Pellet Pooper Questions

[4cornersmoker]

Hey guys, havent posted in a while. but I got to wondering about pellet grills. Because Weber is bringing out a new one. I happen to notice on a video that its being powered by a DC motor. DC motors I have been around in RV's usually are low powered & short life. Also I noticed that the new Traeger are 12 volt. My theory is that they do this so they can sell world wide & deal with all the different power grids. Just switch everything to a 12 volt through a converter. Not very impressive to me when we have a 110 power grid. I guess my ? is to you MAK owners do they run 12 volt or 110 power? Surely they run 110, they better for the $$$$$. What do you all think of pellet grills powered by 12volt? At the very least why didn't they use 24 volt? Twice the power. And twice the motor life. Also Weber talks the auger jamming up & reversing it. I take it that never happens on a MAK? Be interested in all opinions, thanks.

[rwalters]

MAK requires their grills to be plugged into a 110 and they state in their FAQ section that they will not work outside the US. Here’s a small snippet that answers your pellet ham question. In short, no, pellets rarely if ever jam in a MAK. I have been cooking on MAK’s for years now and never a jam.

From Bob Tucker/owner of MAK Grills:
“We use a USA made heavy stack auger motor for more torque that spins at a rate of 2.1RPM.
There is no separate (cheap) plastic fan attached to it to keep it cool like brand X, we can do this because we use the large stack motor and position it so the induction fan blows right across it to keep it cool.
The motor is attached to the 1/4" thick auger that is fed through the hopper and into the fire pot. The auger has a 1-5/8" spacing that carries a bank of pellets in each revolution. The auger & motor together can snap pellets with ease inside the hopper to prevent "pellet jams" and keep feed rates accurate for temperature control. We control the auger in one revolution increments to dump 1 bank of pellets at a time into the fire pot. This auger timing is what allows us to control the temperature so accurately in the grill as well as create as much smoke as possible in the lower temps.

Did you know: We have used the same auger motor since the first prototype left our facility in 2009 although we have changed the mounting of the motor a few times to make removal and service easier.”

[sparky]

I have owned 1 and 2 star maks.  Never once have I had auger jam in the many years I have owned one.