amazin tube fixes traeger.

susieqz · Jan 19, 2015

traeger has lots of problems, bad corporate philosophy, bad customer service, poor temp control, on n on.

reading old posts here, i saw many complaints about lack of smoke taste too. this has been bothering me.

i paid $400 to get smoke taste n wasn't getting it.

i finally got todd's tube n filled it with his hickory pellets. got it going with a charcoal starter cube because i couldn't get the torch to work.

when it was going good i put it in the traeger at around 180 with some chicken thighs i got on sale. i started low to test the tube.

WOW! BEST CHICKEN EVER ! this was my 27th smoke n the very first one that gave me what i wanted. real smoke flavor.

if you are unfortunate enow to own a traeger, you need to get a tube right now. the difference in taste is like night n day.

themule69 · Jan 19, 2015

Glad to hear you have it going your way now. I agree on the tube. A tube or a maze will make a lot of smokers shine.

Happy smoken.

David

dirtsailor2003 · Jan 19, 2015

Love it need a pellet smoker to fix a pellet smoker!

There are those that swear by their Traegers. I've never been impressed with the food, they make. I really consider them more rid a grill than a smoker.

The Traeger I have sits in the garage and has only been used twice. Probably should burn the pellets out of it and put it on Craigslist. I prefer my other smokers and my gas grill.

susieqz · Jan 19, 2015

sailor, you speak truth. had i found this site before buying the traeger, i'd have got something else.

if i find someone who wants a grill, i'll sell this quick like a bunny.

okie52 · Jan 20, 2015

I look at my traeger Texas as more of a smoker than a grill. I haven't had trouble with customer service and really no problems with parts....But,

I've made several mods to my texas grill. I probably would have bought a rec tec had I researched pellet grills very deeply. With Traeger having over 80% of the market I thought parts, warranties and customer service would be good and I wouldn' t have to worry about them going out of business like some of the smaller manufacturers. Live and learn....

I retrofitted my Texas with a Blazn grill PID. Excellent temp controll...dead on. Also has a temp probe for the meat and will kick the temp back to 170 degrees when the IT hits within 5 degrees of its target temp. Whereas the old temp control put out plenty of smoke from 225 and below, it also had wild temp swings. Unfortunately the new PID is so efficient that the Texas doesn't put out much smoke. So I use a Smoke Daddy Big Kahuna and it really delivers on smoke...even more than some stick burners I used to own.

I don't use my traeger for grilling as I have a DCS grill for that but I really like the food and smoke flavor I get from my "modified" texas.

susieqz · Jan 20, 2015

okie. is a PID a controler?

is it hard to install?

okie52 · Jan 20, 2015

susieqz said:
okie. is a PID a controler?
is it hard to install?

Yes, it's a temp controller sold by blazn grill. It ran me about $219 plus shipping. I can't remember if I showed my install process on this board but it took me about 45 minutes. It wasn't hard to do and the wiring matches perfectly with the traeger.

okie52 · Jan 21, 2015

susieqz said:
okie. is a PID a controler?

is it hard to install?

I did post the install.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/169522/new-pid

Hope this helps.

susieqz · Jan 21, 2015

thank you oakie. not sure if i can drill holes in metal. i can drill into wood.

i guess i can go to the hardware store n get bits for metal.

i don't have metal working skills but i'm willing to learn..

okie52 · Jan 21, 2015

susieqz said:
thank you oakie. not sure if i can drill holes in metal. i can drill into wood.

i guess i can go to the hardware store n get bits for metal.

i don't have metal working skills but i'm willing to learn..

Only 3 holes to drill suzieqz.

normal bit will take care of the 2 holes for the temp controller/PID...Its thin metal. I did use a drill press for the 3/4" L bracket (hole # 3) but you could use a vice and your drill for it too.

One other thing you might consider is buying an original Ortech controller. It lines up perfectly with holes of the old controller (ortech knockoff) and I've heard from Ortech owners that the controller works fine for them. It also is cheaper running somewhere between $70-100. I don't know if your old RTD will work with the new Ortech but it might...otherwise Ortech will supply you with a new one anyway and you'd just have to install it.

susieqz · Jan 21, 2015

oh!i really like the idea of not drilling holes. i see there's a whole buncha wires leading from the controler. connecting them will be enow of a challenge for me.

i just got a MB this morning on sale. that's for low temp smoking of cured meats, because i don't think the traeger will ever work for that. i still wanna use the traeger because it's easy n fast.

it's nice of you to help me, okie.

okie52 · Jan 21, 2015

susieqz said:
oh!i really like the idea of not drilling holes. i see there's a whole buncha wires leading from the controler. connecting them will be enow of a challenge for me.

i just got a MB this morning on sale. that's for low temp smoking of cured meats, because i don't think the traeger will ever work for that. i still wanna use the traeger because it's easy n fast.

it's nice of you to help me, okie.

Glad to help. I can relate to other traeger owners "pain" on temp swings and smoke.

The wires are color coded so you really can't mess it up.

