Issues & Problems with Pellet Grill Smokers (Troubleshooting & Tips)

Anything with a bit of technology, including pellet grills, will have issues and problems to deal with. Through the years, I’ve made a bunch of mistakes and learned a lot about these pellet burners.

More recently, I’ve done some reviews for a pellet grill store on a few models of GMG and Traeger grills which have given me even more insight also.

I’ve always listened very closely when anyone has had issues with their pellet grill and tried to help if things aren’t operating properly.

And I’ve had my challenges too for sure when my auger screw got jammed or the temperatures were all wonky for the first time, more on this below.

So the goal here is to provide a general overview of the common issues and problems that sometimes pop up. Some of these things don’t pop up until you’ve had a new pellet grill for some time, some things never happen.

But quite commonly, it’s been my own fault, due to not having a maintenance plan around maintaining the pellet grill properly.

Hopefully, you might find an answer to a little niggle happening on your pellet grill or just get some insight.

I’ve broken down this post into 2 main aspects that can cause issues

Issues and Problems with Pellet Grill Smokers

Technical Issues

Performance issues

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I’ve gone into a bit of detail about what maybe will sort it out (no guarantees, but just what I have seen work).

To start off with here is a quick overview of the bare bone main electrical parts of the mighty pellet grill.

Main Electrical Components of a Pellet Grill

• Fan (or Fans)
• RTD (Temperature Sensor)
• Auger & Motor (Feeds the Pellets with a Screw Mechanism)
• Computer (Thermostat Control etc..)
• Hot Rod (Igniter)

If you’re not familiar with the electrical components of a pellet grill it’s not really that complicated. It’s more about how these work together to provide a smooth operating system.

To start off with, if you are a bit short of time – here are the most useful tips I have that will prevent most of these common issues. It’s the old motto, about a bit of TLC (Tender Loving Care) for your pellet grill which will really make it a smoother ride.

Tips to Avoid Issues on A Pellet Grill

• Replace wood pellets regularly in hopper
• Don’t leave wood pellets in the grill for long periods of time
• Clean the Temperature Probe after each cook carefully
• Empty ash regularly, Keep the burn pot clean
• Most Important * Remove Grease Regularly

Yeah I know, pretty obvious stuff, but the number of times I hear of one of these common issues below, it’s so often one of the above maintenance aspects that haven’t been done.

As mentioned, I have definitely learned through experience.

Common Problems with a Pellet Grill

Disclaimer – Please do your own research but this is a quick cheat sheet about the most common issues and problems that I’ve definitely heard about more than once.

Main Reason for Faults – Grease

Not technical, but this seems to always be the cornerstone of many an issue, excess grease and fat will play havoc with sensors as well as the effectiveness of the burn pot.

If you keep on top of this is makes a HUGE difference!

Technical Issues with Your Pellet Grill

Please remember to turn off and unplug the pellet grill before you start poking around with any of these issues in regards to technical or performance, yes I know common sense but it’s still worth mentioning.

• Computer/Display Does Turn On
• Auger Jams from Pellets
• Pellet Grill Not Igniting
• Fire Goes Out During Cook
• Induction Fan Not Working
• GFCI Keeps Tripping / Circuit Breaker

Computer/Display Doesn’t Turn On

Have to mention the obvious answers first, just to check that it’s plugged in and the GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) or circuit breaker is not tripping. So the electrical juice is flowing to the pellet grill for starters.

Check the fuse of the pellet grill, if the fuse is gone – quite often the hot rod is on the way out or damaged in some way and needs replacement.

( Some manuals say to unplug the ignition hot rod before replacing the fuse)

Pellet Grill Auger Jams

I learned the hard way with regard to this one, it happens often because people leave the pellets in the hopper for a bit too long, (always under a few weeks before I will empty it, max I leave them in the hopper for is a month approx.) just like I did.

ALL pellet grills have a shutdown sequence, you always need to perform this, which will occur when you turn it off on the control panel.

If you just unplug a pellet grill, the pellets in the auger and burn/firepot remain. Which will call complications.

