# Very Disappointed In Traeger Pellet Grill/Smokers



## timh (Apr 17, 2019)

I have been looking at pellet smokers for about two years. Was in Costco about four weeks ago and there was a Traeger booth set up with a Traeger rep. We talked about them and I end up buying the Select Pro and Junior Pro  both for $1435.00. He even delivered to my house 50 miles away. Threw in covers for them and a bunch of chicken seasoning. Saturday morning put together my select pro and the back panel was damaged during shipment. Okay I straighten it and moved on. Put together the junior pro and it was damaged  on the bottom pellet feed box almost crushing the fan in during shipment,finished putting it together. Emailed Traeger and no response. Did the require burnout in both of them. In the select pro did some brawts with the Traeger tri-blend  wood pellets at 225F, temperature swing was +/- 30 F at least. No smoke in the brawts. The following Saturday went camping, threw a pork shoulder roast on it at 225F, grate temp was 190F with hickory pellets. Cooked for about five hours with temperature swing about +/- 30F. Then it got to 100 -/+ temperature swing. Temperature maxed out at 450F and couldn't control it. I had to shut it down and finish off in the oven. The reason why I bought these smokers was so I could set and forget it. Not the case. Contacted Traeger and they were not much help. Took both of them back to Costco and got my money back.


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## jcam222 (Apr 17, 2019)

I have a Traegar Tailgater and I can honestly say it is the worst grill / smoker I have ever owned. The temp swings are insane. I am so glad I got it used off someone cheaply and I understand why lol. I will never in my lifetime buy another of their products. It is random too. Sometimes after awhile the temp will settle in, other times it just goes bonkers, did some steaks yesterday and it soared to 450F no matter where I set it. I paid $200 for it and I wish i could sell it for that, probably could but feel as though I would be screwing someone over. Best of luck and truly hope you can get your controller straigented out.


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## SlowmotionQue (Apr 17, 2019)

I’m unfamiliar with these models. 

Do they have PID controllers?


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## motolife313 (Apr 17, 2019)

My parents traeger broke after couple years. Says it’s on 225 but really on high. My stick burner hasn’t broke down yet


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## txgunlover (Apr 17, 2019)

I try not to run down brands, but having had 1 Traeger for less than a year, I can definitely say it was one of the worst purchases I've ever made.  On the other hand, I have two Rec-Tecs and love them.


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## dog1234 (Apr 17, 2019)

I like stick burners!!!! I fabricated a reverse flow stick burner a few years ago. After several time smoking with it I failed many times. So I purchased a Masterbuilt, and loved it. Then a friend of mine came over a couple months ago and talked me into pulling out my reverse flow. So I cleaned it up read plenty on fire management and I love it now. I will not use my Masterbuilt except for jerky. So my message here is stick burners. Learn how to manage your fire and it all good!!!!!


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## Preacher Man (Apr 17, 2019)

It's threads like these that have kept me from buying a Traeger when I see a deal.

But then I got that one buddy who consistently puts out some outstanding Q over and over with his non-modified Traeger


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## jcam222 (Apr 17, 2019)

Preacher Man said:


> It's threads like these that have kept me from buying a Traeger when I see a deal.
> 
> But then I got that one buddy who consistently puts out some outstanding Q over and over with his non-modified Traeger


Same here, have a friend that loves his and turns out great food. He can hardly believe my comments on mine.


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## sweetride95 (Apr 18, 2019)

6 months in on mine and no problems, great food so far and getting better each cook. 
I think it's luck of the draw.


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## dubob (Apr 18, 2019)

sweetride95 said:


> 6 months in on mine and no problems, great food so far and getting better each cook.
> *I think it's luck of the draw.*


As it is with almost anything.  S**t happens and there isn't a single company out there that can claim 100% satisfaction from 100% of their customers.


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## retfr8flyr (Apr 18, 2019)

I have been very happy with my 1300. The only problem I have had was with the wifi connection and Traeger sent me a new controller and fixed that. Great customer service form Traeger also.


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## Hawging It (Apr 18, 2019)

Love the Bayou Classic Stick Burner. It holds consistent heat which is key to a good smoke. Just my take. Good luck on finding your ideal smoker. You will find one!


