How To Fix Your Green Mountain Grill Igniter Not Working?

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If your Green Mountain grill digital display is showing FAL or you simply can’t get the igniter to fire, then you’ll need to determine how to fix your Green Mountain grill igniter not working quickly so that you can get back to grilling and not getting irritated with a broken grill and meat sitting around.

Often airflow around the igniter is hindered by ash, pellets, or the combustion fan, so clean up the area and check airflow looks good.

If you suspect the igniter is faulty, then you can manually ignite the grill by adding some pellets to the burn pot and setting them on fire.

Causes Of Your Green Mountain Grill Igniter Not Working

Your Firebox Is Filled With Ash

A common issue with your Green Mountain grill igniter not working is that you’ve used it many times without cleaning the ash from the firefox.

The igniter is located towards the bottom, and if ash has filled the firebox too high from burning pellets, the igniter can not come into contact with new pellets to ignite.

Your Firebox Has Too Many Pellets In

With a Green Mountain grill igniter not working, you can check to see whether the firebox has somehow gotten too many pellets in; this is an issue that many people experience from time to time.

The major problem with a firebox that has too many pellets is that there isn’t enough airflow to let the igniter do its job, so it’s actually working, but lack of air is causing the pellet not to ignite.

Auger Isn’t Feeding Pellets Into The Firebox

A Green Mountain grill igniter not working may be due to the auger not feeding pellets into the firebox; this is a typical scenario for the first time you try to start up your grill, or it can happen if you’ve let the augur become completely empty of pellets.

Test to see whether pellets are being loaded into the firebox and if not, then it’s the auger not feeding pellets in, rather than a specific issue with your igniter.

Pellets In Hopper Are Wet

With a Green Mountain grill igniter not working that’s been left outside in harsh conditions, typically sideways rain, your hopper can take on water, and the pellets inside can expand, which then stops them from being fed into the firebox.

If you’ve recently had severe rainstorms or you haven’t used your grill for some time, it may be that the pellets are wet.

Firmware Needs Updating

Some technical issues can be a source of your Green Mountain grill igniter not working; if you’ve recently upgraded your mobile app to the latest version, it may be that the app and the firmware on your grill are no longer compatible.

In most situations, the app should let you know about this and have you upgrade the firmware, but it is possible it missed the notice, or this may be an unknown bug with your specific phone, grill, or overall environment.

Your Igniter Has Failed

It’s not uncommon for a Green Mountain grill igniter not working to simply be that the igniter has failed, there is a shelf life on the igniters, and if this is an older model or you’ve heavily used it, the igniter can break.

The other issue that can be seen is that newer ceramic igniters can break easier than the previous steel versions due to cleaning them too roughly.

So while they last longer, they can break easier, which is something that needs to be reviewed as part of your cleaning routine.

Your Power Keeps Tripping

With a Green Mountain griller igniter not working due to the power tripping, this is typically the igniter as it draws 240w when you’re starting the grill, and during operation, the rest of the grill is only drawing 60w

Fixes For Your Green Mountain Grill Igniter Not Working

Clean Ash Out Of The Firebox

Take a look at the firebox and see whether it’s completely filled with ash; you can try to brush the ash out, or vacuuming the ash out ensures that you get the majority of the ash and don’t have to worry about it for a while.

In an optimal situation, you should be vacuuming or cleaning out the firebox from ash after every use.

You should also be performing an overall clean of the Green Mountain grill as there are a number of issues that can happen due to a dirty grill.

Consider adding a 1-hour 500-degree burn once a week to your grill to burn off all the debris, and after the grill has cooled, vacuum out all the ash.

This should ensure the smooth running of your igniter and your grill overall.

Clear Pellets Out Of The Firebox

A quick check of your firebox to see whether it’s overflowed with pellets should help you determine if this is the problem.

The quick fix is to simply remove the pellets from the firebox and try to refill it to make sure that there isn’t a problem that’s letting too many pellets into the firebox at the same time.

You may also find that your pellets are too large or hard and not suited for the Green Mountain grill, so buying Green Mountain grill pellets is a good long-term solution if you believe the size is a factor in an ongoing problem.

Prime The Firebox

Priming your firebox only needs to be done the first time you use your Green Mountain grill or if you run entirely out of pellets.

Fill your hopper with pellets.
Plug the grill in.
Press the red power button.
Once the digital display reads 1, unplug the grill and plug it back in.
Press the red power button

The grill should display 0-1-2-3-4 and then heat up to 150 degrees; once complete, you can set your grill to the desired temperature and proceed.

Clean Out The Hopper

Empty out your pellets from the hopper, and you should be able to easily see if they’re wet, they’ll either be larger than expected or may even be stuck together.

The solution is simple and requires that you throw out the wet pellets and replace them with fresh new Green Mountain pellets that can fit out the hopper and into the firebox.

Long term, the best solution for this issue is to get a Green Mountain grill cover to ensure that water can’t get into your grill when it’s left outside.

Update Your Firmware

Ensure that you have the latest Green Mountain grill app from your Apple or Google app stores, and then upgrade the firmware on your grill to the newest version

Steps to update the firmware on your Green Mountain grill are:

Open the Green Mountain grill app.
Click “Settings” in the app.
Click “Update Grill” in the app.
If requested, provide your Wifi network name and password.

Replace Your Faulty Green Mountain Grill Igniter

Contact Green Mountain to get a replacement igniter, or if you’re not under warranty or simply want a faster fix, you buy a Green Mountain grill igniter from Amazon and have it sent the next day for around $15.

Steps to replace your Green Mountain grill igniter:

Unplug the grill.
Remove grease tray.
Unscrew the heatshield adjustment rod and remove the heat shield.
Go under the hopper and disconnect the hopper wires, which are the two red wires connected to the white insulated wires.
Pull out the igniter through the burn pot

Once removed, you can reverse the process and put the new igniter back into place, along with everything else you removed.

Test the igniter by starting up the Green Mountain grill and let it run for a short time to ensure everything was put back into place correctly.

Replug The Igniter Wires

Often simply unplugging and firmly plugging your igniter wires back in can solve the power tripping issue.

However, if this doesn’t work, you’ll need to replace the igniter.

Look under your hopper for the igniter wires; they’re two red wires connected to insulated white wires.
Twist and unplug the red wires from the white insulated wires.
Plug and twist the wires back in

You can now test to see whether the igniter works or if it’s still tripping the power.