Pre-Heat "finishes" at 350 when set to 500?

[ItalynStylion]

First time poster and although the FAQ covers a lot (thanks to those who organized it), I'm still not finding what I need.

I have about 8 months on a brand new Traeger Pro780. For the most part, it's pretty good. But it takes FOREVER to get hot and I'm at a loss for what is wrong. I'm at my wits end. So today I decided to start from scratch in absolutely ideal conditions to get some metrics on how long it takes to get to temp.
Prep Work and Conditions

• 70F degrees outside
• No wind
• Lid is shut perfectly flush with grill body.
• Vacuumed entire grill of all ash and debris
• Firepot holes are unobstructed
• Auger is primed with Mesquite B&B Pellets
• Set desired temp to 500F and hit ignite

Time/Temp Metrics

• 13:58 to get to 300 degrees
• At 350 degrees the grill alerted me that "Preheating was Complete" (why the hell is this happening?)
• 20:35 to get to 400 degrees
• 29:41 the grill hits 450 degrees
• 29:42 I give up because it's never getting to 500.

And before anyone says, "You aren't smoking meat at 500 don't be silly." Yeah, I get it....I typically smoke at much lower temps. But when I cook burgers or need to sear meat, I can't do that at 200 degrees. Many recipes call for searing at extremely high temps and I simply cannot do that if it takes half an hour for the effing grill to heat up. For the price, this thing should perform flawlessly and it's far from doing that.

 

[Murphy's Law]

Sorry i can't help but all I can offer is that I have a 780 and while I've never started at 500 (I've always started around ~200 and then bumped temp after about an hour of "low and slow"), the grill has never had a problem getting to 500 quickly when I adjusted temp.

Did you ping their support?

 

[ItalynStylion]

Sorry i can't help but all I can offer is that I have a 780 and while I've never started at 500 (I've always started around ~200 and then bumped temp after about an hour of "low and slow"), the grill has never had a problem getting to 500 quickly when I adjusted temp.

Did you ping their support?

That's been my experience in the past too. Pork loin or steak low and slow and a quick finish at 500 after a brief rest in a pyrex or similar. Now I can't get to 500 before the meat gets cold haha.
Haven't pinged support just yet. I'll give them a shout later today probably.

 

[Slimpicker]

Glad you liked the FAQ, hope you learned something. (at least where to find 90% of your answers)

I've never gone to 500 myself, I did 450 the other day AFTER my smoke was over to clean the grill, I'll let others chime in about 500 in 30 minutes but that sounds pretty normal to me, mine takes maybe 20-25 to go from 'ignite' to 300 and that's not bad, I just prepare food while it's heating up.
Hell, my WeberQ gasser can take that long to get to 450 on a windy day.

 

[RemE]

Honestly, I think it's the pellets. Some flavors have more energy than others. This became crystal clear when I tried 100% Mesquite pellets, grill would not pass 260F. Other pellets like hickory, oak, maple tend to burn hotter.

 

[JamesB]

Honestly, I think it's the pellets. Some flavors have more energy than others. This became crystal clear when I tried 100% Mesquite pellets, grill would not pass 260F. Other pellets like hickory, oak, maple tend to burn hotter.

Wonder why that’s the case, because mesquite burns much, much hotter than hickory, oak, maple, etc. I once burned up one of those prefab metal fireplaces with mesquite. That said, I just used mesquite pellets on an overnight brisket, but I never set the temp above 225. The Traeger didn’t take more than 10-12 minutes to preheat to 190 though.

 

[RemE]

Wonder why that’s the case, because mesquite burns much, much hotter than hickory, oak, maple, etc. I once burned up one of those prefab metal fireplaces with mesquite. That said, I just used mesquite pellets on an overnight brisket, but I never set the temp above 225. The Traeger didn’t take more than 10-12 minutes to preheat to 190 though.

Beats me, I was surprised to see this myself, but I kept the grill running, quickly dumped the pellets, changed to Traeger pellets, and as soon as the auger brought in the new pellets (about 3 min) the temperature soared to almost 500 while the controller adjusted to the change.

