Within the base of the pellet burn pot, there is a hot rod igniter. Electricity is applied to the hot rod igniter which begins to glow hot enough to ignite the pellets.

Once the pellet fire is established, the hot rod igniter does not use any more electricity and is turned off by the control panel.

Now, hot rod igniters do fail over time. Therefore, it is possible to manually ignite a pellet grill/smoker with a small flame torch if needed.