Traegering 101

What is LEr?

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What is “LEr”?

According to Traeger technical support, “LEr” is an error code that appears on the control display when your grill operates for 10 consecutive minutes without reaching 125°F (regardless the set temperature).  So, for example, if you have your control set to 250°F, and the sensor does not recognize a temperature of 125°F for 10 straight minutes, the grill will automatically shut down, as a safety feature.  The error is more common in colder climates, and with lower temperatures – or on windy days.  It will likely occur if you’ve left your grill open, or have run out of pellets.  It is also more likely to occur when trying to cook at lower temperatures.

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What to do when you get an “LEr” error?

1. Check your fire pot to make sure it is not overloaded with pellets.

Before re-igniting your grill, be sure that fire pot is not full with pellets. When the LEr error code is on your display, you have lost fire in the fire pot – which means the auger has fed pellets to the fire-pot for 10 consecutive minutes, and the pellets did not burn.  This means you’ve got an overload of pellets.  Igniting the fire with a full fire pot can result in larger unwanted fires and higher than desired temperatures.  Even worse, if your grill isn’t clean, the larger fire could even become dangerous.

2. Heat up your grill / sensor

In cold climates, it is possible that you get an LEr error even though the fire is lit.  Odds are, the sensor is just cold and is struggling to reach your desired temperature.  If this is the case, you can heat up your grill to a hotter temperature for the preheating period, and then drop it down to your desired temp for your cook.  This simply enables the body of the grill and the sensor to maintain temperature since it is now warmed up.

3. Adjust your p-settings (only if you are receiving your error on smoke setting)

P-settings control the speed (or timing) of your auger.  By lowering your P-setting, you are allowing your fire-pot to be fed pellets more frequently, thus, likely being able to achieve higher temperatures.  If you would like to learn more about the P-settings, click here.

 

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18 Comments on “What is LEr?”

  2. Adam RUX says:

    Thanks so much for the info. I have been searching the interwebs to find an explanation for the LEr code. It happens only when i am smoking, and only in the Fall- Spring months. During the summer i have no issues with it. I do have a blanket for it, but i dont think i have been letting it preheat long enough or at a high enough temp. Idaho isn’t exactly the warmest state..

  3. Mark says:

    I called Traeger and they sent me a new controller and temp sensor, still the same when I smoke in cooler temps. 35-40 degrees. I may have to return it as I’m not satisfied with this problem.

    • bbqwithdrew says:

      Hey Mark,

      Thanks for checking out my blog about the “LEr” error.

      I can understand that it might be frustrating to encounter this problem. I can promise though, that once you learn to prevent the issue, you’ll be sailing smooth moving forward. I’m up in Canada, where the temps are below freezing for 5-6 months of the year. Trust me, I’ve had my share of LEr errors, and only once I truly understood the problem, was I able to prevent/fix it. And I’ll add, it’s worth the learning curve – the food is amazing and it’s too easy.

      If you read my article on http://www.bbqwithdrew.com, you now understand that the “LEr” error occurs when the grill has operated for 10 consecutive minutes without reaching a temperature of 125*. If you have a minute or two, here are a few suggestions to help you manage and prevent it:

      • Every time you light the Traeger, spend 4 minutes with it. The reason I say this, is because the grill ignites with a hot rod that operates on a 4-minute timer. If the grill does not light properly (in the initial 4 minutes), then you will not get a good fire (or no fire) and achieving or maintaining any temperature will be difficult. Lift the lid, start the grill on smoke, and hang out until you see some good healthy smoke coming off – now you know your fire is lit. You’ve got the green light to close the lid, set a temperature, and walk away from the grill.

      • Equally important (especially in cold climates) – I strongly recommend that you preheat your grill to a WARMER temperature than you plan to cook. The reason I say this, is that if you don’t get the grill hot, it’s always going to be struggling to get where it needs to be in colder climates. If you get the unit warmed up, it’ll be easier for the grill to maintain a cooler temperature. So if you plan to cook at 225*, preheat it to 275* (or even warmer if you want), and then the grill will have far less trouble maintaining the lower temp.

