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[outlawsx6]

Does the burn pot location = even grate temps? For example Green Mt, Camp Chef, and Grilla have their pot in the center, Louisiana has theirs on the left. Also, how does the shape and size of the grease tray affect temps? Louisiana has a curved design while most of the others have a flat design with a heat deflector. I'm not into moving a heat deflector around to even temps, simpler is better.

[hughver]

I'm not into moving a heat deflector around to even temps, simpler is better.

I agree, my DC worked great until I upgraded to the new stainless steel heat deflector which is adjustable. Now, controlling left/right temperatures is a nightmare. It seems that the heat distribution varies with pit temperature. Unfortunately, I threw away the warped one before I discovered this problem.

[glitchy]

IMO, it all has to do with the engineering behind it. I had a Traeger Junior with the pot on the left it it kept more even temps than my GMG. Since it’s convection the fans and shields play a big part. I don’t know if flat versus rounded matters much, but how the heat flows around them does.

[Bobitis]

What glitchy said.^

I have no other pit than my Jr. so have no way to compare. The 1st year of ownership was truly a learning experience. In the beginning, it wasn't uncommon to see 100 deg swings. At first I blamed the controller and fought with Treager for a new one. When I installed it, the swings lessened a bit, but nothing to write home about. 3 years later, the swings are about 50 +/- degrees. Some would be shocked by those swings and claim foul to the manufacturer.  I can live with it because my Jr has never put out a bad dish. I've run the gamut of cooks (meats/bread/pizza/jerky/deserts) and all came out well.

My perception of the location of the pot should be used in conjunction with the fan location. In start up, the location will be hotter than he surrounding areas. When up to speed, things should mellow out. The heat deflector and drip tray help in the process.

I've had my Jr for about 4 years and have been on boards the entire time. Never have I read of a pit that had swings like mine. But it works fine for me. The thing most common to all is that the hot spots are around the edges of the drip pan. It doesn't appear to have anything to do with the location of the pot.
 

[Canadian John]

 Even heat is the result of even heat distribution.. A burn pot on the left and chimney on the right is a candidate for higher grate temperatures on the right side. There is more to it: The heat deflector and drip play major rolls as does the shape of the pit. The

ideal is even heat flow from the burn pot outwards in all directions, around the drip tray evenly and out. It comes down to fluid dynamics. Different manufacturers address air flow differently, some doing very well at it.

[LowSlowJoe]

My observations are... the hottest spots are toward the end with the grease bucket , regardless of where the firepot is.    As Canadian John has said, it's really about fluid dynamics... and some grill makers have done a better job than others... but, most will be hotter on the grease outlet side.

  The few grills that have grease drip to both sides probably have more even heat, because of that design ... and then of course there's a PG500 and/or Fast Eddy's design... Not exactly even heat if you consider the entire grill, but if you are just looking at the heat in the indirect cooking area itself, it's as good or better than any other pellet grill , and since the fluid/heat is flowing top down, not from under the drip tray, the drip tray angle doesn't make any difference really.

 I know of at least one grill with a larger gap in the front than in the back, and that grill had a heat bias toward the front... right where the fluid/heat flowed more easily.

  With traditional pellet grills, the temperatures will be hotter around the perimeter of the grill, where the gap is between the drip tray and the side of the grill... just the way heat flows.