How Many Watts Does a Pellet Grill Use?

The short answer

A pellet grill draws several hundred watts during its ignition cycle — the published figure for the Pit Boss 150 is 71W at 12V DC — and far less once running, because only the auger motor and the fan are working. Electricity is the cost owners most overestimate; it is not a factor in the decision.

Only one grill in our registry publishes a wattage figure on its listing: the Pit Boss 150, at DC 12V and 71W. The others do not state draw, so we are not going to publish numbers for them. What follows is reasoning from which components draw power and for how long — the mechanism, not invented measurements.

What actually draws power

The pattern matters more than the numbers. The igniter is the only meaningful draw and it runs for a few minutes at the start. After that you are powering a small fan and a low-speed motor that runs in bursts. A pellet grill running for twelve hours uses the sort of power a few household light bulbs would.

Compared with what you already pay for

The useful comparison is to the pellets. At roughly 1.25 lb an hour at smoking temperatures, a twelve-hour cook burns around 15 lb of pellets. That is the cost of the cook. The electricity over the same twelve hours is a rounding error next to it.

Which means the honest advice about running costs is: ignore the electricity, and pay attention to the pellets and the bag size you buy them in. See running costs per cook and best budget wood pellets.

Where the power requirement does matter

Not as a cost — as a constraint. Three situations where it changes your buying decision:

1. Camping and off-grid cooking

Every pellet grill needs power. Most need 120V AC, which rules them out at a campsite with no hookup. The Pit Boss 150 runs on DC 12V at 71W, which a vehicle supply or a portable battery can provide — it is the only grill in our registry that works off-grid. See portable pellet grills.

2. Power cuts mid-cook

If the power goes, the auger and fan stop and the fire goes out. You then have the same recovery problem as running out of pellets: clear the burn pot, prime, relight. See running out of pellets.

If your supply is unreliable, a small UPS or inverter generator is worth having for long cooks — because you only need to keep the fan and auger alive, not heat anything.

3. Extension cords

Use a properly rated outdoor extension cord of the shortest practical length. A thin indoor cord on a long run causes voltage drop, which makes the igniter underperform and can cause failed ignitions — which then get blamed on the igniter.

Why the “electric pellet grill” label confuses this

Several listings — Z Grills does it on multiple models — describe their products as “electric pellet grills”. That makes people think the grill heats electrically and will cost a lot to run, or that it is permitted where open flames are not.

Neither is true. Every pellet grill burns wood for heat and uses electricity only for the auger, fan and igniter. A genuine electric smoker is a different appliance, heated by a resistance element — and that one really does run on electricity alone.

This matters practically if you live in an apartment, where the distinction decides whether you are allowed to use it at all. See apartment and balcony rules.