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## Bru (Apr 18, 2019)

I have 2 traegers and have never experienced the wild temperature swings. Mine turn out great food consistently. So much easier to cook low and slow than my stick burner.


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## SlowmotionQue (Apr 18, 2019)

It really is luck of the draw.

And because there are probably more Traegers out there than probably anything else, it follows that there would be more complaints, fair or unfair.


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## WeberBlackStoneYoder (Apr 18, 2019)

Last year my brother bought the Traeger Eastwood model from Home Depot. Worked great the 1st month he had it. After that he had nothing but trouble. Had a rough time with customer service trying to fix the problem. After about 6 recorded conversations they finally sent him a new one. He has not had any trouble with the replacement.


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## bbqbrett (Apr 18, 2019)

I don't have a Traeger but considered getting one.  I know several people who have them and only one has had any real problem and that is the auger stopped working.  He got really heavy use out of it though.  Problem is I enjoy cooking with charcoal and wood and fiddling with the fire etc.  Sometimes the convenience of a pellet smoker just seems like it would be nice.  After hearing some of these stories though I am not sure now.


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## Thebutscher (Apr 18, 2019)

timh said:


> I have been looking at pellet smokers for about two years. Was in Costco about four weeks ago and there was a Traeger booth set up with a Traeger rep. We talked about them and I end up buying the Select Pro and Junior Pro  both for $1435.00. He even delivered to my house 50 miles away. Threw in covers for them and a bunch of chicken seasoning. Saturday morning put together my select pro and the back panel was damaged during shipment. Okay I straighten it and moved on. Put together the junior pro and it was damaged  on the bottom pellet feed box almost crushing the fan in during shipment,finished putting it together. Emailed Traeger and no response. Did the require burnout in both of them. In the select pro did some brawts with the Traeger tri-blend  wood pellets at 225F, temperature swing was +/- 30 F at least. No smoke in the brawts. The following Saturday went camping, threw a pork shoulder roast on it at 225F, grate temp was 190F with hickory pellets. Cooked for about five hours with temperature swing about +/- 30F. Then it got to 100 -/+ temperature swing. Temperature maxed out at 450F and couldn't control it. I had to shut it down and finish off in the oven. The reason why I bought these smokers was so I could set and forget it. Not the case. Contacted Traeger and they were not much help. Took both of them back to Costco and got my money back.


I've had Traegers for twenty years (3 of them).  First had some temp swings of about 20 or so.  Other two no problems.  Latest is a Select Pro from Costco.  Holds temp within 3-5 degrees.  This is over about 1.5 years using it avg 4x per week.  Maxes out at about 450 but added GrillGrates so it works fine for anything.

I think people with bad experiences tend to post more reviews, so with Traeger's market share (70% last I saw) they will generate more online complaints.


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## dan the mano (Apr 18, 2019)

well I also have a Traeger smoker and think it is great ( I also have 3 Bradley's too) . at first I also had temp swings of about -20 to t50 . I talked with traeger a few about this and had no problem as they had told me that some of these were having troubles with the thermostat (controller). so they sent me a new one  , and now I still have temp swings , but very minor ,like -10 to t 20 and that I can live with ,no problem.

 how ever I did have another problem which I found out the answer to ,and that was that after smokes... vacuum out the igniter box and keep  it clean to start with, or you will eventually probably have fires.

 then another tip I  found out was to place some bricks around your igniter box and area there .. as this helps to stabilise your temp , especially in cooler places .this is just to help keep some tempt there  so once heated up ,the burner doesn't have to work as hard to maintain your desired temperature setting.


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## SlowmotionQue (Apr 18, 2019)

dan the mano said:


> well I also have a Traeger smoker and think it is great ( I also have 3 Bradley's too) . at first I also had temp swings of about -20 to t50 . I talked with traeger a few about this and had no problem as they had told me that some of these were having troubles with the thermostat (controller). so they sent me a new one  , *and now I still have temp swings *, but very minor ,like -10 to t 20 and that I can live with ,no problem.
> 
> how ever I did have another problem which I found out the answer to ,and that was that after smokes... vacuum out the igniter box and keep  it clean to start with, or you will eventually probably have fires.
> 
> then another tip I  found out was to place some bricks around your igniter box and area there .. as this helps to stabilise your temp , especially in cooler places .this is just to help keep some tempt there  so once heated up ,the burner doesn't have to work as hard to maintain your desired temperature setting.