      • Don’t be fooled by the term “SMOKE”. The Traegers come with a built in “Smoke” setting. The control is designed to operate based on an interval-timer while on the “smoke” setting – turning the auger for 15 seconds to feed the fire, and pausing for 65 seconds. It is a great system (considering we are relying on a machine to govern a wood-fire), but it can certainly have fluctuation in temperature (both on the hot and cold sides). I would recommend that if your goal is to “smoke” your food, using the 180* – 225* temperature options will provide a much more stable temperature (since these settings are governed by temperature rather than a timer) – and you are still “smoking” your food. Typically, BBQ is smoked/ cooked between 225*-275*, which produces good smoke flavor, a smoke ring, and winning BBQ.

      I hope these suggestions are helpful. If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know.

  4. Canadian Cowboy says:

    Thanks bbqwithdrew. I’m smoking a Turkey in Canada for US Thanksgiving. Much better to set it at 225. Steady smoke will no doubt make this bird one of a kind!!

    • bbqwithdrew says:

      Should be as simple as Turning the power switch off, and back on. Once, I believe I unplugged the machine and plugged it back in. Also, make sure you empty out your firepot.

  6. TedW says:

    Suburban chicago. Some news says possibly -8 out. Only the 2nd time I’m using my Pro 22. I had a pork butt on there. Its in the the tin foil stage w/apple cider in it. so grill has been on numerous hours. I was away (from grill) working to see the Ler, and the grill basically stone cold. I checked the fire pot except fro some ash around it , it was empty. I just restarted and it appears to be going. Not sure what that means for my first attempt at pulled pork. So the sensor should have been warm. I’m not out of pellets. Got the thermal blanket on it. What theories do you have?

      • Ted says:

        Trying the same pork butt. Hit LEr twice already. It’s smoke until 160 degrees (about 3ish hours) then wrap in foil for another 3-4 until 205 degrees.

        I turned off grill. Turn on to smoke setting big big smoke comes out. Then turn back to 250. It’s so frustrating. Maybe used this grill 6 times and I think 5 of them gave me LEr

  8. Sherri says:

    Happened to us in Dallas this weekend. We think the augur tube may have had a few pellets stuck. We used a small clean shop vac to vacuum all the pellets out that we could. (Clean shop vac allows you to reuse the pellets). Then we ran the grill and let all the pellets rotate out that we could not vacuum, refilled and worked like a charm.

  9. Brook says:

    Same issue here in Alaska with our new (2nd) Traeger. Bumping up a notch to 180 seems like the trick for me. Also, I’ve had problems from dumping in the last bit of pellets from the bag and getting lots of sawdust. I now dump into a mesh laundry back first, and then sift out the dust. Much cleaner…..oh, yea….don’t make the mistake of shop vac’n up still glowing pellets. It’s funny in an “almost burnt the place down” way, but potentially not. 🙂

  10. DragginBreath says:

    This is great information, thanks! I’ve had this happen twice in the last few weeks. The first time was obvious — I ran it out of pellets. I refilled it, toggled it off/on, and went right back to cooking within a few minutes. But it happened last night, and I was baffled because the hopper was full. Nonetheless, it restarted easily and we went on to cook an outstanding tri-tip. That particular cut should be a dead giveaway that I’m in California, so this can happen even here in Southern Cal, with a thermal blanket and an outside temp that barely dips below 50 in winter evenings. But I didn’t think to clean out the firepot before relighting, which is completely obvious to me now, and so thank you, I’d be devastated if my Traeger got destroyed because I was being careless. Last note for the curious, I’ve been using cookingpellets.com pellets, which could have been a factor, but I’ve had great results with the pellets otherwise.

  11. Stan says:

    Thanks to everyone for your comments on the Traeger LEr error message. So, it’s beef fillet in the oven broiler for tonight. Right now it’s snowing and 33 degrees although, apparently the air temperature shouldn’t be a significant issue.

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