Ignition Time?

[Dzacco]

I have just received a Pro 575 for Christmas and it took over 15 minutes to ignite. I primed the auger and followed instructions on line. I am now testing the low temp burning and it took over 10 minutes to ignite. Is this normal? After it ignited the temperature ran up to over 250* even though it is set for 165*. It slowly dropped back to around 145 before it came back up to 160. Nor very accurate if you ask me.

 

[CampWhatnot]

First off welcome aboard! In the colder weather it will take longer to ignite and get up to the setpoint temp. 10 to 15 mins isn't out of line. I think it will overshoot more when your setpoint temp is set lower due to the amount of pellets that are dumped into the burn pot during the ignition cycle (when it's cold out) but just my opinion. I'm not 100% sure if when it indicates cold weather starting if it dumps more pellets into the burn pot during the initial ignition or not but my guess is that is does to account for the colder ambient temps which could cause the overshoot you are experiencing. I would suggest starting it at a temp of 250 and see how it reacts. I'm guessing it won't overshoot as much. Cheers and let us know.

 

[bfletcher]

I don't time my startup but what you are reporting seems reasonable to me. If I were in your shoes--just for curiosity sake--I'd return the chimney cap to its out-of-box height and allow a full run to occur without human intervention before taking additional steps. Mine does overshoot the target temp during preheat but after a cycle or two of pellets dumping into the pot it stabilizes. Good luck.

 

[Walleye Hunter]

Mine takes several minutes to ignite and if I'm watching it it seems like an eternity. Are you talking 10 minutes to ignite, or 10 minutes to ignite and reach temp?

 

[BA_Ga]

I have a Pro 34. To start it, I click it to 'Smoke' with the lid open. A couple minutes later, I have smoke, close the lid and set my desired temp.

 

[Dzacco]

Thanks for the responses. It has been taking at least 10 minutes to simply ignite. On the initial run up it was incapable of reaching 450*. It kept adding pellets without ignition and the fan kept turning on and off until it ignited. Upon ignition it smoked veraciously - a beautiful thing which cleared up after reaching 250 or so. I'll try playing with the vent. It needs to be able to reach 450 but not choked off enough to retain heat so it adds pellets at low temps for smoke. I just read about the Traeger pellets not being the best so I'll pick up some of the other recommended brands and give them a try as well.

 

[CampWhatnot]

Thanks for the responses. It has been taking at least 10 minutes to simply ignite. On the initial run up it was incapable of reaching 450*. It kept adding pellets without ignition and the fan kept turning on and off until it ignited. Upon ignition it smoked veraciously - a beautiful thing which cleared up after reaching 250 or so. I'll try playing with the vent. It needs to be able to reach 450 but not choked off enough to retain heat so it doesn't add pellets at low temps for smoke. I just read about the Traeger pellets not being the best so I'll pick up some of the other recommended brands and give them a try as well.

I'm just firing up and it is about 30f feels like 20f with wind chill here. I'm not using my blanket. I'm 12 minutes into the ignition and sitting at 32f and smoke (ignition) just started to roll. Now 15 mins in and smoke has stopped and temp is 100f. Now 17 mins and 200f and 22 mins to 275.

 

[Dzacco]

I'm just firing up and it about 30f feels like 20f with wind chill here. I'm not using my blanket. I'm 12 minutes into the ignition and sitting at 32f and smoke (ignition) just started to roll. Now 15 mins in and smoke has stopped and temp is 100f. Now 17 mins and 200f and 22 mins to 275.

Thank You for the detailed description. This is very close to what I am experiencing with ambient temps close to what you have. I'll try playing with it tomorrow and log it closely.