Trailblazer Temperature excursion question

[Clm65]

I’ve had my RT-340 for about a year and a half. During most of that time it has controlled the temperature flawlessly, usually spot on with maybe a 1-2 degree variance here or there. A couple of weeks ago I smoked a rack of ribs at a set point of 225. After a few minutes the temperature went up to about 290-300 and stayed there. I lowered the set point, and the temperature came down a little, but still maintained about 70-80 degrees higher than setpoint. I called RT the next business day and they had me lower the feed rate to 3.5, consistent with what I have read on this forum. I did a pork butt the following weekend, again at 225, and it did much better, but still had a few instances where it went up to 239, and then came back down to set point. Now they had me lower the feed rate to 3.0, and I will test it tomorrow with another rack of ribs.

So, my question is, what would cause the smoker, which was working great for almost a year and a half, to suddenly have a temperature control problem? And a significant one at that? I didn't change pellets, and I’ve cooked through all types of ambient conditions in the past with no issues. The feed rate adjustment seems to be working, but is that just compensating for another problem? I still have a little bit of warranty time left, so if there is something else going on, I’d rather find the real problem before it becomes a costly repair.

 

[Mastertech59]

Welcome to the forums. Lots of things can cause the temperature overshoot problem, mainly this will happen after opening the lid to put food on or poke at it, this is normal, sometimes will take several minutes for it to happen and even longer for the grill to get back to the set point temperature. A dirty RTD probe, small grease fire, pellets even when using the same brand sometimes can burn hotter, ambient conditions, temperature, wind and sun exposure all of these things can cause what you expirenced. Setting the minimum feed rate to 3.0 should take care of it but watch for flame outs.

 

[charlesrshell]

Welcome to the forums. Lots of things can cause the temperature overshoot problem, mainly this will happen after opening the lid to put food on or poke at it, this is normal, sometimes will take several minutes for it to happen and even longer for the grill to get back to the set point temperature. A dirty RTD probe, small grease fire, pellets even when using the same brand sometimes can burn hotter, ambient conditions, temperature, wind and sun exposure all of these things can cause what you expirenced. Setting the minimum feed rate to 3.0 should take care of it but watch for flame outs.

@Mastertech59 I have noticed in several post in this forum and in the FB groups that folks are turning down the auger minimum feed rate from the factory preset 65 to in the 30tys. Do you think the factory preset setting should be changed from 65 to something different? The manual says the auger minimum displayed number value range 65 but lots of folks say 6.5. Is it 6.5 or 65 with no decimal? Also what does RTD mean? Thanks.

 

[Clm65]

Thanks Mastertech. I’ll clean the probe before I cook today to rule that out. My problems occurred without opening the lid, and without any unusual weather conditions. Lowering the feed rate certainly seems to help, so hopefully this latest drop to 3.0 fixes it. But in the back of my mind I feel that something else is going on. If the actual temperature is 70+ degrees above set point, why would it be feeding any pellets at all? I would expect it to stop feeding until it sees the temperature dropping close to set point. And then it would over feed if the feed rate was too high. I would expect the temperature profile to be a sawtooth pattern if it fed too many pellets at a time, instead of the consistent, level pattern like I saw when the problem first started. But I don’t know what the control algorithm looks like, and I can’t deny that dropping the feed rate has helped. Just seems odd though.

 

[Mastertech59]

@Mastertech59 I have noticed in several post in this forum and in the FB groups that folks are turning down the auger minimum feed rate from the factory preset 65 to in the 30tys. Do you think the factory preset setting should be changed from 65 to something different? The manual says the auger minimum displayed number value range 65 but lots of folks say 6.5. Is it 6.5 or 65 with no decimal? Also what does RTD mean? Thanks.

RTD is the fixed probe inside the grill used to measure the pits temperature.
The 6.5 is 65 but the display puts a decimal in between the numbers. I set mine to 30 or 3.0, samething and run it there year round and have never had temperature overshoot problems.

