Traeger Junior Fan Failure on High, Twice

I have had my junior for just 3 weeks and twice the fan has burned out on high. First on burn-in (running on high for 40 minutes). Burn-in smoke turned black and smelled like burning wires.

I swapped whole pettet box and burner with a floor model and Smoked/Med for 18 hours with no problems. It happened agian while cooking beef tenderloin for 20 miuntes on high. Black smoke made $70 of beef taste like burning tires. I also had backflash in the fire pot when I switched from High back to Smoke.

Treager Support is now sending me a replacement fan and controller to try a third time.

Has anyone else seen this problem? Suggestions?

Traeger Update

Well no replies for the group so here is my update.
Traeger sent the replacement fan. I upgraded to the digital controller which made all the diffence. Smoked Baby backs and spares from 250 to 325 for a few hours with no problems. Be care full using the High setting on the non-digital controller.

I've been watching this thread for a follow-up. It's good to know you got it worked out.

I don't like to sound negative, but I can't help but think that you shouldn't have had to be careful using a high setting on a controller that's a stock part for that unit. It sucks that you had to go through the same failure twice.

I truly hope you don't have a third one.

Please keep us posted on how the parts works out.

I bought a lil Tex elite and have had no problems at all. Sorry to hear about your luck. I'm glad that Traeger took care of you.


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- Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think that we are all gun shy from commenting on anything negative regarding other brands of smokers...I am really glad Traeger took care of you!

Thanks BP, et al,

All is good in the Junior world. The new fan and controller have been great. I love having the temp probe to help control cooking.
Over the past 2 weeks I've done spares, rib eyes and 3 huge breasts, all with great success. Now I am working on deepening the flavor profiles. Loving in. The digital controller is defiantly worth the money

Next up: KCBS Judge's class Thursday night. Sat: double-babys and double-spares on the Junior..

Good luck in KCBS judge class BJB, I am attending in October on the Friday before the JD..... It should be an awesome weekend ;-) Let me know how the class goes...

I figure if I become a judge, I can "dis" my own cooks LOL

Good to hear all is well. I installed a digital in my JR after two cooks. It has served me well for nine months.

I have two traeger juniors and cook on them at least 3-4x a week. They both have the digital, and I am normally cooking at 275-325. Never tried cooking over 400 on them.

Glad that Traeger took care of you, and I am sure that with the digital it will all be better.

Pete

My traeger failed the first time I put food on it. The circuit board fried. It was taken care of promptly, and I've had no problems since.

i have called twice about getting a new hot rod for my lil tex (the end of it corroded). they still haven't got back to me yet. not thrilled w/ their service.

Call service and ask to speak with George, he is their # 1 service guy.

sparky said:

i have called twice about getting a new hot rod for my lil tex (the end of it corroded). they still haven't got back to me yet. not thrilled w/ their service.

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Ditto,
Ask for George. When I had only Traeger grills, he was the go to guy when I had any problem. Always a great response time.

Thanks for the 911 on George. Hopefully I won't need to speak to him but now I know.

c13. I didn't get a name but when Traeger said the new fan and controller would be her in 10 days, it only took 4. Once you get them to commit, they follow through.

RG, The class was great. Totaly worth it even for a backyarder with a Junior. I had already read most of the KCBS material online but it was great to learn about little gotch'as from a Rep & Master Judge who had seen 1000s of entries and who had also competed. It will open your eyes as to what a good box and good entry should look like.

Are you competing at JD? If not, try to get presigned as a Judge. It will change the weekend for you.

Good news, bad news for my lil Tex. The ignitor rod went for a dump this week, so they repaired it right away and upgraded me to a digital controller. Overall, I think this could be positive.

Jables said:

Good news, bad news for my lil Tex. The ignitor rod went for a dump this week, so they repaired it right away and upgraded me to a digital controller. Overall, I think this could be positive.

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Digital is the only way to go. Traeger should scrap the 3-stage version. Be carefull installing the probe wires. Make sure you tie them up out the way. I had one wrap around the augerfan hub. I had to take the lower cove off and free it before I could resume cooking.

I was at the Sams Club cook in Marietta a few weeks ago, and I noticed several teams had Traeger Jr there just to finish their chicken entries with... first time I had seen one... cute little boogers LOL They would be great for tailgating

Here is a review I gave in June on the little Traeger. Hope you enjoy:

Earlier this year I purchased a Traeger 055 pellet cooker at Costco for $299.00. Even though I have had about every model Traeger made, this was my first China made unit and I was interested to see the change.
My first impression was that this little import was actually built better than the Oregon factory units which was quite a surprise. Although the price was unusually low for a pellet cooker (my other units: FEC100 - $4000, Louisiana Grill $1400) the quality was really there.
Since my intent was to make a tail gate/ camping cooker I left off the legs and ordered the optional cover and tailgater package. The package has you install the original wheels, an "L" bracket base and a piece of insulation so you don't set your tailgate (or picnic table) on fire.
Hauling the cooker is easy since it has handles on either end and is light enough for one strong adult (or two strong six year olds) to carry. Not finding any six year olds in the woods this weekend I chose to carry it all by myself to the picnic table, which by the way did not burn down, so far as I know.
As the unit comes stock it is equipped with the stupid three speed heat control which gives you low, medium and high. To me this makes as much sense as Sears' rating system: Good - Better - Best. After reading in the web site that this basic control requires "true sign-wave" to work and all the econo inverters are "modified sine-wave" I opted to buy the Traeger digital control which does work on Sam's Club inverters. The price on these controllers have dropped more than half since competing companies have come out with better controllers.
Loading up the hopper with pellets I put on two TriTip roasts, set the controls to 225 and went fishing. Four hours later on our return having scored no fish but a Jim Dandy high Uinta lake sun burn we were ready to destroy for food. The little Traeger was still humming away occasionally puffing out a little smoke.
By now we had drawn the attention of several fellow camper families who I assume were looking a bit differently at their Spaghetti-O dinner and wondering why they married into a Spaghetti-O family. After 25 years of Dutch oven cooking....I know that look. We also drew the attention of the camp ground host who looked like he was used to eating a lot of Spaghetti-Os. Turned out he was from Texas and knew what TriTip was since he was a babe in arms.
Never being one to pass up a potential compliment, not to mention sucking up to the guy that can let you fudge on the check out time, I invited him to dinner. Whipping up some Dutch oven cheesy potatoes and my world famous cobbler we sat down to eat as our Spaghetti-O neighbors looked on.
Our new Texas friend was taken back in time to his childhood as he went on about how much this reminded him of growing up in Ft. Worth. I kind of imagined that scene in Ratatouille where the food critic was transported back in time to is French mamas kitchen. So far as I know, no rats were used in the making of our dinner.
To make a long story even longer, this smoker is a keeper and where ever my humble little 35 foot 5th wheel trailer goes, this "Baby" Traeger will be bringing up the rear.