Thermostat

[Jr12]

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue. I have the 620 and have noticed, unfortunately while trying to smoke, that the grill is not heating to the desired temp. I have used two different oven thermometers, one of them being brand new, the grill is 50 degrees off, lower, than what I have it set for. I have to set the grill to 400 just to get 350 and the thermostat is right next to the one in the grill. I spoke with tech support and they were only happy that the grill stopped feeding the hopper when it “thinks” it hit its set temperature. I said several times that the grill slowing and stopping the auger is different than reading the temperature correctly but I think they were just trying to get Me off the phone. Anyone else have this experience? I will have to try again with tech support but quite honestly, this is really annoying and if not fixed, I will be getting rid of it. Traeger is disappointing me …

Thanks

 

[JPSBBQ]

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue. I have the 620 and have noticed, unfortunately while trying to smoke, that the grill is not heating to the desired temp. I have used two different oven thermometers, one of them being brand new, the grill is 50 degrees off, lower, than what I have it set for. I have to set the grill to 400 just to get 350 and the thermostat is right next to the one in the grill. I spoke with tech support and they were only happy that the grill stopped feeding the hopper when it “thinks” it hit its set temperature. I said several times that the grill slowing and stopping the auger is different than reading the temperature correctly but I think they were just trying to get Me off the phone. Anyone else have this experience? I will have to try again with tech support but quite honestly, this is really annoying and if not fixed, I will be getting rid of it. Traeger is disappointing me …

Thanks

I would get rid of it. This isn’t for you.

just for giggles, put the oven thermos in your oven. I will be shocked if it’s not off by as much or more. I would send the oven back too. Even ovens that cost thousands of dollars generally fluctuated 50 degrees easily.

 

[Jr12]

I would get rid of it. This isn’t for you.

just for giggles, put the oven thermos in your oven. I will be shocked if it’s not off by as much or more. I would send the oven back too. Even ovens that cost thousands of dollars generally fluctuated 50 degrees easily.

Ha, I actually did and the thermostat was spot on plus/minus 5 degrees. I was expecting that too but the thermostat surprised me. The grill shouldn’t be off by that much …

 

[JPSBBQ]

Ha, I actually did and the thermostat was spot on plus/minus 5 degrees. I was expecting that too but the thermostat surprised me. The grill shouldn’t be off by that much …

If you are trying to tell me your oven holds temps +/- 5 degrees I am saying there is definitely something wrong. Because it won’t.

 

[Murphy's Law]

The GRILL works just fine. The temp probes and firmware are terrible.

Now that you know the grill is off by 50 degrees at a certain temp just adjust and carry on.

BTW, you’ll find it’s off a lot less at lower temps. I’m pretty accurate at 180 and start to lose it at 225, for example.

You’ll find two camps here. One is the “this is unacceptable and I’m filing a class action lawsuit!” and the other is “Now that I know the offset I’m making some good food”.

Up to you if you want stress in your life or a tasty pulled pork sandwich.

 

[Jr12]

If you are trying to tell me your oven holds temps +/- 5 degrees I am saying there is definitely something wrong. Because it won’t.

Not sure what to tell you. I set the oven to 350, look inside and the thermostat says dam near 350. I set it on the Traeger to 350, look inside and it’s dam near 300. I can only report the facts.

 

[Jr12]

The GRILL works just fine. The temp probes and firmware are terrible.

Now that you know the grill is off by 50 degrees at a certain temp just adjust and carry on.

BTW, you’ll find it’s off a lot less at lower temps. I’m pretty accurate at 180 and start to lose it at 225, for example.

You’ll find two camps here. One is the “this is unacceptable and I’m filing a class action lawsuits!!” and the other is “Now that I know the offset I’m making some good food”.

Up to you if you want stress in your life or a tasty pulled pork sandwich.

I will have to test the lower temperature. I hadn’t tried that.

 

[RayClem]

When doing a cook, I place a remote thermometer probe on the grate right next to the food. I also installed an analog grill thermometer in the hood whose probe is just above the top grate of my Ironwood 885.

When I set the Traeger controller to 225 degrees F, the two other thermometers will read pretty close to 225 F, usually within 5 degrees or so. However, when I have to boost the controller up to 450F to get the grate and hood temps to read 400 F.

At lower temperatures, the air flow through the grill is fairly gentle and temperatures will be more uniform. At higher temperature setpoints, the firepot burns hotter and the air flow is greater leading to temperature gradients.

Once you realize what is going on with your specific grill, it is not difficult to adjust the setpoint as needed. When doing a low and slow cook, I set the controller at 225F. When I am trying to cook chicken at 300 F, I will set the controller at 325 F. When I am cooking vegetables or a pizza at 400 F, I set my controller at 450 F. You have to get to understand your grill.

