Pro 34 is JUNK

[CWKSr]

Not sure if it’s the heater/auger timing issue but my Pro34 seems to heat up properly (according to the built in thermometer) but it should NEVER take 1 hour 25 minutes to cook a fresh burger at 350. Seems that the heat in the barrel is maybe escaping the chimney too quickly ? The chimney cap height is factory set ….

 

[Retinla53]

Not sure if it’s the heater/auger timing issue but my Pro34 seems to heat up properly (according to the built in thermometer) but it should NEVER take 1 hour 25 minutes to cook a fresh burger at 350. Seems that the heat in the barrel is maybe escaping the chimney too quickly ? The chimney cap height is factory set ….

My temp has always been off, so I always crank it up to the next setting. I’ve had some issues on 8 hr smokes or longer with my Pro 34. The ash builds up in the pot and smothers the flame out. I clean it out after every cook, so that’s not the problem. I use quality pellets. I’ve even started sifting them thru a screen to catch any excess dust. It’s a durn shame you can’t smoke over 8 hrs without worrying whether or not the flame will go out. When it does the auger keeps pumping the pellets out. Don’t even think about leaving the house for a few minutes , gym, beer run etc.

I’ve never been happy with my 34 since it shut off twice on long cooks, and regret I didn’t buy a Pit Boss . I have several friends and relatives that have never had issues with their Pit Boss

 

[Jayhawkwx]

I've owned my Pro 34 for a year and a half with zero issues. I cook on it 4-5 times a week during spring to fall and 1-3 times a month in the winter. Proper cleaning after 20-25 hours and using fresh pellets stored in sealed buckets with a sifter works for me.

As far as hamburgers go, I smoke them at 180* for about 2 hours.

One thing to note, I never turn my Pro 34 above 275*. This model was made to run low & slow, not to grill. If I'm not smoking burgers at 180*, I'll cook them on the Weber. The Pro 34 doesn't generate much smoke above 250*; the owner's manual says the optimal smoking temperature range is 180*-225*.

Lastly, this forum and others are chock full of posts on how unreliable the Traeger built in Thermometers are. I have never used them and never will.

 

[Like Smoke]

I like Jayhawkwx, only use my older Traeger Texas for low and slow smokes. I have Weber that I can have up to cooking temp in about the same time as it takes my Texas to get to starting temp. I prefer the burgers, chops, dogs, steaks ect. to cook over lump charcoal and fruit wood. I only use my smoker for the low and slow proteins. I monitor the temp with a ThermPro, one probe on a holder beside the protein (not touching any metal parts), and one in the protein itself. I have a manual read out that fits in a knockout on top of the lid about 5 inches from the exhaust stack. I don't rely on the setting or the readout on the actual controller. If its cooler than I want I click it to the next setting and the same if it running to hot, click it down. I think what some folks miss is that when you a start up, your not just heating up an area that your protein will be sitting but a large non insulated steel tank which will be effected by the outside temp. I like to wait until everything is hot and stable before adjusting my temp. If I was to redesign this thing, I would build a mount that held the traeger thermocouple over the top of where the protein sits instead of in direct flow of the heating air being pushed up from the bottom of the tank. But for now I have had good compliments on my smokes so why change. Sorry for the long post, just hope this might be of help.

 

[Hogan]

Like some of the other respondents to this thread, I use my Traeger Pro 22 only for low and slow smoking., and don't rely at all on the Traeger thermometers. Never tried to run it above 250 - not even sure if it would get there; that's what my Weber grill is for (good to 650*).

As for the chimney, I adjusted the cap on mine down about half an inch and things have been running fine ever since. Lots of smoke pours out of the grease drain hole, but likely not an issue as far as the heat is concerned.

 

[Bao]

My two cents on the matter.. I bought a Pro 34 over 4th of July from Home Depot and experienced the same symptoms as you, it was cooking super slow and I knew something was wrong. I ended up putting a bunch of my own probes inside the unit and checking the readings from the Traeger controller and my own. When it first started up everything was fine but as temps rose the differences started to show themselves. On the high end of the dial the Traeger was reading 100f OVER what the actual temps were.

I ended up calling them to say something was broken and their response was no, all of my other probes are broken and only theirs is correct. Didn't matter what I said they just told me I was doing it wrong and the unit was fine. I knew this was false because it got to the point I had multiple probes in the same position as their RTD and saw the differences. I decided to follow their chicken win recipe and instead of it taking 35 minutes on high the wings took an hour and a half to come up to safe temperatures.

