Bull Taking too long to heat up??

[vegsmoke]

I’ve had the bull for about 2 months now. I’ve noticed the last month it’s taken noticeably longer to hit Max Temps as it was the first couple times I used it. Before doing max temps I’ve made sure to vacuum out the firepot and clean the probe with some vinegar. I’ve made sure the probe is standing straight up and not leaning to the left. I called support and they advised me to scoop all the pellets out of the hopper and let it run completely out of pellets until it errors out, clean everything out, make sure the smokestack lid is all the way open and try again. I’ve done all of that and it is still taking well over 45 minutes to get to 450-500, if it can even get to that… for example last night I set it to 375 and it would get to 338, drop to 335, then after 5 minutes get to 340….6 minutes to go from 338 to 340? It eventually got to 375 and I bumped it to 400 after about 30 minutes and it only took a couple minutes to get to 400. It’s that initial heat up that seems to be very frustratingly long. I notice it will have a nice upward pace on the graph and then when it gets to the mid 300s it seems to plateau. Something doesn’t seem right. I’m using Kingsford Hickory pellets.


My burn in got to 600 within 35 minutes. Very similar weather conditions (SoCal).

 

[Wslayer]

Have you switched pellets by chance ?

 

[vegsmoke]

On the burn in I used the last 5 or so pounds of Traeger pellets from Costco that I had left. I noticed that cooks after the Traeger pellets were gone it would heat up rather fast with Kingsford pellets. Been using Kingsford ever since. I ordered some Reqtec pellets from Homedepot, so I will give those a try.

They recommended Kingsford when I called in inquiring about the Bull before they had announced a partnership with Kingsford. Obviously they want to shove Kingsford onto their customers, it's business. Now I'm wondering if maybe Kingsford doesn't heat as fast as others?? Does anyone have that experience?

 

[Wslayer]

Sorry no help, have only used the RT or LJ.

 

[vegsmoke]

I was shocked that I received my RT pellets so fast from Home Depot. I think it was a pellet issue. Within 30 minutes I was at 500. It took about 15 more minutes to get to 540-550. I will no longer buy Kingsford pellets.