Traeger went on fire!

[tmartin89]

I've never had any issues with my Traeger since the day I got it. Today, I was smoking ribs, pulled them off, turned the temp up to 225 from 180, went to check on them and the temp was around 120*. So, stupidly, I turned it off and on and off course the hot box was overflown with pellets and a fire started.

So, I guess my question is why didn't it heat up to 225 instead of dropping to 120?

I just cleaned out the ashes before I started cooked, plenty of pellets, no power outages.

 

[SlowmotionQue]

I've never had any issues with my Traeger since the day I got it. Today, I was smoking ribs, pulled them off, turned the temp up to 225 from 180, went to check on them and the temp was around 120*. So, stupidly, I turned it off and on and off course the hot box was overflown with pellets and a fire started.

So, I guess my question is why didn't it heat up to 225 instead of dropping to 120?

I just cleaned out the ashes before I started cooked, plenty of pellets, no power outages.

I’d be interested in knowing the answer too.

 

[tmartin89]

I’d be interested in knowing the answer too.

I get why it went on fire, that was my fault. I just have no idea why it would be right at 180 for 3 hours perfectly then when I turned it up to 225 it wouldn't get above 120.

 

[SlowmotionQue]

I get why it went on fire, that was my fault. I just have no idea why it would be right at 180 for 3 hours perfectly then when I turned it up to 225 it wouldn't get above 120.

I not only don’t understand why it wouldn’t get above 120*, but also wonder why it caught fire.

You say that the catching on fire was your fault. Is that normal or something that would be expected?

 

[tmartin89]

I not only don’t understand why it wouldn’t get above 120*, but also wonder why it caught fire.

Is that normal?

When you first turn the Traeger on it will dump pellets in to the fire pot. So I had a lot of pellets in there then when I turned it back on it dumped more pellets in. My fire pot was overflowing with pellets.

 

[johnmeyer]

I don't own a Traeger, but I worked on one and have posted before about what I found while troubleshooting my neighbor's problem.

In a nutshell, under various circumstances, you can "flood" the fire pot. I use the word "flood" because what happens is a little like flooding an engine where you get so much fuel in the carburetor and fuel system that there isn't enough air to make the fuel ignite. The same thing happens when the fire pot in the Traeger fills to overflowing. The pellets don't get enough air and so they just smoulder. In some cases you get unbelievable amounts of smoke (you can't even see the smoker through all the smoke). Whether that happens or not, the key thing is that the pellets are no longer burning, but are simply smouldering and, as a result, you get very little heat, and your temperature will drop way down.

The only way to fix the problem is to turn everything off, wait a little bit for the smoke to clear, and then carefull clean out the pot and properly dispose of the hot embers. When you start it up again, everything should be fine.

 

[RCAlan]

I get why it went on fire, that was my fault. I just have no idea why it would be right at 180 for 3 hours perfectly then when I turned it up to 225 it wouldn't get above 120.

What Traeger Grill do You have and does it have P-Settings?

PB Austin XL in SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

 

[tmartin89]

I don't own a Traeger, but I worked on one and have posted before about what I found while troubleshooting my neighbor's problem.

In a nutshell, under various circumstances, you can "flood" the fire pot. I use the word "flood" because what happens is a little like flooding an engine where you get so much fuel in the carburetor and fuel system that there isn't enough air to make the fuel ignite. The same thing happens when the fire pot in the Traeger fills to overflowing. The pellets don't get enough air and so they just smoulder. In some cases you get unbelievable amounts of smoke (you can't even see the smoker through all the smoke). Whether that happens or not, the key thing is that the pellets are no longer burning, but are simply smouldering and, as a result, you get very little heat, and your temperature will drop way down.

The only way to fix the problem is to turn everything off, wait a little bit for the smoke to clear, and then carefull clean out the pot and properly dispose of the hot embers. When you start it up again, everything should be fine.

That's exactly what I did and everything was fine when I turned it back on.

 

[tmartin89]

What Traeger Grill do You have and does it have P-Settings?

PB Austin XL in SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

I have the 34.

 

[RCAlan]

I have the 34.

Some Traegers have P-Settings and some do not.. The 34 Pro does not. I would reach out to Customer Service for their input.. Good luck.

 

[johnmeyer]

That's exactly what I did and everything was fine when I turned it back on.

Yes, I know you did. I was just trying to explain why it no longer stayed hot once it got into that state.

 

[Rmartinez2]

I think it's just one of those "shit happens" type of situations. If you read on here about flame outs you'll notice that a few things can cause them. When you run out of pellets obviously is the first. And then what i consider to be 2 and 2A are going from a low temp point (below 200) to higher (above 200) along with realizing you are almost out of pellets but the firepot is still going so you add more pellets.

Here's what i mean.

when you are at a low temp point the firepot isn't roaring with huge flame. Its kinda going steady with some nicely bright pellets. When you go up in temp, the auger comes and and starts to feed the pellets. Sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes you're going to encounter that the feed rate of the pellets actually drowned your fire out and thus a flame out. The grill's auger i think continues to try and feed pellets or in your case turning it off and back on would feed more pellets which would then create the fire (this you already knew as you stated this was your fault and i agree lol, but i think we've all been there or will be at some point).

Its a very similar scenario and one that i actually just had happen to me. I still had burning pellets in the pot when i realized there weren't enough pellets in the hopper. I quickly pushed the pellets that had settled right on the sides of the little opening into the opening. I think that even though the pot was lit it was just not hot enough to restart the amount of pellets that fell into it and thus the fire was dead.

Id say just keep an eye on it when you are at a low temp and want to go to a higher temp. I saw a couple of people mention your model does not have a p setting or maybe you mentioned it? but in any case the P setting in that low temp would definitely help as this controls the rate at which pellets get delivered to your pot.

If no P Setting i think you're still in good shape just maybe go from 180 to 200 then from there to 225 once at 225 i think your safe to turn that B up to whatever.

Goodluck