Bricks?

If I pay good money for a smoker or a grill, I don't expect to have to use "bricks" to make it behave itself.

Do they include these "bricks"  in the box with the smoker when you purchased it?


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## johnmeyer (Apr 18, 2019)

I never owned a Traeger, but I have two experiences, both of them quite negative.

1. I got a demo three years ago from a Traeger rep at Ace Hardware. His food sample had zero smoke taste, but had a slightly odd taste from the pellets. I wasn't tempted in the least to ever buy one.

2. A year ago, my daughter's new mother-in-law wanted me to fix her Traeger which was producing nothing but smoke, and wasn't able to heat. I reverse engineered it and found that you can flood the pellet pot in exactly the same way as you flood a small 4-stroke engine. The solution is simple: make sure to always clean out the pellet pot before next use. However, what is scary is that when I did some research the next day, to confirm the understanding I gained from partially disassembling the unit, I found that the same design flaw that leads to the flooded smoking problem can also lead to explosions, as you'll see below. Note the massive smoke before the explosion. This is _exactly _what I saw.

You can Google "Traeger explosion" and get lots of other hits.

You couldn't pay me to use one of these, now that I understand the fundamental design problem, and now that I've tasted the food prepared by a Traeger employee.


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## indaswamp (Apr 18, 2019)

johnmeyer



The guys at the firehouse have a cabela's pellet grill and they are notorious for not doing a proper shutdown. The next time someone goes to use it, you get thick smoke like seen in the video. They also leave the pellets in the hopper and with the high humidity they suck up moisture, expand, and crumple apart. This renders the auger useless. Fire has backed up through the feed tube and caught the entire hopper of pellets on fire. I told they guys that if they want me to continue cooking all that good BBQ for them on the pellet grill @ the firehouse, they need to take care of it and do a proper shutdown.


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## johnmeyer (Apr 19, 2019)

Yeah, as I found with my friend's Traeger, it is the shutdown that causes the problems. A better controller could reduce or eliminate the problem and in fact there are several non-Traeger aftermarket controllers that claim to do just that. The explosion is caused by the massive number of pellets leftover from the previous use not catching fire because the chamber is full ("flooded"). Then, if there is dust in there it gets atomized by the fan, and any spark will give you a large-scale version of the old science experiment where you blow flour into a paper bag or paint can under which there is a lit candle:


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## sweetride95 (Apr 19, 2019)

So it's Traegers fault the end user may or may not properly shut down or vacuum the grill out regularly? Hmmm....
The Traeger-hater nation has been popular around here lately.


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## schlotz (Apr 19, 2019)

dubob said:


> As it is with almost anything.  S**t happens and there isn't a single company out there that can claim 100% satisfaction from 100% of their customers.



Generally speaking I agree and if you spend enough time most suppliers have their nay-sayers. Some deserved, others not (ie operator induced problems). But, there is one out there that's darn close to 100% satisfaction.  MAK - they're not on the low end of affordability but IMO you do get what you pay for. :D


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## SlowmotionQue (Apr 19, 2019)

schlotz said:


> Generally speaking I agree and if you spend enough time most suppliers have their nay-sayers. Some deserved, others not (ie operator induced problems). But, there is one out there that's darn close to 100% satisfaction.  MAK - they're not on the low end of affordability but IMO you do get what you pay for. :D



Yes you do.

But of course, it goes without saying that even the best can have problems.

I recall some describing issues with the wifi in the MAKs.

But like you say, when it comes to customer satisfaction, that's the most important thing.

And IMO, that comes from build quality, reliability, and customer support.  From what I've heard and read, the MAKs check all three of those boxes.

But they, like my favorite pellet grill Rec Tec, are relatively small  companies compared to Traeger.

This IMO, gives the smaller companies  somewhat of an advantage when it comes to those three things above, especially individualized customer support.

First off, a customer wants things to work right.  He wants to see that what he bought is stout.  And if things don't go as planned, well then he wants to be able to pick up the phone and have the company do whatever it can to make things right.

