Hello all, new to PB pellet

[Speeduck]

Good morning all, I'm new to pitboss, I've built a couple smokers, one fed with a plastic pellet feeder for plastic processing, which works great but i have to constantly babysit for hours on end. Not fun. The other i built was charcoal which is ok but it takes 150-200lbs o.f charcoal for a 14hour 250 degree smoke.... so here i am, I've used my Lockhart about 8 times, filled the hopper a few times, went to use it yesterday and the auger is jammed. No never emptied the hopper/ feed tube&auger. My question is why didnt PB just put a slide gate above the auger inlet so it's easy to empty the auger. Ok ok, my real question is do you think i can use water to turn pellets into mush and then run a bunch thru to "clean" out the feed tube. I will be making a slide gate to close auger throat

 

[MikeInFla]

I would not use water. You will have to remove the auger. It's a pain but there are how to videos on YouTube. The best advice is to keep it covered or empty the hopper after each use. I keep mine covered and never had an auger jam, although I have removed the auger for a different issue.

 

[DanStealth]

the only bad clog i had was when i left pellets in during winter and when i went to go use it the pellets were swelled up and the auger was jammed. On top of that it was frozen, i had to bring it in let it defrost then take out out the auger and clean it.

I wouldn't use water, you don't want it to rust.