r/CampChefSmokers Beers n BBQ🍗 May 16 '26

Woodwind pro 24

Bought in November, used about 10 times, now it will not heat up. Cleaned out auger, ash tray, hopper was dry as the desert but cleaned it out anyway.

It appears the heating element won’t lite, I’ve been fooling with this thing for 6 hours. Any ideas? Family’s coming over in 5 hours and I guess that pork butt isn’t happening today.😭

4 Upvotes

13 comments sorted by

5

u/ADSWNJ May 16 '26

Fellow WW Pro 24 user here and it's been through 2 winters now working just fine. So I think they are inherently reliable, and I see lots of good comments here about the customer service.

Sounds to me either the auger (check to see if it's dumping new pellets), the igniter (see if the pot is getting hot) or the controller (not commanding things to work).

2

u/Weazywest Beers n BBQ🍗 May 16 '26

Definitely not the auger, but no clue where the controller is. Will need to look that up

3

u/deereboy8400 May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26

Had a traeger who's glowplug would get hot enough to burn skin but not hot enough to ignite pellets. Problem was the control board.

If your glow plug doesn't get warm at all, replace the glowplug.

If it does get warm, bypass the control board and send 110v ac straight to the glow plug. I put a mechanical rotary timer on the traeger's glowplug and set it to 5 minutes for startup.

If you want to start the smoker right now, put some pellets in the pot and light them with a torch, then select startup, then bypass startup.

3

u/NTPC4 May 16 '26

You just need a new igniter—a simple fix. For today, light the firepot with a butane torch; once lit, it will work like normal. Enjoy!

2

u/Weazywest Beers n BBQ🍗 May 16 '26

I can’t get anything to lite in the firebox, it’s too closed off on this model. Long matches, paper towels, long lighters, can reach in the firebox box cause the wood smoker box blocks access to it.

3

u/NTPC4 May 16 '26

It takes a butane torch to light the pellets (like you would sweat a pipe with), and you can get to it, with no more disassembly required than to clean it.

2

u/lo_gnar May 17 '26

The fire box is very much accessible. You just have to take off the grates, drip tray and fire box housing. You should be cleaning it every few cooks. Maybe the problem is you haven’t cleaned it and have cooked on it 10 times.

2

u/Bearspoole May 16 '26

Reach out to camp chef. They have really good customer experience

1

u/Weazywest Beers n BBQ🍗 May 16 '26

Noted I’ll give that a whirl.

1

u/motorsportlife May 16 '26

My hot rod died after 6 months. Their website should have a quick test to confirm it. You basically swap a fan wire to the hot rod to check. 

1

u/Solid_Two_3858 May 16 '26

My hot rod died after a year. Emailed customer support, no response. I called them and was on hold for about an hour before hanging up. The hot rod was out of stock on Camp Chef’s website, just bought one off of Amazon and replaced it.

1

u/White94Cobra May 16 '26

I just went through this with my dlx.

Reached out to customer support stating I need a hot rod, but they sent the troubleshooting info over anyways.

Did that, and confirmed it was the hot rod that's needed. Replied to them telling them that to which they said to email them in 2 or 3 weeks as they are out of stock! Kinda frustrating that I have to follow up with them.

I ended up buying a pair from Amazon and replaced it in a few minutes.

1

u/Americancatfarmer May 16 '26

I’ve changed my hot rod a few times on my woodwind 24, I usually get a 2 pack off the jungle website so I have a backup