From what I've heard and read, the  people who make MAKs do that with flying colors.


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## sweetride95 (Apr 19, 2019)

We also have to be careful comparing $2000+ hand built grills to $500-700 big box store offerings. 
Your mileage should be equivalent to what you spend.


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## SlowmotionQue (Apr 19, 2019)

sweetride95 said:


> We also have to be careful comparing $2000+ hand built grills to $500-700 big box store offerings.
> Your mileage should be equivalent to what you spend.



Fair point.  And  the Traeger line really does face a lot of stiff competition at their price points because so many other smaller operations have started to sell pellet grills


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## Winterrider (Apr 19, 2019)

For the price th Mak is asking, you sure would think a PID would be a standard issue. Crazy price, I'm sure it is a nice  grill though.


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## retfr8flyr (Apr 19, 2019)

The Mak controller is a PID controller, the Yoder is still the old style.


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## Pelagic (Apr 30, 2019)

I installed a dual mode controller on my Z-Grills 700 series and really like it - it has traditional mode (more temp swings & smoke) & PID mode for more precise (+- 5 degrees) temp control.  Pretty handy to smoke something for prescribed time, wrap it and switch to PID mode and cook at a set temp.


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## sandyut (Apr 30, 2019)

I am with slowmotion- and second the Rec Tec.  I didnt consider a trager based on the numbers of highly variable reviews - those that got one that works and those who get the lemons.  

if I am going to throw down I want it to work and last.  MAK looks great too but pushes the cost level too high for me.  My butcher had a MAK1 outside the front door running all last summer - it was a very tempting sight and impressive to see them use it daily.  but loaded with accessories it broke the bank for me.


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## flatbroke (Apr 30, 2019)

timh said:


> I have been looking at pellet smokers for about two years. Was in Costco about four weeks ago and there was a Traeger booth set up with a Traeger rep. We talked about them and I end up buying the Select Pro and Junior Pro  both for $1435.00. He even delivered to my house 50 miles away. Threw in covers for them and a bunch of chicken seasoning. Saturday morning put together my select pro and the back panel was damaged during shipment. Okay I straighten it and moved on. Put together the junior pro and it was damaged  on the bottom pellet feed box almost crushing the fan in during shipment,finished putting it together. Emailed Traeger and no response. Did the require burnout in both of them. In the select pro did some brawts with the Traeger tri-blend  wood pellets at 225F, temperature swing was +/- 30 F at least. No smoke in the brawts. The following Saturday went camping, threw a pork shoulder roast on it at 225F, grate temp was 190F with hickory pellets. Cooked for about five hours with temperature swing about +/- 30F. Then it got to 100 -/+ temperature swing. Temperature maxed out at 450F and couldn't control it. I had to shut it down and finish off in the oven. The reason why I bought these smokers was so I could set and forget it. Not the case. Contacted Traeger and they were not much help. Took both of them back to Costco and got my money back.


treager pellets sucked for me too.  they are too long and cause it to burn hot.  I switched to pitboss and no issue now


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## bigfurmn (May 7, 2019)

Random thought... Has anyone put a thermostate in their home oven? Does the home oven hold a consistant 325 degrees the whole way through a cook? No, it doesnt. It works a lot like a pellet grill. It is the average temp. Keep the grill out of the wind and elements as much as possible and it works a lot better. At least that seems to work for my Pit Boss. Having it just inside the garage with big door, side door and side window open works much better than setting it in the driveway any day of the week. Just my opinion and thoughts. No science involved at all. Just common sense.


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## SlowmotionQue (May 8, 2019)

Spot on about kitchen oven temps oscillating.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-test-your-oven-for-temperature-preheating-accuracy/

https://blog.thermoworks.com/thermometer/thermal-secrets-oven-calibration/

But a question:   How to know if the indicated and marked temp setting on a less accurate  grill represents what would be the actual "average temp" over cooks of varying lengths?

Those who are looking for accuracy with their kitchen ovens may go through the above linked or a similar described procedures of finding an average temperature for their oven’s given setting, and then adjusting their indicated oven setting according to that average.

