No smoke!!

[Barny]

Hi. Can anyone help me. I’ve recently bought a 575pro. On startup it smokes for about a minute, then stops. The auger works fine and when I prime the auger it is delivering pellets. It reaches temperature fine. But just no smoke. They are good quality and dry pellets, the fire pit is clean. I’ve not actually cooked on it yet as I just can’t get it to smoke.

Can you help?
Thanks
Barny

 

[RayClem]

There are some details critical to answering your question.

1. What temperature were you trying to cook at? To get smoke, you need to be cooking at a temperature between 180F and 235F. At higher temperatures, the fire will burn efficiently and their will be little smoke. Do not rely on the temperature shown on the controller. Measure the chamber temperature with a 3rd party thermometer known to be accurate. Due to the placement of the RTD temperature probe, the controller temperature might not be accurate. Adjust the controller as necessary to maintain the cook temperature you desire.

2. Check the damper clearance on your smokestack. Set it at the distance recommended in your operating manual.

Try priming the auger. Set the controller as necessary for a cook temp of 225F. Then ignite the fire with the lid of the smoker open. In a few minutes a thick white smoke should pour out of the smoker. A few minutes later, the smoke should start to become thinner and blue. At that point, place your protein on the grates and close the lid on the smoker. This will cook the protein low and slow.

There are some things that do not do well "low and slow". When cooking fish or pizza, I crank the temperature up to 400F. You get little smoke at that temperature, but the cook turns out well.

 

[Barny]

Thank you. I think maybe it’s my error, being new to this, I was expecting loads of smoke, but on doing a bit more research it seems that not the case. So it’s probably fine. Appreciate the response. I’ll give it another go now.

 

[Pat Evans]

Hi. Can anyone help me. I’ve recently bought a 575pro. On startup it smokes for about a minute, then stops. The auger works fine and when I prime the auger it is delivering pellets. It reaches temperature fine. But just no smoke. They are good quality and dry pellets, the fire pit is clean. I’ve not actually cooked on it yet as I just can’t get it to smoke.

Can you help?
Thanks
Barny

I have a 575pro and I almost always use a smoke tube for extra smoke. the 575 just doesn't put out much smoke - it smokes but you have to really have it low - I start most of my cooks at 165 to get the most smoke it can produce. It's a good smoker, have had it forever and it's still kicking.

 

[Barny]

Thanks Pat, I'll give the smoke tube a go. Good to know its a reliable smoker.

 

[MrMatt]

Hi. Can anyone help me. I’ve recently bought a 575pro. On startup it smokes for about a minute, then stops. The auger works fine and when I prime the auger it is delivering pellets. It reaches temperature fine. But just no smoke. They are good quality and dry pellets, the fire pit is clean. I’ve not actually cooked on it yet as I just can’t get it to smoke.

Can you help?
Thanks
Barny

I own the same model and smoking issues. First, Traeger doesn't name their products as smokers, rather as pellet grills. Most smoke will occur setting the temp at the start to around 200 degrees. I do this for about an hour or so, then crank it up to 225 or 250 degrees depending on the recipe.

 

[Barny]

Good tip. Cheers.