Pit Boss 5-Series Copperhead Vertical Pellet Smoker, Brown

The smoker blew up. From the start I was having problems with this smoker. But luckily the customer support was excellent in helping me troubleshoot it. It smoked about 4 or 5 meals without a problem, but then the problems started. It would either get too hot and shut off or not come to temp and shut off. Customer support helped me troubleshoot with new parts but it finally looked like I had to repair the whole unit. Luckily my friend is a literal rocket scientist from JPL/NASA and helped me replace all the parts, the digital temp/thermometer and we put it back on its legs and tested it. It worked again for the test smoke, but then that was it. Tried smoking some wings and it went too hot and shut off again. So I decided to test it again before I tried out a brisket. And that's when it got weird. I set it to 250, and it went to 450 then back down to 175 then to 375 then back to 150 then back to 400 then dropped to 125. I was on discord recording the entire smoke with 6 of my friends all witnessing the craziness. Then that's when the door almost blew open, twice and I had to grab the hose because the hopper was on fire. It was terrifying. I just had my home and entire town of Altadena just burn down in the Eaton fire, and having the smoker catch fire and threaten my new residence brought back too many feelings and PTSD. It's currently dripping outside completely destroyed and I'm scared to go back outside. The only reason it gets a 1 star is because at least their customer support was helpful, and engaging. Besides that, this product is beyond awful.

I’m very disappointed with this Pit Boss smart smoker. Since purchasing it, the unit has required multiple repairs and each time it only works temporarily before failing again. I have followed all troubleshooting steps provided by Pit Boss support, including cleaning the unit, relocating it to avoid environmental exposure, and performing resets. Despite this, the same issues keep returning. At this point it appears the unit may be defective. I would really appreciate Pit Boss reviewing this case and providing a permanent resolution such as a replacement rather than another repair.

I bought this smoker in July 2025. It worked great for the first few cooks but then started having issues with the temperature becoming extremely high and shutting down. Trying to use the warranty, at least for me, has been a nightmare. I had to buy an oven thermometer and take a picture of the temperature along with the error code. The lady I talked with on the phone seemed irritated to be talking with me about my issue. Maybe she was just having a bad day. It is possible I got lost in the shuffle, who knows. I am still holding out hope. I may have just bought a lemon smoker, and others may not have an issue. I really liked this smoker until it stopped working correctly. I have pretty much given up and just moved on. It will fire up and work for about an hour and half, then the temperature automatically rises to the max. I just started smoking the meat for about an hour and then finished on the grill before the temperature goes off the rails. I will have to buy a new smoker soon because I like to smoke brisket and other meats over an extended period of time. I have not been able to do so since October 2025. I will be going with a different brand for my next smoker. The chance that you will have the same experience I have had with this smoker is probably low. I am just sharing my experience.

Constantly having issues with temperature sensor and circuit board. Constant errors while trying to do any type of cooking on it.