Back burn

[NickGA22]

I purchased a Traeger Pro 34 about two months ago, but having fairly consistent issue with back burn and smoke coming out of hopper when moving to shutdown cycle after a cook. Using dry-stored pellets, cleaning out between each and every cook, etc. I have not had a fire issue, but disconcerting each time I see it and causes me to empty hopper and unplug. Is this potentially a temp gauge issue? I also seem to have issues raising temp during a cook - for example takes 25-30 mins to bring temp to “high” from 250 if I wanted to do so. Is this normal? Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks,
Nick

 

[RayClem]

During the shutdown cycle, the blower fan should continue to run to supply air to the burn pot until most of the pellets remaining in the pot are consumed. It is sometimes difficult to hear the fan with the lid closed. I normally leave the lid open during the shutdown cycle. I do not know if that is the right or wrong way to do it, but it is how I do it. With the lid open, there will be no back pressure to force smoke back through the hopper. If you are willing to stand there and monitor the shutdown cycle for about 20 minutes, you can determine when the blower fan shuts down.

If you find you fan is shutting down too early, contact Traeger customer service. It might be that your controller has a glitch.

 

[NickGA22]

During the shutdown cycle, the blower fan should continue to run to supply air to the burn pot until most of the pellets remaining in the pot are consumed. It is sometimes difficult to hear the fan with the lid closed. I normally leave the lid open during the shutdown cycle. I do not know if that is the right or wrong way to do it, but it is how I do it. With the lid open, there will be no back pressure to force smoke back through the hopper. If you are willing to stand there and monitor the shutdown cycle for about 20 minutes, you can determine when the blower fan shuts down.

If you find you fan is shutting down too early, contact Traeger customer service. It might be that your controller has a glitch.

During the shutdown cycle, the blower fan should continue to run to supply air to the burn pot until most of the pellets remaining in the pot are consumed. It is sometimes difficult to hear the fan with the lid closed. I normally leave the lid open during the shutdown cycle. I do not know if that is the right or wrong way to do it, but it is how I do it. With the lid open, there will be no back pressure to force smoke back through the hopper. If you are willing to stand there and monitor the shutdown cycle for about 20 minutes, you can determine when the blower fan shuts down.

If you find you fan is shutting down too early, contact Traeger customer service. It might be that your controller has a glitch.

Thanks for the reply. I am fairly sure I hear the fan CONSTANTLY. I can tell when the auger engages but I definitely hear a definitive air flow sound 100% of the time the grill is on. I’m no engineer but given the grill is electric, the only noise I think I could hear all the time is the fan. I just assumed constant fan was normal and auger/pellet feed regulated temp - is it possible a fan that doesn’t switch on/off is the culprit here? On the opposite end of the spectrum, my grill has been having issues holding “high” now in 50 degree weather. I love this thing at 250, but “high”/turning it off has been challenging.

 

[RayClem]

One thing you might try is dropping the controller temp down to about 300F leaving the lid open. When the temp gets down to 300, then initiate the shutdown sequence. It may be that the pre-programmed shutdown time is not sufficient to consume all the pellets when you have been running at high temperature. If the fan shuts down before the fire has burned out, you can ignite pellets in the auger tube.