Traeger Pro 575: problems, parts and running costs

Checked: 2026-10-20

Summary

The Traeger Pro 575 is a 575 sq in WiFIRE pellet grill with an 18 lb hopper, a 3-year warranty and app control, and Consumer Reports rated it very good in overall performance with excellent indirect cooking. [22] The recurring failures are the D2 controller and the auger, the plain-steel firepot rusts within about 3 months unless it gets oiled, and the built-in pit probe reads 15-20 F off, so owners add an external thermometer. Pellets are the whole running cost at about $1 to $1.50 an hour at 225 F, and the grill is a strong buy near $600 but hard to justify at the $799.99 list price.

Common problems and fixes

Searing is weak at the 500 F ceiling — every independent test runs into the same wall: the AmazingRibs steak test at maximum temperature produced a pale, undercooked crust, and Bob Vila found the porcelain grates do not sear. Workaround: cook low and slow, then finish steaks and burgers in a cast-iron pan or on a kamado. It is a design limit rather than a defect, so the 3-year warranty does not cover it. [3] [2] [15] [1]
Controller and electronics failures — owner forums and Reddit show the same cluster: a panel that lights up while the auger and igniter stay dead (suspected fuse), a replacement controller that burned out within 20 minutes after an auger jam, and one controller that died 34 days after the 3-year warranty ended. Traeger support documents ER13 “Auger Not Detected” errors, usually loose wiring, and publishes step-by-step controller wiring articles. Warranty: 3 years against defects in material and workmanship, excluding shipping and labor; one owner was told to pay for a replacement 34 days after expiry and got it free only after posting on Reddit. [6] [7] [8] [12] [1]
Auger jams from wet or clumped pellets — Traeger runs a support article for an auger that will not turn, and one owner mangled the auger clearing a repeat jam. Fix: keep pellets dry, run the full shutdown cycle after each cook, and clear the jam following the support steps. The manual lists the usual causes as wet or clumped pellets, the motor, and wiring. [8] [9] [11] [21]
The built-in pit probe reads wrong — one Traeger Forum owner verified 15-20 F errors against a FireBoard system and recommends an external probe, and a 2019 owner reported 30-100 F errors confirmed with an independent gauge. Workaround: run a separate thermometer and treat the built-in probe as a rough guide. Warranty: one 2019 owner had the control panel, fan and thermocouple replaced under warranty and still saw 30-100 F errors, and the return process was difficult. [5] [13] [1]
Firepot rust — the firepot is plain steel and rusts within about 3 months if it is not oiled. Fix: the manual tells owners to keep the grill clean, vacuum the ash out of the firepot and oil it to stop rust. [5] [21]
Cold weather and direct sun — the single-wall body loses temperature stability below about 40 F ambient, and direct sunlight can add about 35 F to the cooking chamber at 90 F ambient, which stops the grill holding its 165 F minimum. The insulated Ironwood and Timberline lines do not have this weakness. Neither case is a warranty item. [15] [5] [1]
Startup smoke and auger overflow — some owners get heavy smoke and an overflowing auger with no fire. The fix found on the forum is the hot-rod position: the hot rod should extend about 1/4 in into the firepot. A normal start takes about 15 minutes. [14] [4]
Running out of pellets and power cuts — running the hopper dry mid-cook means a 15-20 minute shutdown cycle to get the auger path working again, and power glitches shut the grill down in the middle of an overnight cook. Workaround: owners run UPS units and Jackery power stations for overnight cooks and refill the hopper before leaving. [4] [5]

Parts and consumables

WiFi controller (KIT0402) — $199.99, Traeger parts, 2026. It is the part owners replace most often after a failure, and it sets the cost of a single repair made outside the warranty. [16] [7]
Auger assembly (KIT0426) and auger motor (KIT0577) — Traeger parts catalog, 2026. Replaced after a jam or a motor failure; Traeger lists the usual causes of a stopped auger as wet or clumped pellets, the motor, and wiring. [10] [11] [12]
Firepot and hot rod assembly (KIT0383) — Traeger parts catalog, 2026. The firepot is plain steel and rusts within about 3 months unless it is oiled, so expect to oil it a few times a year rather than replace it. [10] [5]
Main grate (KIT0444) and upper grate (KIT0452) — Traeger parts catalog, 2026. Porcelain-coated steel over two tiers, 575 sq in in total. [10] [1]
Drip tray (KIT0440), induction fan (KIT0411) and chimney parts — Traeger parts catalog, 2026. [10]
Front folding shelf — $99.99 to $109.99, Traeger parts, 2026. It is not included with the grill and has to be bought separately. [4] [16]
Pellet sensor — $124.99, Traeger parts, 2026. An optional add-on. [16] [4]
Cover — $89.99, Traeger parts, 2026. [16] [4]
Pellets — about $20 a bag for Traeger brand (Bob Vila, Jun 2025); Pit Boss at $9 and Bear Mountain at $10 per 20 lb bag at Walmart, roughly half the price of Traeger pellets. Traeger recommends only Traeger-brand pellets. [2] [5] [1]

Yearly running cost

Pellets are the running cost. There are no filters, no pods and nothing on a replacement schedule, and the controller and fan draw 95 W from a 120 V outlet, which is minor next to the fuel. [1] [21]

Grills.co puts pellet burn at 1-1.5 lb/hr at 225 F, 2 lb/hr at 350 F and 2.5-3 lb/hr at 500 F, and Bob Vila measured about 9 hours of runtime at high heat and up to 20 hours at low temps from a full 18 lb hopper. [15] [2] [1]

At 225 F that works out to about $1 to $1.50 an hour with Traeger-brand pellets at about $20 a bag, so a full 18 lb hopper is one cook at about $20 and it covers roughly 12 to 18 hours. With third-party pellets such as Pit Boss at $9 or Bear Mountain at $10 per 20 lb bag, the same cook costs roughly half as much. [2] [5] [15]

The annual figure is therefore just the number of cooks: an owner who fires the grill 20 times a year spends about $400 in Traeger pellets, and one who fires it 30 times a year about $600, with third-party bags cutting those figures roughly in half. One owner with 3 years on the grill puts pellet spend at about twice what propane would cost on a gas grill. [4]

When it is a good buy

Bob Vila reported the Pro 575 typically retails at Traeger for $800 but is often on sale there and elsewhere for around $600 (Jun 2025), and that is where the value case works: at about $600 or below it is a strong buy, $600 to $700 is fair to good, and at the $799.99 Traeger list price (Oct 2026) it is weak to fair. Ace Hardware also ran a Labor Day 2026 grill sale with over $100 off top grills including Traeger, so the street price moves with the season. [2] [17] [18] [19] [20]