 

[charlesrshell]

RTD is the fixed probe inside the grill used to measure the pits temperature.
The 6.5 is 65 but the display puts a decimal in between the numbers. I set mine to 30 or 3.0, samething and run it there year round and have never had temperature overshoot problems.

Thanks @Mastertech59. I notice you live in CT. Maybe the lower feed rate 3.0 works better in your cooler weather! I live in Illinois so I guess I will leave it at 6.5 for now and see how goes it. I bought me some Lumberjack hickory pellets yesterday. Starting to get excited. Can't wait to get the Stampede. Sure appreciate all your help in this forum. You are highly skilled and the go to guy for the RT pellet grills.

 

[Wslayer]

A dirty RTD

This could very well be the culprit. Easiest to try first also.

 

[marmadmax]

@Mastertech59 I have noticed in several post in this forum and in the FB groups that folks are turning down the auger minimum feed rate from the factory preset 65 to in the 30tys. Do you think the factory preset setting should be changed from 65 to something different? The manual says the auger minimum displayed number value range 65 but lots of folks say 6.5. Is it 6.5 or 65 with no decimal? Also what does RTD mean? Thanks.

My 340 was delivered this week. Factory setting was 3.5.

 

[charlesrshell]

What did your manual say?
The RT-590 owner's on line manual says 65.

 

[Clm65]

Ok, so did some ribs today at 225 (3-2-1 method), so 6 hours total. I did not constantly watch the temperature, but did check it periodically. It mostly seemed to stay between 221 and 230, from what I saw, with a couple of excursions into the mid to upper 230s. I only opened the lid to wrap the ribs after 3 hours, and again to unwrap them at 5 hours. One hour and 49 minutes into the 2 hour wrapped segment of the cook, the temperature increased to 252 and then trended back down to 225. The hopper had plenty of pellets, the probe was very clean, the smoker was in the shade, minimal wind, and feed rate at 3.0. Does this seem normal? I plan to call RT customer service again tomorrow (3rd time) and see what they want me to do next.

And btw, my default feed rate was 6.5.

 

[charlesrshell]

Ok, so did some ribs today at 225 (3-2-1 method), so 6 hours total. I did not constantly watch the temperature, but did check it periodically. It mostly seemed to stay between 221 and 230, from what I saw, with a couple of excursions into the mid to upper 230s. I only opened the lid to wrap the ribs after 3 hours, and again to unwrap them at 5 hours. One hour and 49 minutes into the 2 hour wrapped segment of the cook, the temperature increased to 252 and then trended back down to 225. The hopper had plenty of pellets, the probe was very clean, the smoker was in the shade, minimal wind, and feed rate at 3.0. Does this seem normal? I plan to call RT customer service again tomorrow (3rd time) and see what they want me to do next.

And btw, my default feed rate was 6.5.

Congrats, nice post

 

[Clm65]

Just got off the phone with RT customer service regarding the temperature spikes I’m still seeing. They think my spikes may be caused by the blended pellets. The first two times that I had problems was with RT Ultimate Blend. This last cook was with Smokehouse Blend from Sams Club. He said that the fruity woods in the Smokehouse pellets burn hotter and faster than other pellets, causing spikes. Not sure how this explains the spikes when I was using the Ultimate Blend, which I don’t think has fruity woods, but I will go along with it for now. I will buy some unblended pellets and give it another shot.

 

[charlesrshell]

Just got off the phone with RT customer service regarding the temperature spikes I’m still seeing. They think my spikes may be caused by the blended pellets. The first two times that I had problems was with RT Ultimate Blend. This last cook was with Smokehouse Blend from Sams Club. He said that the fruity woods in the Smokehouse pellets burn hotter and faster than other pellets, causing spikes. Not sure how this explains the spikes when I was using the Ultimate Blend, which I don’t think has fruity woods, but I will go along with it for now. I will buy some unblended pellets and give it another shot.

@Clm65, what do you mean "buy some unblended pellets?" Is Lumber Jack Hickory considered a unblended pellet?

 

[Clm65]

@Clm65, what do you mean "buy some unblended pellets?" Is Lumber Jack Hickory considered a unblended pellet?

