A slow starting grill can be devastating to any type of family gathering.
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You don’t want to be the one to invite everyone over only to find out that your grill isn’t working.
If this is the case, the whole event could be ruined, and you might find yourself very embarrassed and unable to explain how this happened.
Fortunately, we have the answers to what you can do if your Traeger grill is slow to heat up.
Before we get started, you may be wondering who I am? I’m Robert McCall (BBQ Dropout), and bring over a decade of first-hand experience in cooking all kinds of meats, from juicy cuts of steak to authentic, slow-smoked barbecue. I pride myself on my extensive knowledge of virtually every grill and smoker on the market, enabling me to create mouth-watering dishes that leave my family and friends speechless.
My passion for barbecue extends to my online presence, where I own and operate a YouTube channel with over 135 subscribers. I am dedicated to sharing my expertise, ensuring that my content is always authoritative and trustworthy, so that fellow barbecue enthusiasts can elevate their grilling game. Feel free to also follow my BBQ journey on Pinterest and instagram as well!
Traeger grill slow to heat up
One of the most common reasons why your Traeger grill might be slow to heat up is that it has old or low-quality pellets in it.
If you don’t spring for pellets that make sense for the grill that you are using, then you may end up in a situation where the temperature of your grill simply does not reach the levels that you need it to.
The flame of the grill may go out too quickly if you don’t have great pellets in it.
You can work on improving this situation by purchasing higher-quality pellets for your grill. Otherwise, you may run into the problem time and time again.
Why does it take a long time to heat up a Traeger?
The simple answer is that it shouldn’t.
If your Traeger grill is taking a long time to heat up, there is something wrong with the grill in all likelihood.
You need to get involved with this grill right away and see what steps you can take to improve the situation.
People who suffer with a Traeger grill that isn’t doing what they want it to do are very likely going to have a tough time convincing people to come over for their grill out.
A few of the steps that you can take include:
- Checking the pellet level in the hopper
- Check the pellet quality to make sure they are holding up
- Remove and/or replace pellets that don’t seem to be standing up to the quality standards that you have set for them
You don’t want to always assume that it is just the pellets, but they are often a leading indicator of problems with your grill.
If you don’t use the kind of pellets that are meant for your grill, then you are taking a chance that the grill won’t work as it is intended to.
How do I increase the heat faster in my Traeger?
If you want to increase the heating speed on your Traeger you should first start by checking the RTD probe.
This probe is a critical part of the infrastructure of your Traeger grill, and you don’t want to overlook it when it comes to taking care of your grill.
It can help you get that grill up to the heating capacity and speed that you need it to be at.
If the probe is dirty or otherwise having difficulties functioning how it is supposed to, then you will want to take some Traeger degrease to it to get it cleaned up.
Removing the grease and other particles from the probe can help you get the most use out of the grill itself.
Should I be adding more pellets to increase the heat quicker?
Likely yes.
This depends on how many pellets you have in it already and the quality of those pellets.
Is the grill not heating up because you are using the wrong kind of pellets?
It is having problems because you have not spread the pellets out among the grill as you are supposed to?
Either one of these could be an issue that causes you to not get the quality out of your grill that you were hoping for.
If you feel that your Traeger grill is not heating up as quickly or as effectively as it is supposed to, then you need to look at adding more pellets to it for quicker heating.
You should make sure to get the name-branded Traeger pellets when possible.
After all, you will definitely want to use the name-branded pellets in order to see the highest levels of efficiency from the pellets that you are using.
How long does it usually take for a Traeger to heat up?
The approximate time for a properly functioning Traeger to heat up is about 15 minutes.
If you find that your Traeger is taking longer than that, then you may have an issue with your grill.
There are a lot of steps that you can take to try to amend this, but you should make sure that it is really a problem with your Traeger that is causing you all of these issues.
Sometimes, there are human errors made that may be contributing to the problem.
Just look over everything a few times to ensure that you aren’t doing anything yourself to make the problem worse.
Traeger grills are built to last, and you should get a lot of life out of them.
Conclusion
The Traeger grill is a powerful machine that you should pay proper respect to.
The people who have put their blood, sweat, and tears into this machine have done a lot to make sure it is fully functional and up to par for you.
Make sure you take proper care of your Traeger grill, and it will take care of you.
If you feel that you are doing all that you can to keep your Traeger grill maintained, then you should look into some of the potential troubleshooting solutions listed above.
This article was written by Robert McCall, the founder of bbqdropout.com. Robert also owns and operates the BBQ dropout YouTube channel where he demonstrates his first-hand experience cooking all kinds of meats and strives to provide helpful, authoritative content for people looking how to barbecue.
He primarily hand writes the bulk of the content but occasionally will leverage AI assisted tools, such as chatGPT, to properly edit and format each blog post on this website. This ensures a pleasurable reading experience for visitors. Read more about our editorial policies here. If there are any improvements that can be made to this article, reach out to us directly at staff@bbqdropout.com