They sent me a survey some time after the support phone call asking how they did and I blasted them on it. This prompted them to call and email me back right away asking what was wrong. I spoke to them and told them it was unsafe to cook on the grill using their own recipes and guides because the 100 degree difference. Eventually they agreed to send me a new RTD. It came, I replaced it, and it fixed the issue.

I then also decided to upgrade the controller to a PID and it made a world of difference. Just did 14 pounds of pork butt on Monday and the Pro 34 held temps like a champ, was perfectly dialed in to what temps I set the controller to, and now I have more pork than I know what to do with in my fridge. That's a completely separate topic but the PID controller is amazing and I should have bought one to upgrade my old unit years ago.

I'd say get a third party meat probe and wedge it right up against the RTD the unit came with and plot the differences. Follow what support is going to tell you, which is turn it on smoke and let it sit for 15 minutes. Then turn it to low and wait for 10 to 15, then medium waiting the same, and then high. See if you get the same difference in readings. When the grill said 400 my probes all read 300. When I opened the lid to look at them all the temp would drop and the unit would say it was at 330 or 340 while mine read 230 or 240.

Did you just get yours too? Maybe they had a bad batch on the production lines.

 

[DennisC]

My two cents on the matter.. I bought a Pro 34 over 4th of July from Home Depot and experienced the same symptoms as you, it was cooking super slow and I knew something was wrong. I ended up putting a bunch of my own probes inside the unit and checking the readings from the Traeger controller and my own. When it first started up everything was fine but as temps rose the differences started to show themselves. On the high end of the dial the Traeger was reading 100f OVER what the actual temps were.

I ended up calling them to say something was broken and their response was no, all of my other probes are broken and only theirs is correct. Didn't matter what I said they just told me I was doing it wrong and the unit was fine. I knew this was false because it got to the point I had multiple probes in the same position as their RTD and saw the differences. I decided to follow their chicken win recipe and instead of it taking 35 minutes on high the wings took an hour and a half to come up to safe temperatures.

They sent me a survey some time after the support phone call asking how they did and I blasted them on it. This prompted them to call and email me back right away asking what was wrong. I spoke to them and told them it was unsafe to cook on the grill using their own recipes and guides because the 100 degree difference. Eventually they agreed to send me a new RTD. It came, I replaced it, and it fixed the issue.

I then also decided to upgrade the controller to a PID and it made a world of difference. Just did 14 pounds of pork butt on Monday and the Pro 34 held temps like a champ, was perfectly dialed in to what temps I set the controller to, and now I have more pork than I know what to do with in my fridge. That's a completely separate topic but the PID controller is amazing and I should have bought one to upgrade my old unit years ago.

I'd say get a third party meat probe and wedge it right up against the RTD the unit came with and plot the differences. Follow what support is going to tell you, which is turn it on smoke and let it sit for 15 minutes. Then turn it to low and wait for 10 to 15, then medium waiting the same, and then high. See if you get the same difference in readings. When the grill said 400 my probes all read 300. When I opened the lid to look at them all the temp would drop and the unit would say it was at 330 or 340 while mine read 230 or 240.

Did you just get yours too? Maybe they had a bad batch on the production lines.

What is the PID controller upgrade you mentioned?

 

[Bao]

I bought a refurbished Smoke Daddy with adapter plate.

It didn't quite fit exactly, you are supposed to drill a new hole for the top screw. I wasn't ready to be drilling into my new smoker so instead I got it on there as best as I could and slapped a bunch of black Gorilla Tape around the edges. Might not look to pretty and a new hole would really improve the aesthetics, but it works so I don't care and will leave it like this for a while.

I picked this unit based on price when compared to other PIDs which were a bunch more. I had no idea what to expect from it so picked the one that most people seem to like that had a cheaper than the most expensive units price. The included RTD also will not fit unless you drill out bigger holes to pass the cable through or learn how to splice the wires yourself. If you want to have a go at that I got the part numbers from Digikey:

The closest mating connectors I found are 455-2924-ND and 455-2926-ND.
The female contact is 455-1121-1-ND and the male contact is 455-1909-1-ND.

Since the new RTD from Traeger was working I opted against doing this.