Timberline 1300 working properly?

camflan

New member
Joined
Feb 8, 2021
Messages
9
Reaction score
5
Points
3
Location
Kansas
Grill
Timberline 1300
Upgraded from a not quite year old Pro 575 to a Timberline 1300 this week. We’re experiencing 10-20F weather at the moment and it hasn’t stopped me from using the new grill....but I’m not sure everything is OK

The grill seems to ignite pretty quick, without issue. Temps start climbing inside 5 minutes, but it is taking _forever_ to get to temp. 400F took almost an hour this evening. I don’t think my 575 ever took more than 20 minutes to hit 400, even in high winds.

Secondly, possibly related, is that I get the “Grill preheated” notification before the grill hits 100F - not when the grill actually arrives at the target temp.

The timberline is beautiful, all the extra space is really great, and this grill rebounds SO fast compared to the 575 but the extremely long preheat time is worrying me. We used the 575 all the time, from quick cooks to long and slow weekend feasts and I’m concerned that the overhead of firing this up is going to make it hard to justify firing it up as often as we want which completely defeats the purpose of buying the top of the line grill, IMO



D6DD4B6A-777F-49E1-B7B3-818F79D0E1AB.jpeg
 
It definitely shouldn’t take an hour to get to 400. I’ve never timed my 1300, but I think it will get to 400 in about 10-12 minutes
 
The Timberlines do have a lot more metal to heat up. That said, it is becoming clear that all pellets are not created equal, some seem to have low calorie content, their wood blend is such that they don't burn very hot.

The auger can only feed so fast, if the pellets are poor the max heat directly suffers. Oddly enough Traeger pellets have been called out as being poor. Try another brand, like Bear Mountain, if you haven't as it might make an immediate difference.

This seems to really happen in very cold outside temps.
 
Thanks guys! @JamesB that's the speed I was expecting, given my experience with the 575 over the last 10 months. Even in the cold, it was only a little bit longer to temp, not 4x as long (15 -> 60 minutes)


I haven't been a fan of Traeger pellets for quite a while, been using Lumber Jack and Pit Boss. The rebound speed is incredible, even a 75F drop. I'm kind of wondering if this controller has an issue.

Hypothesis,
- It lights quickly and starts climbing temp.
- I get a preheated! notification on my phone at 100F (as an example)
- Controller slows the pellet feed and the temp _crawls_ to the real target temp.
- Open door, temp drops, controller pumps pellets to climb
- Temp climbs _quickly_

I'm going to test this theory tonight by opening the door when I get that false "preheated" notification to get the temp to fall and see how it responds. Of course the issue is that the temp will be lower and the thermal mass won't be helping as much. 🤔

@RemE You're saying that this is possibly normal and I got a bad bag of pellets and that I should expect much faster preheat times when it's not below freezing, right? Somewhere in the 10-15 minute range that @JamesB mentioned?
 
If you are using known good pellets then it's likely the grill. My Timberline is now a few months away from two years old. The first revs of firmware had bad temp overshoot, set to 400F and the grill would exceed 500 and actually shutdown for overtemp. I learned to monitor startups and burp the lid to stay below 500 until the grill stabilized.

In the last couple of revs, Traeger really cured the issue. I can fire up to any temp setting, the grill lights, and as you are seeing, the temps climb slowly to the set point with little to no overshoot. I also get the preheat Done message before the grill hits the set temp.

It may be that this newer firmware behavior suffers in very cold weather. I wish I knew how smart the controllers are, like if they could shift timing in colder weather assuming they have enough memory etc.

I agree, a long startup in cold weather would reduce how many times I'd want to bother.
 
Thanks guys! @JamesB that's the speed I was expecting, given my experience with the 575 over the last 10 months. Even in the cold, it was only a little bit longer to temp, not 4x as long (15 -> 60 minutes)


I haven't been a fan of Traeger pellets for quite a while, been using Lumber Jack and Pit Boss. The rebound speed is incredible, even a 75F drop. I'm kind of wondering if this controller has an issue.

Hypothesis,
- It lights quickly and starts climbing temp.
- I get a preheated! notification on my phone at 100F (as an example)
- Controller slows the pellet feed and the temp _crawls_ to the real target temp.
- Open door, temp drops, controller pumps pellets to climb
- Temp climbs _quickly_

I'm going to test this theory tonight by opening the door when I get that false "preheated" notification to get the temp to fall and see how it responds. Of course the issue is that the temp will be lower and the thermal mass won't be helping as much. 🤔

@RemE You're saying that this is possibly normal and I got a bad bag of pellets and that I should expect much faster preheat times when it's not below freezing, right? Somewhere in the 10-15 minute range that @JamesB mentioned?
My 780 did something similar to what you are describing last weekend. I purged and cleaned the auger tube, i didnt think there was to much dust. Then filled it with known good bear mountain pellets and fired it up. It worked just fine. The pellets at issue was a new bag of Traeger Pecan which i have never used before. When i was cooking it was 5f degrees outside the grill wouldn't go over 400f. After i cleaned and refilled it was -1f outside. Im not using Traeger pellets any more. The cook was Traeger cajun broil it in What for dinner thread.
 
