Pellets Kirkland Pellets

[LCV]

We recently purchased the Kirkland Pellets and are having a hard time getting the grill to heat up to temp. Talking with Traeger, of course they said it's because of the pellets. I've looked over the threads and no one else mentioned this issue. The Traeger rep said that it's normal for the grill to take 45 minutes to heat up to 400. We've had this grill for over 10 years and it normally takes 15-20 minutes to get the heat up to high.

Anyone else have a similar problem?

 

[traeger860]

I had this happen before. I don't remember which brand of pellets it happened with. I emptied the hopper, cleared the auger and firepot, and loaded in pellets from another bag. Back to normal.

Could be a bad batch of pellets. Maybe they got moisture in them and aren't burning correctly. Try swapping them out for something else to see if the grill gets back to functioning properly. If they do, take the bag back to Costco and they'll swap you for a new bag.

 

[Shedd]

I just cooked a bunch of burgers on my 780 Pro last night. It held great at 500 and I always use Kirkland pellets. I also never empty my hopper and it sits outside but under a roof. I do clean mine every time I cook.

 

[traeger860]

If you want to give those pellets another try - vacuum out the firepot, prime the auger, vacuum firepot again, and then prime the auger again. Then fire it up and see what happens.

 

[logolidad]

I’ve noticed the Kirkland pellets are longer than Traeger’s pellets and maybe this could be the reason

 

[RayClem]

If the pellets are long, they probably break up going through the auger.

 

[Bonecrusher69]

We recently purchased the Kirkland Pellets and are having a hard time getting the grill to heat up to temp. Talking with Traeger, of course they said it's because of the pellets. I've looked over the threads and no one else mentioned this issue. The Traeger rep said that it's normal for the grill to take 45 minutes to heat up to 400. We've had this grill for over 10 years and it normally takes 15-20 minutes to get the heat up to high.

Anyone else have a similar problem?

People always suspect the condition of the pellets and how they were stored, even if purchased recently. What was the ambient temperature and wind condition at the time? I increased my Traeger grill to 450° and watched as the temperature climbed to 375° and stalled. Another Bluetooth thermometer that I trust much more than than the Traeger monitor showed the temperature over 475°. I waited another 5 minutes to see if the Traeger meter would increase. It didn’t move. So I decided to visually check. By that time, my chicken pieces had already begun to char and were inedible. So it was the Traeger thermometer that obviously was off. I know it can reach 450° on its own because I did it when seasoning the grill. But now I have doubts about it’s accuracy and reliability.

 

[RayClem]

People always suspect the condition of the pellets and how they were stored, even if purchased recently. What was the ambient temperature and wind condition at the time? I increased my Traeger grill to 450° and watched as the temperature climbed to 375° and stalled. Another Bluetooth thermometer that I trust much more than than the Traeger monitor showed the temperature over 475°. I waited another 5 minutes to see if the Traeger meter would increase. It didn’t move. So I decided to visually check. By that time, my chicken pieces had already begun to char and were inedible. So it was the Traeger thermometer that obviously was off. I know it can reach 450° on its own because I did it when seasoning the grill. But now I have doubts about it’s accuracy and reliability.

Yeah, the strange thing about the Traeger RTD probes is that some people like you find the probe to read low vs a 3rd party device and others like me find the Traeger to read low. You have to figure out what your specific grill is doing.

 

[Murph30]

People always suspect the condition of the pellets and how they were stored, even if purchased recently. What was the ambient temperature and wind condition at the time? I increased my Traeger grill to 450° and watched as the temperature climbed to 375° and stalled. Another Bluetooth thermometer that I trust much more than than the Traeger monitor showed the temperature over 475°. I waited another 5 minutes to see if the Traeger meter would increase. It didn’t move. So I decided to visually check. By that time, my chicken pieces had already begun to char and were inedible. So it was the Traeger thermometer that obviously was off. I know it can reach 450° on its own because I did it when seasoning the grill. But now I have doubts about it’s accuracy and reliability.

 

[Murph30]

Sort of same problem couple of years ago. Problem was the original temp probe that came with Traeger smoker started reading low. Recalulated 2x but same result (compared with my ThermoPro). Tossed and ordered new probe off Amazon, and both read within 5* all the time. I always compare during a smoke just to be sure. Now, this MEATER probe is not living up to the hype or price.

 

[griechers]

We recently purchased the Kirkland Pellets and are having a hard time getting the grill to heat up to temp. Talking with Traeger, of course they said it's because of the pellets. I've looked over the threads and no one else mentioned this issue. The Traeger rep said that it's normal for the grill to take 45 minutes to heat up to 400. We've had this grill for over 10 years and it normally takes 15-20 minutes to get the heat up to high.

Anyone else have a similar problem?

Oh, yes. I fought that issue from mid December to February . They kept giving me that same line of taking that long to reach 490. I kept calling and they kept having me do a startup while talking with the tech. Sometimes it wouldn't get past 300 in 45 minutes. They first sent me a new temp sensor. Next they sent me the whole pellet bin assembly which was the auger, and control, cpu board. Next they sent the igniter and flame sensor unit. All of this didn't improve the way the grill heated up. Finally they sent a whole new Ironwood grill, in the box. Guess what? It works like the first one did when it was new. It gets to 490 in 15 to 20 minutes. Traeger has a controller issue. They try hard not to talk about it. When they sent me the brand new grill they had me return the old one. I hope they do a post mortem on it and I ask them if they would share the results with me. Probably won't happen. My grill was still on warranty .
Keep calling them. But do pick up a bag of Traeger pellets and use those if they have you do test runs.
I will say that through all of this, no one I spoke with was short or rude with me. I think they really wanted to help and they all have a script they work off of. I got results when the tech guy started talking to his supervisors.

 

[BBQLUV]

People always suspect the condition of the pellets and how they were stored, even if purchased recently. What was the ambient temperature and wind condition at the time? I increased my Traeger grill to 450° and watched as the temperature climbed to 375° and stalled. Another Bluetooth thermometer that I trust much more than than the Traeger monitor showed the temperature over 475°. I waited another 5 minutes to see if the Traeger meter would increase. It didn’t move. So I decided to visually check. By that time, my chicken pieces had already begun to char and were inedible. So it was the Traeger thermometer that obviously was off. I know it can reach 450° on its own because I did it when seasoning the grill. But now I have doubts about it’s accuracy and reliability.

I only use Traeger pellets, no problem.

 

[RayClem]

If your Traeger RTD thermocouple is reading accurately over a wide range of temperatures, you are one of the fortunate few. Many of the thermocouples read higher than actual; some read lower than actual. You never know until you figure out how your specific grill responds.