The Grill;
Original Oregon made Traeger Texas 075 purchased in 2005. Average use is 2-3 times a week during spring-summer, 1-3 times a week fall-winter.
Pellets;
For the past few years has been "Pacific Pellet", (sold through our local meat house, "Whites Country Meats"), prior to that was Traeger brand. Pellets are always stored in the house and never more than 3 months from time of purchase till used to reduce possibility of moisture absorption. Fire pot cleaning, probably not as often as I should be, once every other bag or two of pellets.
We LOVE our Traeger, use it year round mostly for grilling, only issue has been a hot rod that went out few years ago, to be expected with as much use as it gets all year round.
Short version of the issue;
Last couple years have been dealing with auger jamming, tear down couple weeks ago revealed 2"-3" of the auger near the fire pot is gummy/sticky/gooey around the out side, during operation noticing some smoke coming from the hopper as well, (smoke is drifting up the auger tube into the hopper, I don't recall that happening before). Convection fan, auger motor, etc all work and perform perfectly normal.
Long version;
Couple years back noticed most of the time grill wouldn't heat up past 350 degrees with the temp set to 400, as use continued the max achieved temp continued to drop a little with each use of the grill to finally wouldn't get above 300 degrees. Complete dis-assembly of the hopper, auger motor, auger fire pot etc. Auger and auger tube had some carbon build up near the fire pot, nothing that looked abnormal, to me any how. After thorough cleaning of the auger, polishing auger tube inside from end to end, visual inspected air passage surrounding the auger tube, installed new fire pot, reassemble and grill it was working like normal for approx 6 months then max achieved temp would start dropping again just as before.
Further investigation revealed the auger was jamming not delivering pellets yet the feed motor was trying. Test of the auger motor is good, delivers LOTS of torque, (surprised the inner gears are strong enough to hold up under the auger jam). Next grill test, when auger jammed I used a pair of vice grips/channel locks and was able to help the auger motor turn the auger through the jam. The jam is constant so constant through entire grilling session, helping the auger motor by hand is required, the auger jam has a lot of resistance, feels equivalent to approx 15-30 ft/lbs of torque, (as professional engine builder/machinist for several years the approx amount of help I was adding to the auger "felt" like a 15-30 ft/lb torque value). Also noticed smoke coming from the hopper, smoke was coming back through the auger into the hopper...
Complete disassembly, clean and polish again, this time I chucked the auger in the lathe to verify it is true along its entire length, auger is true though where the drive shaft attaches/welded to the auger screw was not so true so straightened that to the auger. Reassembled, the grill worked great for another 6 months then same symptoms. Bought a new auger, (verified it is was true on the lathe), disassembled, cleaned, reassembled the rest of grill as before, worked great for approx 3 weeks this time max temp achieved was only 225 degrees when auger jammed worse than ever this time, even after complete cool down and attempt to restart, auger was jammed, taking noticeably more effort on my part to help the auger motor overcome the jam. Another tear down and thorough clean, noticed this time that 2-3" of the auger at its firepot end has a gummy/thick gooey build up on it, not unlike the nasty gooey gummy build left on the grill from teriyaki steak strips. Clearly not from food drippings as the solid tray under the grill is intact and covered in Aluminum foil and the little heat dispersing tray over the fire pot itself is also in tact, dripping can not get to the firepot/auger.
Possibly the pellets I am using? Possibly smoldering part way into the auger tube releasing the chemicals gumming up the auger tip, also may explain the smoke coming out the hopper from down the auger tube?
Going to source a different pellet and try again, any input on most "reliable" pellet greatly appreciated.
Any other input?
Hoping to resolve this, would like to keep this Traeger.
Paul and Krystin
Sandy OR
Original Oregon made Traeger Texas 075 purchased in 2005. Average use is 2-3 times a week during spring-summer, 1-3 times a week fall-winter.
Pellets;
For the past few years has been "Pacific Pellet", (sold through our local meat house, "Whites Country Meats"), prior to that was Traeger brand. Pellets are always stored in the house and never more than 3 months from time of purchase till used to reduce possibility of moisture absorption. Fire pot cleaning, probably not as often as I should be, once every other bag or two of pellets.
We LOVE our Traeger, use it year round mostly for grilling, only issue has been a hot rod that went out few years ago, to be expected with as much use as it gets all year round.
Short version of the issue;
Last couple years have been dealing with auger jamming, tear down couple weeks ago revealed 2"-3" of the auger near the fire pot is gummy/sticky/gooey around the out side, during operation noticing some smoke coming from the hopper as well, (smoke is drifting up the auger tube into the hopper, I don't recall that happening before). Convection fan, auger motor, etc all work and perform perfectly normal.
Long version;
Couple years back noticed most of the time grill wouldn't heat up past 350 degrees with the temp set to 400, as use continued the max achieved temp continued to drop a little with each use of the grill to finally wouldn't get above 300 degrees. Complete dis-assembly of the hopper, auger motor, auger fire pot etc. Auger and auger tube had some carbon build up near the fire pot, nothing that looked abnormal, to me any how. After thorough cleaning of the auger, polishing auger tube inside from end to end, visual inspected air passage surrounding the auger tube, installed new fire pot, reassemble and grill it was working like normal for approx 6 months then max achieved temp would start dropping again just as before.
Further investigation revealed the auger was jamming not delivering pellets yet the feed motor was trying. Test of the auger motor is good, delivers LOTS of torque, (surprised the inner gears are strong enough to hold up under the auger jam). Next grill test, when auger jammed I used a pair of vice grips/channel locks and was able to help the auger motor turn the auger through the jam. The jam is constant so constant through entire grilling session, helping the auger motor by hand is required, the auger jam has a lot of resistance, feels equivalent to approx 15-30 ft/lbs of torque, (as professional engine builder/machinist for several years the approx amount of help I was adding to the auger "felt" like a 15-30 ft/lb torque value). Also noticed smoke coming from the hopper, smoke was coming back through the auger into the hopper...
Complete disassembly, clean and polish again, this time I chucked the auger in the lathe to verify it is true along its entire length, auger is true though where the drive shaft attaches/welded to the auger screw was not so true so straightened that to the auger. Reassembled, the grill worked great for another 6 months then same symptoms. Bought a new auger, (verified it is was true on the lathe), disassembled, cleaned, reassembled the rest of grill as before, worked great for approx 3 weeks this time max temp achieved was only 225 degrees when auger jammed worse than ever this time, even after complete cool down and attempt to restart, auger was jammed, taking noticeably more effort on my part to help the auger motor overcome the jam. Another tear down and thorough clean, noticed this time that 2-3" of the auger at its firepot end has a gummy/thick gooey build up on it, not unlike the nasty gooey gummy build left on the grill from teriyaki steak strips. Clearly not from food drippings as the solid tray under the grill is intact and covered in Aluminum foil and the little heat dispersing tray over the fire pot itself is also in tact, dripping can not get to the firepot/auger.
Possibly the pellets I am using? Possibly smoldering part way into the auger tube releasing the chemicals gumming up the auger tip, also may explain the smoke coming out the hopper from down the auger tube?
Going to source a different pellet and try again, any input on most "reliable" pellet greatly appreciated.
Any other input?
Hoping to resolve this, would like to keep this Traeger.
Paul and Krystin
Sandy OR
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