Yesterday I began my first attempt at smoking a brisket on my brand new Traeger Jr. I began on smoke setting (I do have the digital thermostat, not the 3 stage POS). I noticed my temp was struggling to get about 130-140*. After about an hour I noticed temp was at 80* and I found the fire had gone out. I called Traeger service, and while on hold cleaned out the fire pot, changed P setting to P1 (from P2). Spoke to service guy who told me to change P setting (which I had just done-he really thought it was just my P setting). Well I fired it back up and it was going great for about another hour. And then I lost the fire again. I called Traeger service back again. While on hold got fire pot all cleaned out again. Spoke to a female service person second time. She asked how full my hopper was; I told her it was a little less than half full. She basically told me to fill it all the way up and that the T Jr needs a FULL hopper to run correctly (not sure I buy that, but whatever, I filled it up). Fired the grill back up, but this time I set it on 180* rather than the smoke setting. Went great for about 45min and then I began noticing the temp dropping steadily and quickly. I cranked the thermostat to 325, but after a few min the temp wasn't increasing and I couldn't hear the fire burning. So I assuming it had gone out again. I pulled everything out of the grill and checked, but there was a flame. So I turned the grill off, then back on. It took off. I limped my brisket into the finish line. But holy s**t what a miserable 1st experience! Has anyone ever experienced similar issues w their Traeger, specifically a Junior model? Or does anyone have any ideas? Weather was a non factor...75 and sunny, light breeze, but grill was also inside my garage. I'm at a complete loss!
Traeger Jr...ideas?
- Thread starter saso1192
- Start date
TentHunter
Moderator
I really can't say what the problem is. YOu really need to talk to and keep on Traeger about this.
What I can tell you is I have a friend who has a Traeger Jr. as a secondary (mainly for travel) grill. He upgraded to the Ortech controller, and WOW what a huge difference it made in performance. With the Ortech controller it is one smoking little machine!
What I can tell you is I have a friend who has a Traeger Jr. as a secondary (mainly for travel) grill. He upgraded to the Ortech controller, and WOW what a huge difference it made in performance. With the Ortech controller it is one smoking little machine!
Nite Ryder
New member
I have a #75 and my son had a Treager Junior, both unit's have the digital thermostat. Neither of us have had the experience you have just had. What kind of pellets were you using, and is there any possibility they could be a bit damp? My Treager was on smoke this afternoon for 4 hours, and was going strong each time I checked it. I doubt that the fan stopped working during that first hour, but that would cause your fire to go out. I'd call Treager back and keep on them until it works like it's supposed to.
Ordinary Guy
New member
I had the exact same problem........ bit after keeping the hopper full, sometimes they get like an air pocket and it doesn't feed right.... then the third time it happened they told me about the P setting and mine was on 8.. i set it down to 2 it seems to be working ok..... I had it on for 6 hours last weekend and all was well... but I still keep my fingers crossed...LOL Maybe try cycling the P setting all the way up and then back to 1 and make sure the auger is pushing pellets through and they are dry........
jimsbarbecue
Moderator
when we had a Traeger Jr for camping I did a few modes. A ortech controller. a insert for the hopper that funnels the pellets into the feed and double walled the cooker. The other was a 1/4 piece of aluminum on the grease tray spaced up 1/8 of a inch.also added a upper rack. it ended up being a good little cooker that a friend uses everyday.