However like you indicate, unlike outdoor grills, which of course are intended to be used outside,  most kitchen  ovens aren’t outside where such factors as ambient temperatures, season, swings in ambient temperature, for instance night vs day for overnight cooks,  and other conditions such as  wind or direct sunlight,  may affect things.

Someone may go to, or may have already gone to, the trouble of finding out what an indicated temp setting on a Traeger or other grill represents in terms of what can be expected to be the actual average.

But it would seem to me that a device offering a steady state temp or at least a minimal variance in temp,  would be an easier setup.

It’s also reassuring to know that if one wishes to, has to,  in order to minimize fire hazards, do a cook with the grill unsheltered, in the open, at poolside,  in direct sunlight, or in the cold of winter, or overnight where temps may drop, in humid conditions or dry heat summer conditions, in other words in a variety of conditions,  that the indicated temp is within a few degrees of the actual temperature.


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## family man smoker (Jun 2, 2019)

txgunlover said:


> I try not to run down brands, but having had 1 Traeger for less than a year, I can definitely say it was one of the worst purchases I've ever made.  On the other hand, I have two Rec-Tecs and love them.



I had an issue with my new Timberline 1300, Traeger requested a rep named Brandon contact me and he did. We did trouble shooting over the phone and Brandon sent me parts to replace. I sent in pictures and video showing the issues and Brandon and Traeger stood by the product since it was only about 3 months old and are sending me a replacement grill !!!

So happy I stuck with Traeger over the years, a lot of companies try to doge responsibility especially after they already have our money but Traeger is a solid stand up company

The smokes I did have on my 1300 were incredible, super smoke mode is incredible resulting in beautiful pink smoke rings throughout my briskets

Traeger is a stand up company, glad I stayed with them


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## WeberBlackStoneYoder (Jun 2, 2019)

family man smoker said:


> My wife just bought me a new Traeger 1300 Timberline about three (3) months ago, after two smokes the plug melted, I called Traeger still being the optimistic country boy I am and they sent out a new cord. cord was installed, unit fired up and away we go smoking meat (my passion) and after two more smokes the unit today 6/2/2019 stopped feeding pellets into the pot so all the food gets removed once again and im waiting for a new auger to be delivered within a couple weeks
> 
> I am not here to ruin any company, I am seeking advise from other great people who love to use pellet smokers however, I also will not hide my experience with any brand
> 
> I have been looking at the Yoder models, one is a little over $8,000.00 for their pellet smoker with cart, looks incredibly well built but I dont want to go though what I am going through now with this one especially if its going to be much more than this Traeger 1300, I do not mind spending the high end money but looking for the absolute most dependable smoker in the great United States..... any suggestions form experience would be grateful


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## WeberBlackStoneYoder (Jun 2, 2019)

Yoders are very well built. I spent $2,400 on mine.


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## family man smoker (Jun 2, 2019)

WeberBlackStoneYoder said:


> Yoders are very well built. I spent $2,400 on mine.


Thank you for the input I'm leaning that way


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## SlowmotionQue (Jun 2, 2019)

family man smoker said:


> My wife just bought me a new Traeger 1300 Timberline about three (3) months ago, after two smokes the plug melted, I called Traeger still being the optimistic country boy I am and they sent out a new cord. cord was installed, unit fired up and away we go smoking meat (my passion) and after two more smokes the unit today 6/2/2019 stopped feeding pellets into the pot so all the food gets removed once again and im waiting for a new auger to be delivered within a couple weeks
> 
> I am not here to ruin any company, I am seeking advise from other great people who love to use pellet smokers however, I also will not hide my experience with any brand
> 
> I have been looking at the Yoder models, one is a little over $8,000.00 for their pellet smoker with cart, looks incredibly well built but I dont want to go though what I am going through now with this one especially if its going to be much more than this Traeger 1300, I do not mind spending the high end money but looking for the absolute most dependable smoker in the great United States..... any suggestions form experience would be grateful



I'm sorry that this happened to you and looking at that plug,  it could have been a disaster in the way of a fire hazard.

Seriously, I'm glad that it didn't burn your whole house down.


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## family man smoker (Jun 2, 2019)

SlowmotionQue said:


> I'm sorry that this happened to you and looking at that plug,  it could have been a disaster in the way of a fire hazard.
> 
> Seriously, I'm glad that it didn't burn your whole house down.



