Gonna have a chat with rec rec tomorrow!!

ol' stonebreaker

Well-known member
Military Veteran
Messages
372
Grill(s) owned
  1. RT-300
Was planning to grill a chuck roast tomorrow so spent all afternoon to make sure it was dialed in for 225*. Not knowing exactly which way to go from 30 I set it to 40. Nope wrong way, so did a shutdown and reset it to 20 and still getting wild temp swings. Tried 10, still wild swings. Called rectec after 5 their time and the guy asked what kind of pellets I had and I told him Traeger, since in our small town that's all I can find, and it was mesquite. He said try 100% hardwood which I'd already bought that. He also said to set it back to 20 and try the hardwood pellets. So I get the shop vac and suck all the mesquite out of the hopper and augered all out of the tube. Left enough in the firebox to start a fire until the new got augered in. Reassembled and started it up, went up to 225 and stayed there for about 10 min and then dropped to 206, then up to 236, dropped to 230 then back up to 252, then dropped to 195 then back up to 275. I made a chronology of all this on paper so I'll read it off to them tomorrow and tell them to record it if need be. So far I'm having just as much trouble with this as the traeger it replaced. I guess the roast will get cooked in the oven if this isn't a simple fix.
 
I hope it isn't an aftereffect of having the afterburn issues and probe calibration - looked like this is a new problem since that happened?
 
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Got the 40 lb bag of rectec pellets today and made a dry run at 225 and it held steady for a 1/2 hr. Turned it up to 375 and it went up to 416 and finally settled down to set temp. Grilled tenderized chicken breasts at 425 and it did good so I guess my problem is solved. My son runs "Pit Boss" pellets in his 700 and has no temp problems so I guess I'll see if I can find some at walmart.
 
I've been using Smokehouse Blend by Smokehouse Products out of Oregon on my RT590. Available at some Sam's clubs. $15 for a 40 pound bag. No problems with temp control. My 590 holds within 5 deg unless I open the lid a lot. But our air temps don't vary as much as other parts of the country. Burns clean. I vac out my smoker after 3 or 4 short cooks, or an especially long one. Don't know how many Sam's carry this. I live in Florida so my local Sams carry this year-round.
 

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