Temperature Surges?

Sscottfitz

Well-known member
Messages
117
Location
Hot Springs Village, Arkansas
Grill(s) owned
  1. Trailblazer
  2. Bullseye
Two cooks on our new RT-340, and we very happy with this grill......HOWEVER, during both cooks (1) Chicken Thighs at 350, & (2) Salmon at 375, we noticed an unexplained temperature surge of 40~50 deg after we'd achieved desired target temp, but maybe 10 min into the cook. Was able to manually offset the surge by lowering temps via the mobile app, and eventually we were able to get it to steady at the desired target temp. Disclaimer, new to pellet grills, and only two cooks with this grill, but wanted to see if this is normal or something to look at more closely. Got several more cooks planned for this week.(Tired a search in the forum for this discussion but couldn't find one, maybe I missed it, if I did just point me in the right direction....)
 
Welcome to the forums, are these temperature surges happing when getting the grill up to temp or is this happing after you open the lid to put the food on?
 
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Welcome to the forums, are these temperature surges happing when getting the grill up to temp or is this happing after you open the lid to put the food on?

Yes, both happened after opening the grill to reposition temp probes. I think what caught me off guard was that after the grill adjusted to get the temps back up to target, it went significantly past that (+~50 deg) without making any adjustments. When it seemed like it wasn't going to do anything automatically, I took manual steps to decrease the target temp...
 
Yes, both happened after opening the grill to reposition temp probes. I think what caught me off guard was that after the grill adjusted to get the temps back up to target, it went significantly past that (+~50 deg) without making any adjustments. When it seemed like it wasn't going to do anything automatically, I took manual steps to decrease the target temp...
This is pretty much textbook for any pellet grill. When the lid is opened the pit temp drops and the controller sees this and starts commanding too add more pellets to try to maintain temperature . After the lid is closed the extra pellets added by the controller will cause the temps to spike until burned off. The work around that some do is to lower the controllers temp before opening the lid do what they have to do shut the lid and then reset the temp on the controller. My thinking is the RT340 is a smaller grill but pretty much uses the same parts as it's bigger brothers so the temp surges or spikes tend to be greater when the lid gets opened.
 
I recently had to make an adjustment on my RT340. I would preheat it at 225 and the temperature would rise to around 264. The factory preset for the feed rate was set to 6.5%. I adjusted that ultimately to 3.5% and the temperature dropped and maintained at 225.

Edited, Mastertech59 is dead on about opening the lid. My suggestion is for a scenario that if the temperature spikes and does not come back down, then the feed rate may need adjusting.
 
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This is pretty much textbook for any pellet grill. When the lid is opened the pit temp drops and the controller sees this and starts commanding more fuel. After the lid is closed the extra pellets added by the controller will cause the temps to spike. The work around that some do is to lower the controllers temp before opening the lid do what they have to do shut the lid and then reset the temp on the controller. My thinking is the RT340 is a smaller grill but pretty much uses the same parts as it's bigger brothers so the temp surges or spikes tend to be greater when the lid gets opened.
Thanks, good data point and it makes perfect sense. We'll continue to watch and try some of the adjustments you mentioned. Appreciate the feedback, and looking forward to more grills on the Trailblazer, it's the perfect size for use "Retired Folk" who are usually grilling for just two.........
 
Thanks, good data point and it makes perfect sense. We'll continue to watch and try some of the adjustments you mentioned. Appreciate the feedback, and looking forward to more grills on the Trailblazer, it's the perfect size for use "Retired Folk" who are usually grilling for just two.........
Not retired yet but just the two of us empty nesters for most cooks too.
 
Two cooks on our new RT-340, and we very happy with this grill......HOWEVER, during both cooks (1) Chicken Thighs at 350, & (2) Salmon at 375, we noticed an unexplained temperature surge of 40~50 deg after we'd achieved desired target temp, but maybe 10 min into the cook. Was able to manually offset the surge by lowering temps via the mobile app, and eventually we were able to get it to steady at the desired target temp. Disclaimer, new to pellet grills, and only two cooks with this grill, but wanted to see if this is normal or something to look at more closely. Got several more cooks planned for this week.(Tired a search in the forum for this discussion but couldn't find one, maybe I missed it, if I did just point me in the right direction....)
I am having the same problem it would surge 30-40 degrees then cool down but would burn my meat in the process mine was damaged when I got it.leg got bent was wondering if that caused mine to have a heat surge damaged the controller
any way I set the preheat to 500f for burgers Father’s Day went back out to ind it well over 600f it warped my flame deflector and it wasn’t a grease fire I had cleaned it Pryor to the cook.i called RT they said send a pic
 
Also, pay attention to direct sunlight. This will wreak havoc inside the pit.
Bytor - what problems do you have in direct sunlight?
I am in Orlando and I cook in direct sunlight all of the time without issues that I can see, just curious what you found. Thanks.
 
Here's a graph of my Trailblazer becoming exposed to direct sunlight. The setpoint was 225. You can see two spikes in the pit temp. That's from the sun glaring down on it. I moved it into the shade, then back into the light then back into the shade. Initially, I couldn't figure out why my pit temp kept increasing. I tried the move and then noticed things settling back down.
Temps.jpg
 

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