Here is the link for Ortech. The TR-100 I believe has a cool down cycle on it too.

http://ortechcontrols.com/

How low do you want to go on your temp? Mine (with the new controller) will do 170 degrees...It might go lower but I just haven't tried it at a lower setting than that. Any lower and I'd probably just be cold smoking using my "Big Kahuna" for smoke generation.

susieqz · Jan 21, 2015

i've been enjoying curing ham n i now have back bacon curing.

i understand optimum temps for these start at120, with gradual raises.

if i could have got the 180 setting to give me 180, i would've settled for that, as long as it's below 212.

it wouldn't do that n when i called traeger they told me 180 was just for starting in cold weather. mine varied from 110 to 310 when i tried.

i'm sorry i got the traeger. i guess it's supposed to be a grill. it works for that.

okie52 · Jan 21, 2015

susieqz said:
i've been enjoying curing ham n i now have back bacon curing.

i understand optimum temps for these start at120, with gradual raises.

if i could have got the 180 setting to give me 180, i would've settled for that, as long as it's below 212.

it wouldn't do that n when i called traeger they told me 180 was just for starting in cold weather. mine varied from 110 to 310 when i tried.

i'm sorry i got the traeger. i guess it's supposed to be a grill. it works for that.

The blazngrill PID will give you 170...maybe 160...maybe the ortech will too.

Personally I think Traeger is lousy as a grill...will never compare to the one I've got (DCS) or others I've had. But there are traeger owners that swear by them as a grill. I much prefer it as a smoker.

I don't know of many smokers that will get down to 120... certainly not stick burners or charcoal smokers with any degree of constistency...and if the ambient temp is running at 90-100 degrees I don't know how you'd ever get them that low. The oven in my home won't go below 180. With my old traeger temp controller it would go down to 150 but then I'd often suffer flameouts...in fact it would gradually spiral downward on "smoke" setting to where it would often flame out depending on the ambient temp.

I too had regrets about buying my traeger 1 1/2 years ago because I thought I was getting "set it and forget it" which wasn't the case. But, after some mods, I'm very satisfied with how it performs now. My biggest gripe now is that I have to use a smoke generator to deliver sufficient smoke because the PID is so efficient it doesn't produce much smoke. But that is going to be true of any pellet smoker that has an efficient PID. Always a tradeoff it seems.

okie52 · Jan 21, 2015

One other thing I'd mention is that the smoke generator I use (smoke daddy big Kahuna) puts out a ton of smoke...really hard to imagine another smoke generator doing as much smoke because of the air flow created by using an air pump in the smoke chamber. The fuel also makes a noticeable difference as I believe the charcoal chunks, wood chunks and chips that I use in the smoke generator are much stronger in flavor than pellets. Just my opinion...

susieqz · Jan 21, 2015

i gotta point out, you spent a ton on mods.

if you add them up. yoiu could have got a rec tec for the same money n less work.

i guess you enjoy doing stuff with metal. i learned carpentry last year n that's fun in limited doses but metal doesn't have the same appeal.

actually, i don't care for grilling either. that's for boys.

okie52 · Jan 21, 2015

susieqz said:
i gotta point out, you spent a ton on mods.

if you add them up. yoiu could have got a rec tec for the same money n less work.

i guess you enjoy doing stuff with metal. i learned carpentry last year n that's fun in limited doses but metal doesn't have the same appeal.

actually, i don't care for grilling either. that's for boys.

Like I said, had I researched it deeper I would've probably bought a rec tec mainly because it's PID was better than the one that came with the Texas. But, as far as price, the rec tec would cost me about $999 and the traeger cost me about $900 (with rebate) that I got fully assembled at an ACE hardware store...and I would've paid an additional $250 more for shipping on the rec tec and I believe my PID (now) is more advanced than the rec tecs and it has a meat probe. But, I do like the rec tec dome light and 40 lb hopper that is in the middle of the smoker. And being from OU I would've liked the red color too.

I enjoy making mods if it is going to improve the product or food..but I went to pellet smokers because I got lazy and wanted "set and forget it". Almost there...but not quite.

susieqz · Jan 21, 2015

you know, for a while. the traeger was set n forget. i did everything at 225 n it stayed close to that.

not sure what happened but it changed. now the225 setting gets me 280 or so.

traeger told me to check the bottom fan but there's too much snow.

okie52 · Jan 21, 2015

Snow? Where are you located?

susieqz · Jan 21, 2015

new mexico. very hot summer, cold winters too.

it's that continental climate i learned about in school but never really understood.

been smoking every week, anyway.

when i did my xmas ham overnight, it dropped to 5 degrees,. i thot the traeger was doing well keeping a temp around 110, but at 4am it rose to 360.

dave omak just gave me a way to cook a little butt. it starts at 140 degrees, then drops, then rises.

i'm real curious how that works.

if there's not too much snow, i'll try that saturday.

i wanna see what super low n slow tastes like.

amazin tube fixes traeger.

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