The first thing to know is that while every pellet grill uses electricity, they are not electric grills in the traditional sense. In other words, pellet BBQs do not use electricity/electrical elements as their source of heat.

Both the heat and smoke of a pellet BBQ come from the combustion of hardwood BBQ pellets. Pellets are loaded into the hopper. A controller (small computer) controls an auger that feeds the pellets from the hopper into a burn pot.

At the same time, the controller is managing a fan to feed the burn pot with air and a hot rod igniter gets the fire going. Once the fire is established, there is a temperature sensor in the cooking chamber (RTD Probe) which the controller is monitoring to know when to feed more pellet fuel into the cooking chamber to achieve and maintain the set temperature. 

Some pellet BBQs also have WiFi connectivity which means via an App, your phone can communicate with the controller to monitor and adjust the temperature in the cooking chamber etc.

Most of the latest pellet BBQs on the market have what's called a PID controller which is a smarter method to control the pellet fire for more accurate temperature management.

You can use our database through the link below to see all the pellet BBQs currently on the market that use a PID controller, have WiFi connectivity etc.