I had an issue with my new Timberline 1300, Traeger requested a rep named Brandon contact me and he did. We did trouble shooting over the phone and Brandon sent me parts to replace. I sent in pictures and video showing the issues and Brandon and Traeger stood by the product since it was only about 3 months old and are sending me a replacement grill !!!

So happy I stuck with Traeger over the years, a lot of companies try to doge responsibility especially after they already have our money but Traeger is a solid stand up company

The smokes I did have on my 1300 were incredible, super smoke mode is incredible resulting in beautiful pink smoke rings throughout my briskets

Traeger is a stand up company, glad I stayed with them


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## 6GRILLZNTN (Jun 2, 2019)

Although I have been lucky with my RecTec Mini, I'm sure there are RecTec owner with different opinions.  Same with Traeger grills.  My good friend got a Traeger a while back and it was a disaster.  Temps all over the place, and then it caught fire.  If I had to do it all over again, I would change my name to 2GRILLZNTN and stick with a Weber WSM, and Kettle.


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## family man smoker (Jun 2, 2019)

I have tried charcoal wood combos, gas and pellets really finding pellets convenient with incredible flavor as long as real wood pellets ate used not pieces of wood with flavor oils

I had an issue with my new Timberline 1300, Traeger requested a rep named Brandon contact me and he did. We did trouble shooting over the phone and Brandon sent me parts to replace. I sent in pictures and video showing the issues and Brandon and Traeger stood by the product since it was only about 3 months old and are sending me a replacement grill !!!

So happy I stuck with Traeger over the years, a lot of companies try to doge responsibility especially after they already have our money but Traeger is a solid stand up company

The smokes I did have on my 1300 were incredible, super smoke mode is incredible resulting in beautiful pink smoke rings throughout my briskets

Traeger is a stand up company, glad I stayed with them


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## schlotz (Jun 3, 2019)

I would suggest checking out the MAK 2 Star.


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## sandyut (Jun 3, 2019)

I live my Rec Tec RT-700 Bull.  Has been flawless so far.  base price is $1200 delivered.


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## banderson7474 (Jun 3, 2019)

sandyut said:


> I live my Rec Tec RT-700 Bull.  Has been flawless so far.  base price is $1200 delivered.




My friend has one and he loves it.  I'm jealous of the set n forget ability it has.


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## family man smoker (Jun 3, 2019)

sandyut said:


> I live my Rec Tec RT-700 Bull.  Has been flawless so far.  base price is $1200 delivered.


I had an issue with my new Timberline 1300, Traeger requested a rep named Brandon contact me and he did. We did trouble shooting over the phone and Brandon sent me parts to replace. I sent in pictures and video showing the issues and Brandon and Traeger stood by the product since it was only about 3 months old and are sending me a replacement grill !!!

So happy I stuck with Traeger over the years, a lot of companies try to doge responsibility especially after they already have our money but Traeger is a solid stand up company

The smokes I did have on my 1300 were incredible, super smoke mode is incredible resulting in beautiful pink smoke rings throughout my briskets

Traeger is a stand up company, glad I stayed with them


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## retfr8flyr (Jun 3, 2019)

Have you checked out Balzin Grill Works? They sound like just what you are looking for. http://www.blazngrillworks.com/the-grid-iron/


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## family man smoker (Jun 7, 2019)

retfr8flyr said:


> Have you checked out Balzin Grill Works? They sound like just what you are looking for. http://www.blazngrillworks.com/the-grid-iron/


I have not tried this brand yet, I contacted Traeger, spoke with a really professional rep name Brandon who diagnosed over the phone, overnighted parts and the issue is something else


SlowmotionQue said:


> I'm sorry that this happened to you and looking at that plug,  it could have been a disaster in the way of a fire hazard.
> 
> Seriously, I'm glad that it didn't burn your whole house down.


UPDATE***    Traeger requested a rep named Brandon contact me and he did. We did trouble shooting over the phone and Brandon sent me parts to replace. I sent in pictures and video showing the issues and Brandon and Traeger stood by the product since it was only about 3 months old and are sending me a replacement grill !!!

