problems with my 650

[Ed G]

I'm having problems getting my Traeger grill issues resolved by Traeger. I have a gap between my lid and my grille barrel and smoke exits from this gap all around the lid excessively. As a result and because I live in a colder climate, I am losing significant heat from the grille and I am using a lot more pellets than the grille should use to keep the temp where it should be. (not to mention the staining of the grille around the lid) Because of this gap I am sure the feature that Traeger boasts about "double smoking" is less effective with my defective grille.
I have been working with Traeger since September to get this resolved and to their credit they have been very supportive but the issue is not getting resolved. Subsequent grille lids and even a replacement grille all have the same issue. I see this issue is raised by several other Traeger owners so I know this is not my issue alone.
I keep calling Traeger to get updates and they keep telling me they cannot get answers from corporate and last night, when I had to explain the entire series of events from September to today to yet another new support agent, she left me on hold while she went to talk to a few supervisors. She then came back to me and lied to me. She told me that my grille is missing its gasket that surrounds the lid. I explained to her that there is not gasket that comes with the Ironwood 650, and that I had been to two Traeger stores and looked at the 650 and their floor models did not have this gasket, nor did the grille I purchased and assembled nor did the replacement lid or grille have this gasket. She insisted that I was wrong and she was looking at the gasket on the assembly manual. I had my assembly manual out along with my owners manual and no where did it show a gasket that my grille was apparently missing so I asked her to tell me what page I was to look at. She then told me she could then not find it. I hate being lied to. Very unprofessional and not what I would expect from Traeger. Because I dealt with Traeger directly to try to resolve this issue and they have taken so long to try to resolve this issue I can no longer take this unit back to the dealer I bought it from for refund. Today I get a familiar individual on the phone who once again promises that he will get with Corporate and get me a resolution but once again he cannot advise me when I will hear back. We have a competitors smoker at our hunt camp that the camp paid one third what I paid for my Ironwood 650. Our camps inexpensive smoker's lid fits perfectly and no smoke escapes from the lid. I am entirely unimpressed with my Traeger experience.

 

[bfletcher]

Hi Ed. Some of the folks who feel the leaking door poses an issue are sealing the lid themselves with a gasket material, possibly something like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JO00S04/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's not a defective unit; the Ironwood is simply designed that way, as are some other manufacturer's smokers even though--as you noted--some other models are designed differently.

I used a Rec Tec RT-700 a few days ago and its door leaked more so than what my Ironwood does and the RT-700 clearly is not designed to have a tight door and RT will quickly share that viewpoint. But, nonetheless, I respect that some are troubled by this.

 

[magoo40]

I'm having problems getting my Traeger grill issues resolved by Traeger. I have a gap between my lid and my grille barrel and smoke exits from this gap all around the lid excessively. As a result and because I live in a colder climate, I am losing significant heat from the grille and I am using a lot more pellets than the grille should use to keep the temp where it should be. (not to mention the staining of the grille around the lid) Because of this gap I am sure the feature that Traeger boasts about "double smoking" is less effective with my defective grille.
I have been working with Traeger since September to get this resolved and to their credit they have been very supportive but the issue is not getting resolved. Subsequent grille lids and even a replacement grille all have the same issue. I see this issue is raised by several other Traeger owners so I know this is not my issue alone.
I keep calling Traeger to get updates and they keep telling me they cannot get answers from corporate and last night, when I had to explain the entire series of events from September to today to yet another new support agent, she left me on hold while she went to talk to a few supervisors. She then came back to me and lied to me. She told me that my grille is missing its gasket that surrounds the lid. I explained to her that there is not gasket that comes with the Ironwood 650, and that I had been to two Traeger stores and looked at the 650 and their floor models did not have this gasket, nor did the grille I purchased and assembled nor did the replacement lid or grille have this gasket. She insisted that I was wrong and she was looking at the gasket on the assembly manual. I had my assembly manual out along with my owners manual and no where did it show a gasket that my grille was apparently missing so I asked her to tell me what page I was to look at. She then told me she could then not find it. I hate being lied to. Very unprofessional and not what I would expect from Traeger. Because I dealt with Traeger directly to try to resolve this issue and they have taken so long to try to resolve this issue I can no longer take this unit back to the dealer I bought it from for refund. Today I get a familiar individual on the phone who once again promises that he will get with Corporate and get me a resolution but once again he cannot advise me when I will hear back. We have a competitors smoker at our hunt camp that the camp paid one third what I paid for my Ironwood 650. Our camps inexpensive smoker's lid fits perfectly and no smoke escapes from the lid. I am entirely unimpressed with my Traeger experience.

Just seal it your self and save yourself the grief of dealing with CS. The seal works very well and is inexpensive (And yes I know you should not have to on an expensive grill, but many have)