New Member from Delaware

[21fred]

Greetings all. I have been smoking with a Weber kettle for some time, but was looking to automate a little.. I bought a 780 Pro on a black Friday deal and am about 4 cooks in. Being a little slow, I just realized that my cooks are taking a lot longer than expected... I put a separate probe near the setpoint probe and found that the Traeger reading is about 70 degrees higher than the reading I was getting on my separate probe. After poking around on line, I see that this is a common issue.

The only useful solution I found was to buy an aftermarket controller.... I spent a lot of money on this smoker and expect it to work as promised without spending additional time and money to change out the controller.

I'm betting that someone here has found a solution and I hope you will share same.
Thanks!!

 

[Like Smoke]

Welcome to the forum. My first thought would be to talk with the folks you purchased it from and relay the problem, They may be of some help with a controller exchange. I use a Thermpro dual probe, but there are many good units out there that will do the job. One probe in the protein and one mounted next to it (not touching the grill rack). If my readout on the external probe is not matching my Traeger readout I just adjust the controller a click up or down to get the temp I am looking for. I must say that I am a low and slow cooker and have never used mine for grilling at high temp. Thanks for using the forum, I am sure you will hear from others with good ideas to help you with your problem.

 

[Parrothead1809]

Welcome to the party !!! I'm a fellow 780 owner and yes, the thermometers in the Traeger are not the most accurate. Besides an instant read (most use a Thermapen) I also have a Thermoworks "Smoke" which is much more accurate for monitoring the chamber temp.

I will say this, before my Traeger, I had a vertical smoker that was a challenge to maintain temps. The Traeger is much better - really - don't sweat it once you figure out how it cooks. Just set it and forget it. Remember, if you're lookin' you ain't cookin' !!!

Finally - be sure to check out the What's Cooking Today thread (https://www.traegerforum.com/threads/whats-cooking-today-🔥-pics-are-necessary.3207/unread) - lots of great advise there !

Welcome again !
-PH

 

[21fred]

Thank you both! I was on the phone with Traeger. They could see that it took 20 hours to get my ribs to 205, they could see the temperature (according to the Treager sensor) but said it was all working fine. 3-2-1 ribs don't take 20 hours... lol.

I have resolved to use my separate sensors and put in a false setpoint on the traeger to achieve the desired cooking temp. Still, its a little disappointing to spend so much money and have to do a work around... Onward and upward! Thanks again!!

 

[primeone]

Hi @21fred, welcome aboard!

Just wondering—how much of a temperature difference are you seeing between your Traeger and the external sensor?

 

[21fred]

70 degrees.

 

[primeone]

70 degrees.

Wow, that's a lot. I'm surprised Traeger won't send you a replacement. It might be worth calling their tech support back.

 

[21fred]

Well, they sent me a replacement sensor. I have not put it on yet, and I don't think that will solve the problem, but we'll see.

 

[RayClem]

What many people find is that the temperature probe is fairly accurate at lower temperatures. For example, I set my grill to 235F to achieve a temperature of 225F on the 3rd party thermometer. That is not unreasonable.

If I want to cook a pizza at 400F, I need to set the controller to 450-460F. That is close to the discrepancy you report.

I rarely cook above 400F, so I can deal with the issues. However, that means that my grill never gets hot enough to sear burgers or steaks. To solve the issue, I purchased a gas griddle that gets plenty hot on high for searing.

 

[21fred]

Thanks. I use my Weber Kettle for high heat applications. I only use the Traeger for low and slow. When I set it to 225, I get 170 on my ThermPro. That coupled with the fact that it takes 19 hours to finish a cook (verified by the Traeger meat probe plus my instant read), tells me that its not working properly. Perhaps is the algorithm that they use on the controller.