Yes, I would say so. My interpretation is that blended means it includes more than one type of wood. RT Ultimate Blend, for example, is oak and hickory (per Amazon description). The Smokehouse Blend I’m currently using contains hickory, oak, maple, and cherry. I don’t know if each pellet contains some amount of each type of wood, or if each pellet is one type of wood, but they all look the same. Your LJ hickory sounds like it is all hickory, so “unblended”.

 

[charlesrshell]

Yes, I would say so. My interpretation is that blended means it includes more than one type of wood. RT Ultimate Blend, for example, is oak and hickory (per Amazon description). The Smokehouse Blend I’m currently using contains hickory, oak, maple, and cherry. I don’t know if each pellet contains some amount of each type of wood, or if each pellet is one type of wood, but they all look the same. Your LJ hickory sounds like it is all hickory, so “unblended”.

OK, thanks. Understand. Good point. Wonder if all those blended pellets could be the temps issue some folks are having!

 

[Clm65]

OK, thanks. Understand. Good point. Wonder if all those blended pellets could be the temps issue some folks are having!

I‘m a little skeptical, but I guess it could cause a spike if each pellet is one type of wood and you got a pocket of one type of hotter burning pellets dumped in at once. I do think the auger feed rate plays a role, so maybe it is a combination of several things. I would like to get a temperature data logger and have a precise plot of the entire temperature profile on my next test, but not ready to spend a bunch of money on this yet. I do have a Thermoworks Chef Alarm that records peak temperature, so I will set that up. So far I have only been watching it periodically, so I’m not sure if I’m actually seeing the peaks.

 

[charlesrshell]

I‘m a little skeptical, but I guess it could cause a spike if each pellet is one type of wood and you got a pocket of one type of hotter burning pellets dumped in at once. I do think the auger feed rate plays a role, so maybe it is a combination of several things. I would like to get a temperature data logger and have a precise plot of the entire temperature profile on my next test, but not ready to spend a bunch of money on this yet. I do have a Thermoworks Chef Alarm that records peak temperature, so I will set that up. So far I have only been watching it periodically, so I’m not sure if I’m actually seeing the peaks.

I hear ya @Clm65 . I am a little skeptical too. Good luck on your test. I think I am going to not use any blended flavored pellets just to be safe. What do you think @Mastertech59?

 

[Gonefishin]

Not sure how this explains the spikes when I was using the Ultimate Blend, which I don’t think has fruity woods, but I will go along with it for now. I will buy some unblended pellets and give it another shot.

This would seem to be the kicker. Ultimate has no fruit wood in it so it shouldn't cause spikes if fruit wood is really the cause. Guess you can try some 100% non blends, if you can find them, but you may be spinning your wheels.

 

[Clm65]

Home Depot seems to have some Traeger pellets that are not blended. I may pick some up just to test the theory. My grill used to be rock steady. My first couple bags of pellets were the Ultimate Blend directly from RT (purchased with the grill). I have since used some others, including Ultimate Blend purchased through Amazon. The labels are different, but both have RecTec on the bag. But maybe there is something different about them. But that doesn’t really explain why all of a sudden I couldn’t get below about 290F with a setpoint of 225F, using the same pellets I had used for several months prior. My fear is that something else is going on with my grill and I am just working around the issue.

 

[charlesrshell]

Home Depot seems to have some Traeger pellets that are not blended. I may pick some up just to test the theory. My grill used to be rock steady. My first couple bags of pellets were the Ultimate Blend directly from RT (purchased with the grill). I have since used some others, including Ultimate Blend purchased through Amazon. The labels are different, but both have RecTec on the bag. But maybe there is something different about them. But that doesn’t really explain why all of a sudden I couldn’t get below about 290F with a setpoint of 225F, using the same pellets I had used for several months prior. My fear is that something else is going on with my grill and I am just working around the issue.

Is internal probe clean, is it pointed straight up not close to the side, pot cleaned out real good, nothing caking up in the auger channel, no pellet dust in hopper, maybe something in control panel is acting up. Just throwing some ideas out