How to Change P Setting on Pit Boss

You turned your Pit Boss to Smoke, the readout keeps sagging or climbing, and somewhere on that board is a setting called P that's supposed to help. On Smoke, the grill feeds pellets in bursts and then pauses, and the P number sets how long that pause runs.

On the Pit Boss PB850CS1 (Competition Series 850), the P setting is a recessed "P" SET button that cycles the auger's pause time from P0 through P7 before repeating, and it only does anything while the control board is turned to the S (Smoke) setting. Change it in small steps, verify the result with a separate thermometer, and know that owner reports on newer boards conflict, with P moved into a menu on some and possibly gone on others.

Pit Boss's FAQ hedges with "If your grill has P-settings," and owners on different boards report finding P in different places, or nowhere.

Our pellet grill guide covers why control-board generation keeps changing what a reader can actually do with their specific unit. The P setting is one more case of that same pattern, one documented procedure tied to one board, while owners on other boards describe something different.

What the P Setting Actually Controls

The P setting only matters while the grill is turned to Smoke. Pit Boss's FAQ says that on any other set point, the P value has no impact on temperature.

Here's the mechanism behind that. On Smoke, the Pit Boss PB850CS1's auger runs what the manual calls "more of a manual mode of cooking" instead of chasing one of the preset dial temperatures. The feed cycle alternates between a burst of pellets and a pause, and the P number sets the pause length.

A lower P means a shorter pause, which raises the Smoke-setting temperature. A higher P means a longer pause, which lowers the temperature and, per Pit Boss, can create more smoke.

Owners don't fully agree on that smoke part. Pit Boss's FAQ ties it directly to the pause. Pellets smolder longer before the next feed reignites the fire, and smoldering pellets produce more smoke.

Freedbyjc, a Pit Boss forum member, disagrees. "Your P-Setting does not produce nor restrict smoke production," that owner writes. In that view, P gives precise temperature control, and the extra smoke flavor comes from cooking lower and longer. We're leaving that disagreement open.

The P0 to P7 Range (and the Default)

Pit Boss's P scale runs from P0 to P7, eight settings total, and the factory default is P4. At P4, the Smoke setting feeds pellets for 18 seconds, then pauses for 115 seconds. That cycle repeats for as long as the grill stays in Smoke. Pit Boss's own guidance says that in most instances you'll want to leave it there.

Move the number and you move the balance. Raising it to P5, P6, or P7 stretches the pause, which drops the Smoke-setting temperature further and can push more smoke, following the mechanism above. Dropping it to P3, P2, P1, or P0 shortens the pause and raises the temperature. Pit Boss's FAQ says this can also minimize temperature swings on Smoke.

There's a real limit on the high end, and Pit Boss flags it with a "BE CAUTIOUS" warning. Push the P value too high and the fire can die out completely. The auger keeps feeding anyway.

With no flame, those pellets pile up in the fire pot. If you're chasing more smoke by raising P, go up one level at a time and watch the fire before you jump to P7.

How to Change the P Setting on the PB850CS1

Pit Boss documents this exact procedure for the PB850CS1 (Competition Series 850). Here's what the manual walks through.

Turn the Controller Knob to the S (Smoke) Setting first. Adjustments are only possible in this position.

The "P" SET button is recessed into the control board, and the manual says it can be pushed using a thin-tipped object.

Each short press bumps the LCD value up by one, moving from P0 toward P7. Once P7 is reached, it restarts at P0, so you can cycle around if you pass your target. Stop once the display shows the number you want. The manual says your preference is then locked in until you adjust it again.

If your grill isn't the PB850CS1, Pit Boss's FAQ gives one general rule. If your grill has P-settings, its control board will have a button to adjust them. Whether your specific board has P-settings at all is the open question the next section covers.

When Your Board Has No P Button

This is where most of the frustration lives, and owners on different boards describe genuinely different things. We'd match your grill to the closest account below before you go hunting any further.

Got a PBV4PS2 and no P anywhere? At least one other owner has hit the same wall. An owner posting as "Mike From R.I." reports no P setting at all on his PBV4PS2, a controller he says is almost four years old with 10-degree temperature increments instead.

On a newer board, we'd check recipe mode before giving up. Replying in the same PBV4PS2 thread on a Pit Boss forum, Fxsales1959 writes, "The newest generation of control boards don't have a P setting buttonthat used to be on the control board." On that owner's grill, P only shows up in recipe mode, which Fxsales1959 calls "a convoluted PITA." We agree it's a strange place to bury it.

Running an Austin? Turn your dial to Smoke first, because that's the only place P appears on the boards owners describe. uncledrafty says that on an Austin XL, P settings only show on the smoke setting, and Freedbyjc says the same for the Austin in the newer Onyx line, where you can only see and adjust P with the dial in the SMOKE position.

If you cook on an 850 Pro Series, you may have nothing to find. live_lurkin writes, "From what I can tell," before explaining that the 850 Pro uses a newer PID controller that starts the auger based on temperature and sensor algorithms instead of fixed time intervals, so there's no P setting to change. brewersfan73 pushes back, saying from memory that some Pit Boss PID controllers still carry P-settings at the 180-degree point on the dial, which puts the grill into Smoke. Those two owners never settle it, so on a PID-style board, your own manual is the tiebreaker.

And if you've checked every one of those places and still see no P, stop hunting. Your board just doesn't have it, and you'll set temperature with whatever controls it does have.

Adjusting P for Cold or Hot Weather

The same P number won't give you the same temperature in January as it does in July, and the owners who've run it say so plainly.

If your grill is running cooler than you want, the move both owners describe is a lower P, meaning a shorter pause. brewersfan73 suggests something like P2 or P3 to get closer to 225°F depending on the weather, while flagging that it's from memory and telling you to check the manual and verify with an external temp probe.

lilwang275x1 gives the most concrete cold-day number we found. That owner says P4 "should be around 180* F" as the default, but had to run P2 at 30°F outside to hold a 180°F chamber for jerky. We'd treat that as your starting direction on a freezing day, then let your own probe tell you where to land.

P Setting vs. the Prime Button

These two controls get confused often, and they do different jobs. Pit Boss describes a Prime Button on many of its grills, and says a grill that has never been used, or has run completely out of pellets, needs priming to get pellets to the fire pot while the igniter is still hot.

Holding the Prime button prevents the auger from pausing, so pellets arrive more quickly. Pit Boss notes it doesn't make the auger turn any faster. It removes the pause for as long as you hold it down.

A separate guide covers smoke coming out of your hopper if that's your issue.

Why Your Temperature Still Swings

Even with the right P setting dialed in, don't expect a flat line on the readout. Pit Boss's own FAQ says the grill controls temperature by turning the auger off and on at specific intervals, which causes a swing of plus or minus 25 degrees, and calls that completely normal.

There's a second gap worth knowing if you're checking that swing with a lid dome thermometer. Pit Boss says it's normal for a dome thermometer to differ from the digital readout by up to 100°F. The probe behind the digital number takes an average temperature across the cooking surface.

Pit Boss says that average is usually the more accurate read of the two.

That gap is why brewersfan73's advice to use an external temp probe holds up, and it's where a dedicated probe like the TempPro TempSync earns its place. It reads the meat directly. If you're shopping for a Pit Boss rather than fixing one, our best Pit Boss pellet grills roundup compares current models, including which ones add app control.

If your TempPro TempSync reading still isn't where you want it after a P change, move one level at a time and give the grill a full feed cycle or two before you judge the result.