Just remember there are some variables at play with any pellet smoker. Pit temp can obviously affect time to temp. I fired up my Rec Tec last friday night when it was below 10° for a long time outside (it was -1 that morning). It look a good while to get to 200°. I would assume the pit temp was somewhere under 10° ambient when I hit the go button. Having said that, I can tell the controller is going full blast to get the pit up to desired temp as fast as possible. Still, it took longer than if it were warmer outside. Also, if I do a good vacuuming, the vac will sometimes suck some pellets out of the end of the auger, along with anything in the firepot. When I start the smoker after all of this, the auger has to take a little time to get pellets onto the fire rod. Over the 9 or 10 years I've had this smoker, I've run all sorts of pellets and start up times are pretty even. I leave pellets in the hopper and the lid is NOT an airtight seal. No problems. I do store my spare pellets in a 5 gallon bucket with a lid in the garage. If your pellets get moisture, good luck. It's just the nature of Pellet smokers (at least mine). Sometimes it gets to temp faster than other times. I just don't sweat it. I turn it on, wait around 10 minutes, and if the temps are climbing, I'm happy. Nothing wrong with testing though. Every so often I get a bum bag of charcoal that the exhaust from the space shuttle would have a hard time getting good and going. I will say, I stay away from Traeger pellets. I don't like them at all. I love Lumberjack, but nobody carries them locally anymore. TSC carries Bear Mountain, and I've been pretty happy with them.
