$12 Hopper Vibrator

FrankinTraeger

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Cut a portion off one blade of a 6" Ebay fan and clip it to the hopper. The out of balance blade causes the fan to vibrate. I was fortunate to cut off almost exactly the right amount. It vibrates enough to keep the pellets moving, but not too much.
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primeone

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Welcome to the Traeger Forum. Good idea!
 

CampWhatnot

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Cut a portion off one blade of a 6" Ebay fan and clip it to the hopper. The out of balance blade causes the fan to vibrate. I was fortunate to cut off almost exactly the right amount. It vibrates enough to keep the pellets moving, but not too much.
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Although a good engineering idea, I don't see the need as the pellets don't hang up and always flow to the auger as gravity always prevail. If you have ever ran out of pellets you will notice the hopper will be empty lol. Secondly I don't like the idea of the control board absorbing the vibration when there is no reason to. Just my $0.02. Cheers.
 

RemE

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I'm not worried about the vibration, the reason I'm interested is that the Timberline pellet sensor reads from the side so readings are not accurate with the way the pellets naturally draw down.
 

CampWhatnot

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Fair enough. I don't worry about that. I use my sensor as a guide and I have a good idea where my hopper is based on the level it indicates ( a bit lower than it will be once ur 2 hours in) and how long I have been cooking based on the temp and ambient conditions. Looking back I should have saved the 100 bucks.
 
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