Pit Talk -- Comments and Questions Regarding These Pellet Pits > Traeger
Traeger Texas Elite 34 Burn Consistancy Issues
JoeGrilling:
I have a five year old Texas Elite 34 that has been doing wild temperature swings lately. The modification done to the grill are as follows:
Savannah Stoker V4.0 - added in the first year
Smoke Daddy 2 RPM auger motor - added in the first year
Smoke Daddy heat deflector - added maybe at year three
Smoke Daddy Ceramic Igniter - added a week ago
Smoke Daddy 9 hole burn pot - added a week ago
Smoke Daddy auger motor stabilizer bracket - added a week ago
I started seeing strange things like a flame out around Mother's Day while cooking a brisket at 240 F after wrapping. The SSV4 has it's OutL set at 15%. The burn pot only contained only ash after re-ignition failed and a shutdown ran automatically. I had to drop my son off at a friends so I wasn't around to see it happen but was only gone for 30 minutes.
The recent modifications were made after brisket flame out. My old 7 hole burn pot had seen better days so I replaced it along with the other two modifications. I looked up the materials list for my Traeger and it now calls for a 9 hole burn pot. After the modifications, I tried to set my OutL but started seeing pretty wild temperature swings at low manual feed rates. At 15% it would rise to 230F and then fall to 180F it would repeat these swings over and over again. I set the temperature to 225F and let it stabilize for an hour or so and did a re-calibration. Well it flamed out several times this past weekend while smoking ribs at 190F.
I have pretty much always purchased Traeger pellets at Traeger Costco roadshows. The three bags I'm using now were purchased several month ago when Traeger started up the road shows again. I am beginning to wonder if something changed in the pellet manufacturing process. The other possibility is the auger may be binding occasionally. Has anyone else seen this problem on older pellet grills?
To rule out the pellets, I am going to try some from a different manufacturer. Lumber Jack used to be hard to find in my area but just saw that Dick's Sporting Goods now carries them. They have a store a few miles from house and they are in stock.
Bar-B-Lew:
It may be the burn pot not allowing enough air into the fire. I remember reading about issues with the wrong # of holes in the burn pot causing folks issues like you are describing.
My two cents on the pellets are that Traeger are probably one of the worst in the industry.
JoeGrilling:
The Lumber Jack pellets performed better. However, the SSV4 is still doing +30F -20F with the set point at 190F. There was no white smoke or flame outs even with OutL set to 11%. The other thing I need to check if the pit performs better when shaded. Very clear skies and 90F plus temperatures are common here.
The burn pot holes are still in question. I went from a 7 hole to a 9 hole.
JoeGrilling:
I did a calibration run last night when it was around 65F outside. My pit is still having issues with wide temperature swings so I can rule out high daytime temperature and direct sunlight.
I started thinking about Bar-B-Lew's comment about air flow. My fan stuck one time last winter I'm guessing from corrosion in damp weather. I flicked one of the fan blades and it started to run. It seems my pit is slower reacting to increased pellet loads than what I remember. I have a spare fan so I'll give that a try tonight.
Canadian John:
The fan sticking issue for me was lack of lubrication..It would be slow or stuck when cold. The lack of lubricant is the cause.. I simply applied a low viscosity (thin) full synthetic oil, sparingly to the bushings
using a needle oiler that disperses very small drops of oil. The best job is done by dismantling the fan motor for better access to the bushings and shaft.. Note: The motor rotation can be changed by reversing
the coil polarity therefore note the coil position prior to disassembling if you go that route..
A properly lubricated motor should offer many years of trouble free service. Most of the new motors are marginally lubed with questionable lubricant.
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