Is your touchscreen grill running above set temperature? Review the steps in this article.
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Traeger grills cook on an average, meaning that there may be slight fluctuation higher or lower than the set temperature, leading to a correct average temperature throughout the cook. However, if you feel that your grill is consistently running too hot, let's run through some common troubleshooting to have your grill meet expectations.
If this is a one-off experience due to a grill fire or getting a High Temp Error message, please review the following articles for further guidance:
Check Your Firmware and App Versions
Older app and firmware versions can lead to temperature inaccuracies. Ensure your grill is running on the latest firmware and that your Traeger App is updated. You can find the most current app and firmware versions by visiting the Status page on Traeger's website.
For more information, see our How to Update Traeger Firmware article.
Ensure Proper Startup
An improper startup can affect the temperature of a cook even hours into your cook.
Check out our How To Start Your Grill to determine the proper startup procedure for your grill.
Other Possible Causes
If you are on the latest firmware and are making sure you've followed your grill's proper startup procedure, let's examine a few other things that could contribute to your grill running hotter than desired.
Opening Your Lid Too Often
Repeated grill opening can cause the temperature to fluctuate quite a bit. This can cause multiple issues, including the increased temperatures as the grill tries to compensate for the repeated opening of the lid. Remember, "If you're lookin', you ain't cookin'."
Hot Weather
Hot weather can particularly affect your grill's temperature. However, if you have a WiFIRE-enabled grill, the controller should be able to make up for this given time.
On particularly hot days, try moving your grill out of direct sunlight.
Our grills are typically black pieces of metal, and your grill will absorb even more heat when placed in direct sunlight.
You may also try doing longer, low-and-slow cooks such as brisket during later and early hours of the day when the heat is not as intense.
Excess Pellets in the Firepot Upon Startup
Excess pellets in the firepot during startup will cause flare-ups at the beginning of the cook. This will affect the temperature for the remainder of the cook.
Internal Parts Installed Incorrectly
Are the internal parts of the grill installed correctly or severely damaged?
Internal grill pieces include the drip tray, fire pot, heat shield, and thermocouple. The grill will run much hotter if the heat shield or drip tray is not in the grill or is severely damaged (see below).
Severe damage would include holes rusted or burnt through the heat baffle or drip trays. This would NOT include general wear and tear, such as minor discoloring or warping.
Thermocouple
Your thermocouple reads your grill's temperature and communicates that information to your controller, which will adjust auger speed to keep the grill at the correct temperature.
A working thermocouple should read within 20°F/10°C of the ambient air temperature.
- NOTE: Grills placed in direct sunlight or stored in a cold garage or shed will likely read temperatures beyond the accepted variance. Therefore, under these circumstances, you should not replace a thermocouple using ambient temperature methods.
If your grill differs more than ±20°F/10°C from the local temperature, contact Customer Support.