Surely I’m the only one - Traeger Issues

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CivilSmoker

Found some matches.
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Dec 2, 2009
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After months (years, actually) I finally decided to add to my arsenal and bought a Traeger pro series 34. I know there are better ones out there in the pellet market but I know several people that are happy with theirs so I bit the bullet. It didn’t hurt that they were available in my employee purchasing program!

Since day one this thing hasn’t held temps. Plus or minus 30F. I’ve been in contact with traeger from day one and have replaced the controller, RTD, auger motor and induction fan motor. It still doesn’t work. I feel like I’ve been very generous as a consumer to mechanic on a brand new $1000 grill.

Has anyone else had this experience and am I justified to be as upset as I am about it?
 
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So set at 300 it will go from 270 to 330? Has Traeger commented if that is out of spec? It seems a bit excessive to me, my (non-traeger) grill usually is around +-13 degrees.
 
Traeger says it should be +\-15 and I asked if that was actually expected or just marketing and they said actual. A friend of mine with an older model said that’s what he’s getting as well.

Mine never goes as high as it does low. Lots of thick white smoke when it gets low as well.
 
Seems excessive. I would insist on talking to the manager of the support department about getting a new grill.

I have the Silverton model they're selling at Costco now. It holds reliably within 10* on the controller once it's settled but it can overshoot it's temp above about 275 so I set it one temp lower than I want then increase it once it gets there
 
I don't think 30 +/- is all that big of deal personally, but if you are getting bad smoke when it drops that's an issue. If you don't want to give up on it, get a Savannah stoker controller. You should be good to go at that point.
 
I considered a Traeger prior to getting my offset and the reviews on the Costco website scared me off.
 
I have a traeger and before I replaced the controller I would get swings that big. Try changing the P setting that controls the auger pause times.

I’ve had temp swings low enough that it had caused a flameout in the past. I installed a savannah stoker about 2 years ago and haven’t looked back. Max temp deviation I get is about 9 degrees and usually it’s +/- 5 through most the cook. It also has an auto relight feature as well.

Ive heard the pro series controllers run a little better but they are still not PID
 
This concern about a few tens of degrees varying temps comes up here from time to time, but I have never seen a post where someone says that it is affecting his/her food. And I have asked.

I saw a new word on a photography site that I think might apply to this (IMO unnecessary) angst arising from excessive watching of temperature gauges: measurbating.
 
I had a traeger tailgater and it swung huge and flameout happened a few times. sold it for what I paid. it did seem to run better without the traeger pellets
 
CivilSmoker said:
Traeger says it should be +\-15 and I asked if that was actually expected or just marketing and they said actual. A friend of mine with an older model said that’s what he’s getting as well.

Mine never goes as high as it does low. Lots of thick white smoke when it gets low as well.
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Based on the feedback you have received from them, they should make it right without you paying for a different controller. That's a lot of money spent to have to worry about flame out.
 
My main concern is the billowing white when it gets behind and I have had it shut off when running at 225. I’m going to continue to hassle Traeger until they get it right but still may look into an aftermarket controller.
 
CivilSmoker said:
My main concern is the billowing white when it gets behind and I have had it shut off when running at 225. I’m going to continue to hassle Traeger until they get it right but still may look into an aftermarket controller.
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If you used a credit card to purchase it, you might have some leverage there. Sounds like defective merchandise to me...
 
Thank you for all the responses. I spoke to Traeger corporate and they are sending out a new grill. For reference, this is the smoke I am getting. And the picture doesn't really do it justice. It's eye-watering smoke.
 

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