My 780 did something similar to what you are describing last weekend. I purged and cleaned the auger tube, i didnt think there was to much dust. Then filled it with known good bear mountain pellets and fired it up. It worked just fine. The pellets at issue was a new bag of Traeger Pecan which i have never used before. When i was cooking it was 5f degrees outside the grill wouldn't go over 400f. After i cleaned and refilled it was -1f outside. Im not using Traeger pellets any more. The cook was Traeger cajun broil it in What for dinner thread.
Oh, that’s good to hear. So you used the “Clear Auger” function, refilled with new, re-primed the auger and it’s all good in the Traegerhood again?

I’ll do this tomorrow and see!
 
Oh, that’s good to hear. So you used the “Clear Auger” function, refilled with new, re-primed the auger and it’s all good in the Traegerhood again?

I’ll do this tomorrow and see!
Yes.
The only thing i can figure is it was the Traeger pellets. I've cooked when it cold like this overnight with no issues. And Bear Mountain pellets.
I hope it works for you!
Post in thread 'What's for dinner tonight? Dinner ideas?' https://www.traegerforum.com/threads/whats-for-dinner-tonight-dinner-ideas.93/post-18509
Post in thread 'What's for dinner tonight? Dinner ideas?' https://www.traegerforum.com/threads/whats-for-dinner-tonight-dinner-ideas.93/post-18518
 
Last edited:
While where I live it does not get that cold.... I did the "Rem E Timberline insulation" and that caused by unit to heat faster and burn fewer pellets... It also stabilized quicker...
 
I took @Timmy 's advice today.

- Cleared the auger
- Cleaned the whole grill again
- Filled with Apple pellets that worked great in my 575 last weekend
- Primed Auger

I started smoking some pork tenderloin after this, took ~30 minutes after ignition to get up to 225. I called Traeger, they looked at my cook data and agreed something isn't right. They're sending a new induction fan, thinking it might not be getting enough air. 🤞
 
Dang, i was hoping this would take care of it. But at least Traeger can see something is amiss.
Hopefully the new fan takes care of the issue.
 
Dang, i was hoping this would take care of it. But at least Traeger can see something is amiss.
Hopefully the new fan takes care of the issue.
You and me both! Fingers crossed, will report back
 
You and me both! Fingers crossed, will report back
Somehow, I just can’t see a bad fan causing it to send a preheat notification at 100 degrees. If it was just the slow warmup problem, that might make sense. Also, you said that the rebound is fast... Doesn’t that prove that the fan is working correctly? My money is on a bad controller.
 
Somehow, I just can’t see a bad fan causing it to send a preheat notification at 100 degrees. If it was just the slow warmup problem, that might make sense. Also, you said that the rebound is fast... Doesn’t that prove that the fan is working correctly? My money is on a bad controller.
Yeah, I’m thinking the same but happy to have some movement on the issue. They gave me some steps to take that are supposed test the controller. Couldn’t do it today since I was cooking at the time. I’m going to try tomorrow
 
Upgraded from a not quite year old Pro 575 to a Timberline 1300 this week. We’re experiencing 10-20F weather at the moment and it hasn’t stopped me from using the new grill....but I’m not sure everything is OK

The grill seems to ignite pretty quick, without issue. Temps start climbing inside 5 minutes, but it is taking _forever_ to get to temp. 400F took almost an hour this evening. I don’t think my 575 ever took more than 20 minutes to hit 400, even in high winds.

Secondly, possibly related, is that I get the “Grill preheated” notification before the grill hits 100F - not when the grill actually arrives at the target temp.

The timberline is beautiful, all the extra space is really great, and this grill rebounds SO fast compared to the 575 but the extremely long preheat time is worrying me. We used the 575 all the time, from quick cooks to long and slow weekend feasts and I’m concerned that the overhead of firing this up is going to make it hard to justify firing it up as often as we want which completely defeats the purpose of buying the top of the line grill, IMO



View attachment 4155
I got my new Timberline 1300 today and I am having kind of the same issues as you. I upgraded from a Pro 22 to the 1300 and to me it takes forever to reach any temp at all. If I set it at 165 it takes 15-20 min to get there as to where my Pro 22 took much less time. I was using some Traeger Alder pellets I had around maybe that is why it is taking longer to heat.. I plan on doing some ribs tomorrow and use Lumberjack pellets that I usually use and see what happens.
I do have a couple of questions....
What is the current Software Ver #
How is the correct way to put these drip pan liners in what do you do with the tabs that stick out?
Are you supposed to have the lid open or closed when you ignite?

thanks
 

Latest Discussions

Back
Top