Starting up your wood pellet grill

Note: If this is your first time ever using your pellet grill out of the box, please watch the video below and follow the steps to complete the burn off on your grill. 

If you have further questions, please visit our FAQ page for help.

Starting Up Your Wood Pellet Grill - The Steps

Use this quick guide to be sure to enjoy using your Pit Boss Grill safely and effectively:

1. Have Fuel In The Hopper:

Like every road trip, when you make sure there’s gas in the truck, your first step is to double check you have more than enough pellets in the hopper. A good rule of thumb is to have 2 lbs. of pellets for every hour of smoking low and slow or 4 lbs. for every hour of grilling hot and fast.

2. Set Your Grill to Smoke and Open the Lid:

Once you’re fueled up, open up the hood of your grill and set it to “smoke”. This is very important because the grill will feed pellets for 3 ½ to 4 minutes and then stops. This gives the igniter a chance to light before feeding more fuel. Whereas, if the grill is immediately set to say, 400°F, it will continue to feed pellets until it reaches 400°F and if there is too much fuel over the igniter, it can start muffling and the grill will never light. In that instance, the pellets would simply pile up in the pot. Eventually, spilling all over the place and you don’t want that.

3. Go In and Prep Your Foods:

Pit Boss® grills light very quickly. From the time you turn it on to the time you have a fire is only about 3 minutes. That’s the perfect moment to go in and get all your food ready.

4. Watch for Thick Smoky Clouds:

You’ll know your grill is on the right track when you see thick clouds of smoke. That means your pot has caught and your pellets are burning. We’ve heard funny stories about neighbors getting alarmed by how full and robust the smoke is and they don’t quite realize it’s coming from the grill. Luckily, Pit Bosses know it’s a good thing. It will billow out from your grill for 3 to 4 minutes. Then, it will dissipate.

5. Crank It Up and Start Grillin’:

After the pot catches, you’ll also hear the roar of a fire. That’s the fan forced convection blowing on the flame inside your grill. From there, you can crank up the temperature and get ready to start grillin’. The heat will climb to your desired temperature within 5 to 6 minutes. 

Be sure to try out some of these smokin' recipes to get started.