So, all pellets are not created equal.

 

[JamesB]

So, all pellets are not created equal.

I definitely agree with you! I have a bag of Traeger cherry pellets that cause wild temp swings. I was having trouble maintaining 350 with those, but haven’t had any problems with mesquite. I usually use mesquite for any red meat, and apple or pecan for everything else.

If I have trouble with wild swings or the grill won’t come to temp, changing pellets is the first thing I do.

 

[Puertex]

Honestly, I think it's the pellets. Some flavors have more energy than others. This became crystal clear when I tried 100% Mesquite pellets, grill would not pass 260F. Other pellets like hickory, oak, maple tend to burn hotter.

Good points !
All fuels do not have the same heat value.
For example on a gas grill, natural gas and propane. Propane has more than double the heat value (BTU) per cubic foot than natural gas.
So, to get the same heat, you need more than twice the natural gas flowing... Then you need different orifice sizes to adjust.
The Traeger system uses a controller that increases/decreases the auger RPM reacting to the difference in temperature between the setpoint and the actual temperature.
As RemE (and others) said, a different pellet may have a different heat value depending what it is made of (types of wood, moisture content), and the system (auger, and controller components) have to react by increasing/decreasing the pellet feed rate (auger rpm).
This auger is not designed to be particularly fast...
So with a slow burning pellet, the "system" will take longer to get there...
Also, IMO, the Traeger is designed primarily as a smoker and not a griller.
So the system is "pushed to its limits" when operating on the temperature extremes... What do you all think about this?
Just my 25 cents...
Puertex

 

[ItalynStylion]

Update: Talked to support, they wanted to send me a new temp sensor/thermo couple. I told him that didn't seem like it would help because the unit was well aware of the fact the grill was not hitting temp. Meaning, the probe was doing its job. But the new part was free and I had them send it and I got it installed on Sunday morning. Easy work.

I cleaned the grill and installed the new part. Set it to 500 and fired it up.

• 9:33 to 200F
• 14:18 to 300F
• 16:40 to "pre-heat complete" at 340F?
• 25:24 to 400F
• 42:49 to 450F

Obviously, that's some bullshit. No improvement. But it got me thinking. Although my pellets are stored in their bags under a covered patio where it's impossible for them to get wet...it has been very rainy here. So I thought, "Hmmm, maybe they have absorbed some humidity? With that thought, I had a bag of Pecan pellets in the garage that hasn't been outside on the porch. During the testing above, I cleared the auger of the blended pellets and poured the Pecan. Once those hit the fire pot, it roared to 500 (actually saw 523F before the computer slowed the auger).

So at that point I thought, "Wow, ok....no more pellets on the porch." and I went to get another brand new bag of the blended pellets I like (B&B Championship blend). At that point I let the grill cool and I cleaned it and purged all the Pecan pellets from the grill and replaced with the brand new pellets.

Then I ran the test again....hold the phone.

• 7:52 to 200F (1:41 faster)
• 11:16 to 300F (3:02 faster)
• 15:39 to "pre-heat complete" at 360F this time?
• 16:24 to 400F (9:00 faster)
• 30:58 to 450F (almost 12 min faster)
• Still never hit 500....this must be a fuel limitation

So I've determined that fresh pellets that are in a sealed container are in fact substantially better than pellets that have been left open EVEN if they haven't been wet and appear dry. That being said, I learned that pure Pecan apparently runs VERY hot vs a blend of cherry/pecan/oak.

 

[RemE]

It is surprising how much difference there can be between pellets.

The controller has a limited range of control over the auger feed. If the fuel is weak, maximum feed can't keep up with the demand.

 

[John S.]

My T1300 also states that it comes to the set temp prior to actually reaching the set temperature as confirmed on the FB. I give the grill 30-45 min to stabilize once it says it is at temperature. Once stabilized the temp from the FB ambient probe is within 2 degrees of the Treager Grill probe.
I use Treager Pellets stored in 5 gal buckets with an air tight seal, they all reach the set temp, though I usually keep the temp below 400…