First Traeger...is it working right?
Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2018 5:44 pm
I bought the Traeger Junior Elite 20 Pellet grill. Never had or used a pellet grill before, so not sure if mine is or isn't operating correctly. Traeger's video indicates you set the temperature...and walk away and you can be confident your meat will cook properly. Their startup instructions say to turn the dial to "smoke" with the grill door opened and wait till you see evidence of white smoke. At that point, you are supposed to close the door, set your temperature and voila. I did the initial 45 minute burn off/break-in at highest setting and that seemed to go well.
However, following the procedure above, when I set my temp at 225, the temperature initially went up to around 365...and then it took it close to 45 minutes until it dropped back toward the set temp of 225. It got down to around 233, then again started rising up toward 300...at that point, I shut it down. I have now tried it a couple of additional times, and get about the same response. I did call Traeger and they didn't offer anything specific toward a solution other than to suggest I fully empty the hopper, put a mark on the auger and then time how long for it to do a full revolution (they had said it should be about 36 seconds and mine is right at that speed). So, am I doing something wrong, or is it supposed to shoot up initially well above the set temp and then you moderate the temperature down by opening up the lid, or something else?
Traeger had promised me a return call after an hour, but 4 hours later, I'm still waiting. Guess I will try them again, but was hoping to have someone offer some advice to give me a place from which to argue with them if they try to tell me all is operating correctly.
However, following the procedure above, when I set my temp at 225, the temperature initially went up to around 365...and then it took it close to 45 minutes until it dropped back toward the set temp of 225. It got down to around 233, then again started rising up toward 300...at that point, I shut it down. I have now tried it a couple of additional times, and get about the same response. I did call Traeger and they didn't offer anything specific toward a solution other than to suggest I fully empty the hopper, put a mark on the auger and then time how long for it to do a full revolution (they had said it should be about 36 seconds and mine is right at that speed). So, am I doing something wrong, or is it supposed to shoot up initially well above the set temp and then you moderate the temperature down by opening up the lid, or something else?
Traeger had promised me a return call after an hour, but 4 hours later, I'm still waiting. Guess I will try them again, but was hoping to have someone offer some advice to give me a place from which to argue with them if they try to tell me all is operating correctly.
