How long should I expect it to get to temp…say 350 or so. I believe it took about 45 minutes to get up to temp this evening. Is that normal? Everything I read online says 15-20 mins.

Patience is not my strong suit.

Yeah should be about 15 minutes. Make sure the fire box is clean. Good airflow in the firebox helps it get to temp better. You can also hold down the auger button if yours has that function. That helps feed the firebox faster.

Yeah, something isn't right, shouldn't take but 15 min +/- a couple . In summertime it should get there pretty quick.

As said above fire box may need cleaned vacuumed out. Factory guy told me a way to check the temp prob. When you first turn it on it should read close to the outdoor temp.
(Turn mine on yesterday after moving out of the garage and it read 90 so reading pretty close to outside temp)

Neighbor bought one did a few good cooks and then temps were all the place. He was supposed to call tech support. Figured it his was the controller board. If your fire pot is clean and not coming up to temp it may be the controller.

Thanks guys. This was a Father’s Day gift so it was first time on. Still trying to learn and work all the kinks out.

Read the directions. It will save you a lot of trouble. Trust me I know.

Dammit, I reckon I will have to do just that. I thought today to plug the holes on the back of the smoker and open the door to allow smoke from the pellet side to exit on the gas grill side through the stack. Well that worked, but my temp was high by about 50 degrees. I guess the controller is calibrated to run with the holes open. I pulled out the plugs and things finally settled.

My biggest complaint so far is the lack of room on the pellet smoker side. I used a pan with apple juice on the lower grates and barely had room for my shoulder on the top grates. I'm sure the meat will turn out, but having a fire ban out here really sucks. Haven't lit off my BGE in maybe 3 months.

You have to make sure the hopper is primed

Thanks for the help, guys. Apparently I needed to prime the hopper much more than I first thought. Cooked on it yesterday and today and she’s firing on all cylinders.

Priming is key, and then also open the hatch initially and slide the sear plate open to improve the airflow. Once the initial spark, pellets start burning and smoke rolls out, then close the hatch.

When you turn it off it burns up every thing in the pot. It also doesn’t hurt to bump the pellet hopper every once in awhile to prevent bridging.