Pro 34 Temperature Solved

[spartan]

Got the Pro 34 about 3 weeks now. Use it sometimes daily or at least multiple times a week for smoking or grilling. Was having a heck of a time after a week or two getting it above 400 degrees. I became obsessed watching the temperature and stressing over this baby since I love the food quality so much. I need the sear for steaks and burgers. Totally became obsessed trying to understand why.

I live in Colorado and it's been cold. I was positive I needed a thermal blanket or something to reach my grilling/searing temperature. I doubted there was a problem with the fan, hot rod, sensor, etc...

I clean the ash / fire pot after every grill. So I knew that wasn't the problem. But the temperature issue kept getting worse. Kept messing with the chimney height with a tad of success by raising the gap for more airflow. However still not getting my desired searing temperature.

Here is what I did.

1. Cleaned and vacuumed it out like I always do
2. Emptied what was left in the hopper
3. Raised the chimney cover to about 1.5 inches or so
4. Changed my foil drip cover and made sure the lip wasn't leaning too far under the temperature probe (thinking to not interrupt proper airflow around the RTD sensor in any way.... just a guess but whatever)
5. My RTD sensor was not greasy. But it was black. Kinda sooty looking. I used warm water and dawn and gently scrubbed on it. I didn't make it shiny silver but definitely gave it some "silver" exposure.
6. Most importantly - the Pellets..... I swore I didn't think the pellet issue was that big of a deal. Treager says the number 1 issue is poor pellet quality. I am now convinced. I took the emptied batch of pellets and placed them in the microwave for about 2 mins to dry them out. But they definitely lost that "sheen" and "snap" texture. I've been leaving some of my pellets in the hopper and just covering the grill. I returned the pellets and a fresh batch to the hopper and lit it up. Put everything back and cranked it up to high (450)
7. Pellet storage. It's said to not leave them in the bag which I was doing in the pantry. I think this is very important as well. I've now placed all my pellets in a sealed lid bucket from Murdock's.

Keep in mind it's currently 20 degrees outside. I primed it up and after about 15 minutes I got it to climb to 425 before I decided to turn it back down to my 375 degree chicken recipe. I feel i could have gotten it higher if I decided to wait.

I think what did it was a blend of steps 3, 5 and 6.

Going forward definitely empty out the hopper each time and give the RTD sensor a wipe down with a soapy warm paper towel. Gotta keep that sensor clean.

Hope this helps. Worked for me after obsessing over this for a few weeks thinking it was just the cold temperature or a problem with the grill.

 

[Shedd]

Hopefully you’ve narrowed it down, I’m still new to pellet cooking and haven’t had a need for anything above 375(I use other grills) so I wouldn’t know and can only share my opinion. I’m in SC and we hardly see 20 degrees here, however at Thanksgiving it was 23 and my display wouldn’t work properly to ignite my grill. I understand many on here haven’t had my issue but my point, I think you need to consider the 20 degree temperature another consideration because even if the grill is hot the intake air is freezing cold. Then opening the chimney more, results in quicker air exchange keeping the chamber colder.