The same thing happens with microwave oven. Most recipes give directions for a 1000 watt over. However, you particular oven might range anywhere from 600W to 2400W. You need to understand the unit you have and adjust cooking times accordingly. Some microwaves also exhibit hotspots unless it has a motorized turntable.

The first few cooks can be frustrating as you try to understand how your grill works. Pretty soon, you will be comfortable with it.
You might want to plot a curve of your controller temp vs the actual temp at the grate level where you normally cook. If you use multiple grate levels, you will find that the temperature differs from top to bottom and might also differ from back to front and from left to right. That is why you should cook using an internal temperature probe and cook to a final temperature rather than by cooking temperature and time as you might in your kitchen oven.

 

[JPSBBQ]

Why You Should Stop Worrying About Your Oven Temperature

“Preheat oven to 350 degrees.” This may be one of the most common phrases in the cooking universe…and also one of the most misleading. If you fret over the accuracy of your oven’s internal temperature reading, you’re working too hard. Here’s why:In a nutshell, it’s impossible to control your...

www.thekitchn.com

Same goes for your pellet grill

 

[LanakiYNWA]

I had same issue. Took two of them back to Costco and spent the money on a Yoder. Much better quality and customer service. Worth every penny.

 

[tomhooper]

The GRILL works just fine. The temp probes and firmware are terrible.

Now that you know the grill is off by 50 degrees at a certain temp just adjust and carry on.

BTW, you’ll find it’s off a lot less at lower temps. I’m pretty accurate at 180 and start to lose it at 225, for example.

You’ll find two camps here. One is the “this is unacceptable and I’m filing a class action lawsuit!” and the other is “Now that I know the offset I’m making some good food”.

Up to you if you want stress in your life or a tasty pulled pork sandwich.

I've had the same experience. Lower temps and the onboard is closer. The higher you go, the further off. I figured that out pretty quickly and use a third party probe to check the temp of the grill then just adjust the pit from there. In fact I usually put a probe on each end.

 

[Jr12]

I had same issue. Took two of them back to Costco and spent the money on a Yoder. Much better quality and customer service. Worth every penny.

Did you just wheel the assembled grill back in? Having to play “twister” every time I grill grows old. Do you find the Yoder to be more accurate with its temperature readings?

 

[Robin R.]

I was having that issue. I cleaned the grease and smoke residue from the thermostat and it works fine now. I checked it with a Meater probe last cook and it was within 5 degrees of what the display showed. Also, external (ambient) temps can play a big part in the cooker holding temp.

 

[Lbeberdick]

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue. I have the 620 and have noticed, unfortunately while trying to smoke, that the grill is not heating to the desired temp. I have used two different oven thermometers, one of them being brand new, the grill is 50 degrees off, lower, than what I have it set for. I have to set the grill to 400 just to get 350 and the thermostat is right next to the one in the grill. I spoke with tech support and they were only happy that the grill stopped feeding the hopper when it “thinks” it hit its set temperature. I said several times that the grill slowing and stopping the auger is different than reading the temperature correctly but I think they were just trying to get Me off the phone. Anyone else have this experience? I will have to try again with tech support but quite honestly, this is really annoying and if not fixed, I will be getting rid of it. Traeger is disappointing me …

Thanks

Yes. My traeger. Is lower by 20 to 25 degrees. I put Thermoworks ambient thermometers right next to the smoker thermometer. And the other end which is 50 degrees higher than the ithe side, so on average not bad. Traeger allow for a 20 degree differential.

 

[Guest7909]

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue. I have the 620 and have noticed, unfortunately while trying to smoke, that the grill is not heating to the desired temp. I have used two different oven thermometers, one of them being brand new, the grill is 50 degrees off, lower, than what I have it set for. I have to set the grill to 400 just to get 350 and the thermostat is right next to the one in the grill. I spoke with tech support and they were only happy that the grill stopped feeding the hopper when it “thinks” it hit its set temperature. I said several times that the grill slowing and stopping the auger is different than reading the temperature correctly but I think they were just trying to get Me off the phone. Anyone else have this experience? I will have to try again with tech support but quite honestly, this is really annoying and if not fixed, I will be getting rid of it. Traeger is disappointing me …

Thanks

I also have a similar problem. Temperature inside my Traeger Pro 575 considerably different that the display temperature. I called Traeger support. They conducted a video meeting with me and we tested my thermocouple. It was correct. They told me to not put oven thermometer on grating but to hang it close to the thermocouple probe inside my Traeger. The probe is to the right side and about halfway up the side. I did this but still get some variation. I read on another forum that someone covered the probe with a small piece of aluminum foil; not too tight. I did that and ran a series of temperature tests and it seems to help. Give it a try.