If pellets get a bit of moisture on them from sitting in the hopper, when they are fed through the screw auger they start to get munched and this leads to the auger jamming and also some other issues best avoided.

If it’s not the moisture in the pellets that are causing this, then probably some component is broken or faulty, better off contacting the supplier or wherever you got it from pronto.

Pellet Grill Not Igniting

Ash Build Up

This one can firstly be just a basic maintenance issue, even though the pellet grill doesn’t produce much ash. I still like to clean it out after every cook, since through experience, I learned that if you don’t you can choke the fire and it just won’t start.

Moisture in Pellets / Old Pellets

This is another one that I found happens more often than not and then the pellet grill company gets blamed, that’s what I did, then got put in my place when we figured out what it was.

When you have a firepot full of black charred pellets generally means it pellets aren’t good anymore. They are struggling to properly combust.

This is why I like to always work through the pellets I’ve got.

Don’t leave them lying around and definitely don’t leave them hanging around in the hopper for longer than a month.

Hot Rod Igniter Replacement

I had this happen from a pellet grill after a few years where the auger screw was still feeding pellets into the fire burn pot. But there was no ignition happening because the igniter/hot rod had worn out.

Ordered one under warranty easy replacement, took like 10 minutes.

If you take out the grill and the rest of the stuff (heat diffuser etc) you can see the firepot. You can normally work out whether the igniters need replacement or not with visual confirmation.

I’ll tell you one thing just like anything, the hot rod does seem to wear out a bit more overtime they generally have found it takes years and years before you really need a replacement (they say about 1 to 3 years per rod)

Fire Goes Out During Cook (Flame Out)

Temperature Sensor / RTD Not Being Cleaned

Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance

I did another post about maintenance, it’s basically all the mistakes that I’ve made so if you want to read about it here is a link.

The RTD or temperature sensor inside the cooking area can get a bit covered up with smoke vapor & greasy juicy stuff.

When this happens temperature readings can be off, which can mean that not enough pellets are being fed and keep things going. Hence, the fire goes out.

Now, depending on what’s the type of pellet grill (or specifically controller) you have. Some have notifications via phone to say when things aren’t going so well or alarms set if things aren’t operating as they should.

Poor Quality Wood Pellets

Poor quality pellets again can put the fire out. Some guys have mentioned they think some of the stronger harder woods like Alder don’t burn as well. In my experience, I haven’t had issues, but I’m not saying it doesn’t happen.

You can always go back to the supplier and question it I guess.

Tip – I started off thinking an airtight container was best for pellets that aren’t being used in the hopper. But no, pellet suppliers advise they still need some air or they might condensate in a closed bag or box. So I keep them dry in the garage.

Some people are pointing towards the wood pellet brand quite often when it comes to flameouts, but it’s more often than not a lot it’s not the brand, but how the wood pellets are looked after.

If moisture somehow gets into the pellets they are toast (ruined) it’s all over. Might as well chuck them in the compost or garden.

I worked a little bit in the biomass industry across Europe, dealing with pellet stoves and pellet burners for heating.

As you can imagine, when you have to have truck-size storage of wood pellets the system has to be completely watertight. Including the transportation of the pellets and then transferring these into the commercial hopper. Quality assurance was the key to success.

Funnily enough, the system was incredibly similar to the pellet grill smoker, and like a lot of people wood fire pellet stove heating systems were where it all started and then crossed over to residential pellet grill smoker gadgets i.e. Traeger.

Fan Not Working

This is one of those problems that occur after quite a bit of use possibly even quite a few years of use. But it does start occurring due to skipping certain maintenance.

When grease builds upon a fan sometimes this restricts the movement so quite simply just a clean is needed.

Sometimes I have sorted this out quickly, by turning off everything and giving the fan a few dozen revolutions manually with my finger.

Then do a proper clean after the cook.

GFCI Keeps Tripping / Circuit Breaker

Now, this is more often than not one of the components that’s probably worn out or faulty in the pellet grill.

This really could be any one of the components of the most common pellet grill issue with the GFCI tripping is the hot rod being faulty.

Again, I wanted to give a bit of an overview, but definitely call the supplier as the first port of call.

