Soot and loots of it.....

[Charlie V.]

Hello all. Brand new and tried a cpl things, but getting some major amounts of soot on the whole insides. Not something would want on a meal. Did the burn in today, started ok, left the lid open for approximately 5 minutes then closed and turned to high for the 45 minutes it recommended. Once complete, turned it to the shut down sequence and noticed the fan cut off pretty quick, but the auger kept turning. Waited the 10 minutes and turned power off.
After done and cooled down bit, noticed a heavy layer of soot on all surfaces. Waited for it to cool, then retried the start and run at about 230. Start no problem, again about the 5 minutes with lid open, smoke started dying down, closed the lid. Still quite a bit of smoke, but not like when first starting.
Waited about 10 minutes and checked temp... it was over 300. So now am confused..... turned it to shut down again, and again, the fan shut off real quick ( this is looking at the underside of the pellet hopper and looking at the fan located in the underside.) and it is not turning, but again, the auger is still turning pushing pellets out, and the hopper is about overflowing.

So am asking if anyone else has had issues such as this, and what can do to correct it. Thinking doing something wrong on the startup, so asking for tips
Also asking about the auger and if it should be constantly turning, or intermittently. Coulda swore saw in the manual for the smoke setting would run for 15 secs, then still for 65, but it runs constantly. Or it was the fan that should do that.
Figured be better to ask before do anything to ruin this new grill. REALLY looking forward to doing some great meals on it.

Thanks in advance for any help and tips!!

 

[Charlie V.]

One small update. I have been doing some searching to see what else can find on the problem, one item saw was on my chimney, the gap when looking straight across was only about 1/4". Have increased that to about 3/4" and will try that next time fore it up.
Also on the fan, yes it does turn, you can hear, feel and see the movement it will create when it is turning.

 

[BA_Ga]

... Once complete, turned it to the shut down sequence and noticed the fan out off pretty quick, but the auger kept turning. ...

That sounds exactly opposite of the way it should work. When I turn my PRO34 to the 'Shut Down' position, the auger stops and the fan feeding into the chamber runs for about 10 minutes.

Sounds like you need to call tech support.

 

[Charlie V.]

Well, after finding the manual for the control module and looking at the pretty pictures. I decided to take a peek at how mine was looked up.
And hmmm, imagine that... the auger and fan looked like switched. Beginning to think like in the assembly book talking about drinking a 6 pack putting it together, they had been drinking and thought would be funny to switch things around.
So, figured what the heck could it hurt, put the right colored wires where they were supposed to be, and fired her up real quick, then turned to shutdown, and hey! Would you look at that...... the auger shuts down and the fan does what it's supposed to!!!
Did a proper burn in and all looks good!! No soot ???

 

[gotbacon?]

Glad you were able to figure that out!

 

[Mr.Fabulous]

Was going to be my suggestion as I was reading your original post, but you came to the same conclusion. Nice troubleshooting!

 

[Charlie V.]

Thanks Cant' hurt to ask questions! Did some research, found the controller install manual, and With the thinking they were swapped, figured would not hurt to check once found the controller info.
AND, another reason post things like this, is there just may be someone else who runs across the same issue and it could help ;-)

So thanks for the suggestion might be swapped!

Now its just have a bit of time off out of overtime so can do some cookin!!!

 

[bfletcher]

Nice job! I hope you can enjoy using it now.

 

[jjgross]

Well, after finding the manual for the control module and looking at the pretty pictures. I decided to take a peek at how mine was looked up.
And hmmm, imagine that... the auger and fan looked like switched. Beginning to think like in the assembly book talking about drinking a 6 pack putting it together, they had been drinking and thought would be funny to switch things around.
So, figured what the heck could it hurt, put the right colored wires where they were supposed to be, and fired her up real quick, then turned to shutdown, and hey! Would you look at that...... the auger shuts down and the fan does what it's supposed to!!!
Did a proper burn in and all looks good!! No soot ???View attachment 966

 

[jjgross]

So what was the solution? Fan needs to run 10 mins after Traeger is turned off?

Thanks!

 

[RemE]

So what was the solution? Fan needs to run 10 mins after Traeger is turned off?

Thanks!

Shutdown cycle stops the auger, the fan runs on to burn up all remaining pellets in the firepot to be ready for the next start.

 

[jjgross]

Shutdown cycle stops the auger, the fan runs on to burn up all remaining pellets in the firepot to be ready for the next start.

Thank you RemE