Junior Elite 20 temp problems

[goldprospector]

Have a Junior elite 20 for a few weeks now. Cannot hold a low temperature for the life of it. Tried several times with no luck for smoking at the 180 -200 temp range. Right now I have some jerky on and two hours into a 4 hour smoke, my 3 pounds of beef is burnt and sizzling. Traeger coffee recipe with a 180 degree smoke. The temp bounces around anywhere from 160 to 340 degrees. Twice now I have caught it at 360. Cannot baby sit this thing and the beef is ruined. Any suggestions? I am ready to get rid of it, the primary reason I got it was for smoking. It only seems to do hot grilling well. The temp regulator rod which sticks up into the grill on the left side is clean as a whistle. (called customer service and they advised me to clean it). How dirty can it be, only been used less than a dozen times. Brand new shiny signature treager wood pellets.

 

[goldprospector]

Oh in the time it took me to write the above, the flame went out. Have to pull off the meat, clean out the fire box of unburnt pellets and relite the dang thing. Two weeks ago when I did two racks of ribs, the fire went out twice on me. Do all Treagers have these problems? I felt I could get my experience on this little guy and graduate to a larger unit. Now I am having strong second thoughts.

 

[RemE]

I had a Junior Elite for years, and as you say it does better at grilling. I had flame-outs, fire up the auger tube and smoke in the hopper. It's old tech on the controller and zero insulation on the barrel, so it has a tough time regulating temps.

I do know the the newer and larger units are much better.