Help! Ironwood gen 2 Super Smoke

[kjb5000]

So I am at a bit of a loss here. I purchased my Ironwood back in October. Now I’m new to pellet grills so it was a slight learning curve but when I received it I thought the grill was super inconsistent in temps. It seemed to level out and be fine when I’m on non super smoke but each time that I’ve had super smoke on (and yes I know it’s designed for temps 165-225) I never get anywhere near what the temp should be. Each time I’ve only ever used it at 225 hut take my last cook the other day the grill never got below 270. I understand how it works and there will be fluctuations but I’m not even getting that per se because my temp is so much higher when it’s ok.

I’ve been on with Traeger multiple times to where support is obviously just reading scripts and it’s the same story over and over yet.. they claim nothing is wrong and it’s fine.

Is this normal and I’m just crazy or is there something actually wrong?

 

[Manannan]

By the very nature of Super Smoke there is significantly more temperature variation than when it is not in use.

When I use SS I always make extra sure the firepot baffle is seated correctly (apparently this can cause abnormal SS temp variation issues in the Gen 2 Timberline and Ironwood) always do the preheat with the lid shut the whole time and switch SS on only when the set temperature (as you say between 165 and 225F) has been achieved, I then put the food in and leave it alone resisting the temptation to open the hood to see if there is more smoke! I rarely use SS for more than a couple of hours.

I don't tend to set the temp to the maximum for SS (225F) because whether it is just in my mind the temp swings seem greater with higher corresponding temp peaks. Temperature variation and stability also seems to improve with time, after say 45 to 60 minutes.

Personally and anecdotally I would say the average temperature during SS reads higher than both what the Traeger is set at and also what it is without SS but it "never getting below 270" perhaps seems somewhat higher than I would expect everything else being equal and notwithstanding there are a load of variables. What sort of range do you see, 270F to ??.

Sorry I cant say whether you grill is behaving "normally" but by recounting what I do and get may give some pointers, it is very easy to get hung up on temperature variations and readings and for the most part they are part of normal grill function.

However that is not to say some people don't have issues, can you talk to the dealer who sold as in my case they are pretty clued up on all things Traeger and will even contact customer support on my behalf?