So happy I stuck with Traeger over the years, a lot of companies try to doge responsibility especially after they already have our money but Traeger is a solid stand up company

The smokes I did have on my 1300 were incredible, super smoke mode is incredible resulting in beautiful pink smoke rings throughout my briskets

Traeger is a stand up company, glad I stayed with them


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## retfr8flyr (Jun 8, 2019)

Glad you got things worked out, I have really enjoyed my Timberline and haven't had any of the problems others have had.


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## family man smoker (Jun 8, 2019)

retfr8flyr said:


> Glad you got things worked out, I have really enjoyed my Timberline and haven't had any of the problems others have had.



I love the Timberline 1300, Traeger really surprised me with the great customer service and standing behind their products 

Waiting for Traeger to produce a country boy version with huge wheels jacked up in the air with an American flag paint scheme


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## jdixon (Nov 1, 2022)

timh said:


> I have been looking at pellet smokers for about two years. Was in Costco about four weeks ago and there was a Traeger booth set up with a Traeger rep. We talked about them and I end up buying the Select Pro and Junior Pro  both for $1435.00. He even delivered to my house 50 miles away. Threw in covers for them and a bunch of chicken seasoning. Saturday morning put together my select pro and the back panel was damaged during shipment. Okay I straighten it and moved on. Put together the junior pro and it was damaged  on the bottom pellet feed box almost crushing the fan in during shipment,finished putting it together. Emailed Traeger and no response. Did the require burnout in both of them. In the select pro did some brawts with the Traeger tri-blend  wood pellets at 225F, temperature swing was +/- 30 F at least. No smoke in the brawts. The following Saturday went camping, threw a pork shoulder roast on it at 225F, grate temp was 190F with hickory pellets. Cooked for about five hours with temperature swing about +/- 30F. Then it got to 100 -/+ temperature swing. Temperature maxed out at 450F and couldn't control it. I had to shut it down and finish off in the oven. The reason why I bought these smokers was so I could set and forget it garage flooring McAllen. Not the case. Contacted Traeger and they were not much help. Took both of them back to Costco and got my money back.


My circa 2015 Traeger pellet smoker is not lighting up. Doing usual troubleshooting, have tracked it down to either the auger is not turning (possibly jammed but pellets are dry) or the auger motor is not working correctly or possibly failed. It is not turning. The induction blower motor is working fine as is the controller. Given the age of the smoker, I suspect the hot rod is getting a little long in the tooth as well.

So, who has one and have you had to do any maintenance similar to what I am describing? Looks like the Traeger Youtube videos are rather straight forward but would like to hear from those who may have had to do some parts replacement. Since I will soon have the hopper off, my plan in addition to replacing the auger and auger motor is to replace the hot rod as well. With Christmas coming up, I want to be able to smoke up a brisket or two.


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## sandyut (Nov 7, 2022)

timh said:


> I have been looking at pellet smokers for about two years. Was in Costco about four weeks ago and there was a Traeger booth set up with a Traeger rep. We talked about them and I end up buying the Select Pro and Junior Pro  both for $1435.00. He even delivered to my house 50 miles away. Threw in covers for them and a bunch of chicken seasoning. Saturday morning put together my select pro and the back panel was damaged during shipment. Okay I straighten it and moved on. Put together the junior pro and it was damaged  on the bottom pellet feed box almost crushing the fan in during shipment,finished putting it together. Emailed Traeger and no response. Did the require burnout in both of them. In the select pro did some brawts with the Traeger tri-blend  wood pellets at 225F, temperature swing was +/- 30 F at least. No smoke in the brawts. The following Saturday went camping, threw a pork shoulder roast on it at 225F, grate temp was 190F with hickory pellets. Cooked for about five hours with temperature swing about +/- 30F. Then it got to 100 -/+ temperature swing. Temperature maxed out at 450F and couldn't control it. I had to shut it down and finish off in the oven. The reason why I bought these smokers was so I could set and forget it. Not the case. Contacted Traeger and they were not much help. Took both of them back to Costco and got my money back.


Late to the party, but I am not surprised.  I spent months researching before buying a Rec Tec.  It was clear the Tragers were not that good….  It’s sad because they are highly marketed and locally avail, but they just are not that good.


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