I was smoking a rump roast, a couple of pounds of sausage and some salt pork in our Traeger Lil Tex with the LV180 optional digital controller from Pellet Grill Outlet. Things had been going fine with the temp set at 250 for about four hours. I decided to slow things down a bit and set the temp to 225 and loaded up the pellet supply bin. When I went back out to check things out about a half hour later, the temp had decreased to ambient. I made sure there was was nothing wrong with the auger and turned the control from 225 to Smoke (the start-up setting). In a couple of minutes, I saw white smoke start to get generated, so I figured everything was OK and set it to 225. The amount of smoke increased to a level I'd never seen before and I heard a whoosh sound. Smoke built up again to this max level I'd never seen before and the temp didn't seem to be rising like it usually would. Smoke, yes. Heat, no. I set it to 250 thinking there was something wrong with the controller. Now I saw the temp start to rise and rise until it hit 300! I opened the lid and through the thick smoke, I saw flames coming out from under the diffuser. I shut it down and after it cooled, I removed the grill, drip pan and diffuser and saw this:
Clearly the auger pushed too much fuel into the firebox. Any ideas as to what might have caused this? Obviously I'm a little nervous about firing her up again until I know the cause. I cleaned it all out. I hadn't cleaned it before this use, and I had used it yesterday. Could too much ash have caused it?
Anyway, I moved the roast into the oven for the foiled finish and will finish the rest another day. If too much smoke can ruin the food, I might have that to contend with.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Clearly the auger pushed too much fuel into the firebox. Any ideas as to what might have caused this? Obviously I'm a little nervous about firing her up again until I know the cause. I cleaned it all out. I hadn't cleaned it before this use, and I had used it yesterday. Could too much ash have caused it?
Anyway, I moved the roast into the oven for the foiled finish and will finish the rest another day. If too much smoke can ruin the food, I might have that to contend with.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
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