Seal around door 850

[kurtkozy]

I'm a new Timberline 850 owner. I've made two things so far, but I have a basic question for you all. Do you any of you folks ever see smoke coming out around the front of the door while cooking / smoking? I understand no grill is airtight, but I thought with the Timberline full door seal that it would really help sealing in smoke and heat. We cooked chicken breast for our first cook and I tried snapping photos of the smoke, but it was too dark. I did have smoke residue on the front of the grill I cleaned off yesterday.

So do I have a bad seal? Do I need to wade into the wonderful world of Traeger customer service? Again, I'm a new smoker / griller, so if this is normal I apologize for wasting your time.

 

[Keeperovdeflame]

Check to see that the seal is aligned correctly. The seal is held in place by triangular wire pins that fit into holes in the lid casement. When you push them in they lock in place. Several of mine had come out, which allowed the seal to move out of place. Maybe that is your problem as well. My advice is don't worry about leaks, all grills leak to some degree. Your 850 will hold any temp you set, and that is all you need to turn out a great cook. A little smoke out the lid is nothing to fret over.

 

[kurtkozy]

Thank you very much. I will check on the pins. I appreciate the feedback and you are correct, this 850 just holds firm no matter where I set the temp.

 

[RemE]

I had a few pins out on mine as well, fixed that. Then I used a thin smear of silicone grease around the door frame for the seal to slide over easier and not tend to pull out the pins. This has worked well, and No, my grill leaks no smoke from the door when cooking so the seal is working very well.

 

[alphasig293]

I have an issue with my door...

 

[TraegerTL850]

alphasig293 - looks like you are having some very similar issues as I am having with the lid not meeting up and the hinge issue which I believe to be an issue with the drilling of the holes on the barrel itself - you could take off the lid gasket and prove that one easily - the Traeger Rep tried to slide that one past me by saying once th gasket is used it will drop down allowing the lid to drop down,,, not so fast I told him .. the barrel is pre-drilled at the factory the holes are not adjustable and are in a fixed position and will not move as the lid gasket moves it is virtually impossible and your blistering paint is in the same place mine blistered on the barrel back right corner near downdraft area exactly same areaa how ironic... the Traeger Rep said this is no doubt a defect in manufacturing and I said an Traeger warranties 3 years against this very thing... replace the TL850 now I [paid hard earned $ for this 'Cadi;;ac' as he called it and I don't expect warranty issue especially heat issues like this from the get go - yes I totally understand this thing is going to get smoke covered not an issue I expect that but that is with usage and not a defect in the product itself - I purchased a new kitchen stove from Lowes the cabinet was damaged they took it back immediately no questions asked and it was not nearly $2k - your issue may be solved with the parts they are sending to you as far as the lid and seal are concerned

 

[alphasig293]

Yeah, I don't expect the paint to look amazing in 4 years...but the paint blistered on Day 2....that's a problem. My replacement parts show up tomorrow, so we'll see what it looks like after I swap everything out.

 

[TraegerTL850]

I have an issue with my door...

hey alphasig293 - can you raise the lid on your TL850 and take some photos of the underneath side of the lid in particular the area where the brushed aluminum inner wall meets up on either side with the black portion of the lid... does this make sense what I am asking to see on your Timberline 850? Here is the underneath side of my TL850 lid "R" hand side - where the brushed aluminum inner wall is about 1/4"+ all the way up and down the edge from meeting up with the black edge of the underneath side of the lid - is that normal ? And then one picture of the right side of the of the lid hinge from behind lifted at least 1/4" higher than the other side hinged area

 

[RemE]

hey alphasig293 - can you raise the lid on your TL850 and take some photos of the underneath side of the lid in particular the area where the brushed aluminum inner wall meets up on either side with the black portion of the lid... does this make sense what I am asking to see on your Timberline 850? Here is the underneath side of my TL850 lid "R" hand side - where the brushed aluminum inner wall is about 1/4"+ all the way up and down the edge from meeting up with the black edge of the underneath side of the lid - is that normal ? And then one picture of the right side of the of the lid hinge from behind lifted at least 1/4" higher than the other side hinged area

Just a small point, but I think the inside liner is brushed stainless steel on the 850s.

 

[alphasig293]

here are the pics you asked for

hey alphasig293 - can you raise the lid on your TL850 and take some photos of the underneath side of the lid in particular the area where the brushed aluminum inner wall meets up on either side with the black portion of the lid... does this make sense what I am asking to see on your Timberline 850? Here is the underneath side of my TL850 lid "R" hand side - where the brushed aluminum inner wall is about 1/4"+ all the way up and down the edge from meeting up with the black edge of the underneath side of the lid - is that normal ? And then one picture of the right side of the of the lid hinge from behind lifted at least 1/4" higher than the other side hinged area

 

[alphasig293]

I think my problem lies with this left side...it looks warped

 

[RemE]

I think my problem lies with this left side...it looks warped

Wow, it is a very heavy grill, maybe dropped at some point in shipping. It looks warped/bent for sure!