... Using another brand of pellets in your Traeger WILL NOT void your warranty, as some believe, and the statements of the hired shills ("Traeger Reps") at Costco shows are legendary in their falsehood ...
As Hub and many others have pointed out, using another brand of pellets in your Traeger will NOT void your warranty if you don't use thier pellets. As far as I know, they are the only manufacturer, which also make pellets, to require their customers to use their BBQ pellets. I'm no lawyer so don't take my words as gospel! ... but those that know a lot more than I do claim the following:
There is one grill manufacturer who requires their customers exclusively use their BBQ pellets and threaten their grill owners by voiding their product warranty if they don’t comply. However, “tie-in sales” are addressed in a federal law as follows:
The Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act is a United States federal law, (15 U.S.C. § 2301 et seq.). Enacted in 1975, it is the federal statute that governs warranties on consumer products.
Referring to the Federal Magnuson-Moss Act; Section regarding tie-in's..... Quoting,
"Warrantors cannot require that only branded parts be used with the product in order to retain the warranty." This is commonly referred to as the "tie-in sales" provisions.
Saw that same sticker when I got my Traeger PTG. But I wonder if any Traeger owner, whose unit was still under warranty, was asked "have you used Traeger Pellets exclusively in your unit"? I had temp swing issues with my PTG using their 3-position switch and when I called their tech support we talked only about the controller. They never asked me anything about what pellets I used. Wouldn't they have to get a sample of the ash and get it analyzed to somehow verify that you only used their pellets? Then again, there's Federal Laws concerning Consumer Product Warranties.
Traeger didn't agree with my assessment of the controller but we had a nice discussion and they sent me a new digital controller for free to replace the old analog 3-position controller. Unfortunately I found out that their digital controller was not any better than the digital Ortech TR-100 I tried earlier and I finally got things dialed in using a PID controller in the manual mode.
IMHO, I think Traeger just puts that sign on their units in the hopes that people will believe they don't have a leg to stand on if they use another brand of pellets. Like I said, it's just my Humble Opinion. My Traeger PTG has never seen a Traeger BBQ pellet and it never will !!