Details on Performance Issues

• Not Enough Smoke Happening
• Grill Won’t Reach Maximum Temperature
• Temperature Readings Aren’t Accurate
• Why Isn’t There Any Visible Smoke when Smoking

What you’ll see is a common theme running through most of these performance issues relating to your pellet grill smoker.

Goes back to the old theme that quite often it comes down to not really doing or performing good maintenance on the pellet grill or clearing out the pellets regularly (leading to a poor quality pellet that has more moisture in it than it should).

Not Enough Smoke Happening

Two things I do to get that smoke vapor happening if you’re already using stronger flavored wood, and your smoking at lower temperatures.

You should be producing the flavor, but there are ways that you can add more smoke.

The quick answer is if you really think you want more smoked them get an extra smoke system either a pellet tube or smoke generator.

These are ways of pumping or burning more pellets or sawdust into the pellet grill. If you want a few recommendations of some decent devices, check out a page I did on extra smoke makers here.

Now I do have some friends who love that deeper darker heavy smoke flavor, these are ways I get a bit more dark wood ‘thin blue smoke happening’

And back in the day when I first started smoking in a portable smoker catching trout on the river and then using a direct smoking method. In my naivety, I thought more smoke meant more flavor. And I really think this is a common fallacy when people start smoking.

But there is a smoke commonly called the thin blue smoke or transparent smoke. When the wood is combusting cleanly is basically produces a very light smoke visibly, however, the smoke vapor is happening and will be flavoring the food effectively.

And it really comes down to the science that it’s not the smoke that has the flavor it’s the smoke vapor. It’s a bunch of gases that are present during the combustion process.

What I have found with pellet grills compared to either gas, electric or charcoal smokers. Is that the wood-burning on a pellet grill is always to clean burning.

This for me is proper woodfired barbecue smoke flavor without the hassle of offset smoking or traditional wood fire smoking. Which needs heavy thick insulations to moderate the heat and pretty airtight systems for airflow control of the fire pit.

Pellet Grill Won’t Reach Maximum Temperature, Not Getting Hot

Same as we mentioned quite a few times, not changing the pellets regularly or leaving the pellets in the hopper for too long has been the common cause for me. They deteriorate and get moist therefore don’t burn so well.

Another reason for not getting up to temp, I discovered was when the fans got blocked, having discovered I didn’t clean the ash out of the fire pot for about four or five cooks. So there wasn’t enough airflow going on to get the pellet grill up to a good searing temperature.

The RTD or temperature sensor can be also another reason, as mentioned before, it’s really a good idea to give it just a basic wipe after each cook.

The sensor can go a bit haywire if it’s got a bit of gunk on it in my experience.

Temperature Readings Aren’t Accurate

It’s a maintenance thing more often than not (Again) I’ve found with temperature readings being off.

It’s a simple wipe of that RTD or temperature sensor inside the grill. It doesn’t have to be sparkling clean, damp sponge, quick wipe.

Pellet Grill Isn’t Maintaining a Temperature

There are a lot of different types of controllers that work a bit differently in terms of holding temperatures. You generally have three kinds.

• Time duty cycle controller
• Digital controller
• PID controller

Now through my experiences, any of these will do quality barbecue and it’s not about how accurate the temperature is, because it’s all averaged out during the low and slow cooking session.

If you want a bit more information about controllers, I got into detail about these when I wrote about PID controllers, and whether folks need them or not, check out that post here.

In my experiences variations of 20-40°F haven’t made any impact on the quality outcome of the smoked barbecue.

I have found that out even years ago using the cheapest charcoal kettle grill you could imagine with no insulation or airflow control. Talk about high-maintenance cooking, it was fun when I was younger and had a lot more time. Now I definitely prefer the consistent outcomes and more time the pellet grill create for me.

Why Isn’t There Any Visible Smoke when Smoking

I think I pretty much covered this one before.

But basically the wood fire pellets of burning very cleanly and therefore you get the thin blue smoke.

And the flavor is really all in the smoke vapor anyway.

Well, I hope some of this was useful to someone, these are things I mentioned that I have come across numerous times.

Here are some other videos I think might be able to help: