem is to replace the probes with new ones. 

And those are all of our tips for remedying the issue of a Pit Boss shutting off.

Smoke On!

Charlie

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