First time I tried to smoke some chicken breasts the temperature climbed to 375 degrees and I shut unit down as I didn't want leather to eat?

[Gone fishing]

I started grill up on the smoke position and when I opened the lid to put chicken breasts on grill I noticed when I moved grill outside the small cover over the flame grate had slid off . I shut the grill off and slid the cover over the slotted flame pot area and then turned grill back on the smoke position but the temperature continued to climb to 375 degrees and I shut unit down. When I shut unit down and restarted it did I screw up the heat control or why wouldn't it return to just smoke?

 

[RCAlan]

I started grill up on the smoke position and when I opened the lid to put chicken breasts on grill I noticed when I moved grill outside the small cover over the flame grate had slid off . I shut the grill off and slid the cover over the slotted flame pot area and then turned grill back on the smoke position but the temperature continued to climb to 375 degrees and I shut unit down. When I shut unit down and restarted it did I screw up the heat control or why wouldn't it return to just smoke?

Pellet grills are not started and stopped like you would do with the oven in your home. Pellet Grills are burning wood pellets, so there’s a start up process and a shutdown process that has to be performed correctly each and every time you operate your pellet grill. Do you have a Pit Boss Pellet Grill and if yes, which one do you have and how long have you had it? Some of the classic Pit Boss Pellet Grills like the Austin XL require a preheating step to be performed each time the grill is operated. The newer PID/WiFi Controller Pit Boss Grills do not, but preheating at 300* degrees for 20 minutes will allow your grills controller to stabilize the temp better and have less wild temp swings. Never take shut cuts in the proper operation of your Pellet Grill, doing so can cause Flameouts and other problems that you really don’t want to encounter. Always follow the Owners Manual instructions... From what you posted, you didn’t. Always restart your grill like the owners manual instructs and check the burn pot to insure it’s not over flowing with unburnt pellets. Give it another shot, read the owners manual again and if necessary, take notes. If you have any questions that are not answered in the owners manual, you can always reach out to your Pellet Grills Customer Service for guidance and if necessary, repairs. Good luck.

Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi