Hot Rod

[iron1951]

Would it hurt if I install my hotrod with more stick out than 4 mm? I was wondering if my Traeger would ignite faster and so heat up faster. In my first Traeger I would install the hot rod all the way because I did not know about the 4 mm spec. Any thoughts?

 

[RemE]

Would it hurt if I install my hotrod with more stick out than 4 mm? I was wondering if my Traeger would ignite faster and so heat up faster. In my first Traeger I would install the hot rod all the way because I did not know about the 4 mm spec. Any thoughts?

I believe that they are striking a balance between starting the fire reasonably well, and then protecting the heater element from the blow torch fire pot once up and running.

The farther the heater rod sticks into the fire, the more heat it is subjected to once the fire roars to life, which may shorten its life.

 

[iron1951]

That makes sense. I always had a spare hotrod on hand. They aren't that expensive. I usually went through a rod every 3 to 4 years. I am still tempted to expose the rod a bit further than 4 mm to see if would enhance fire pot light up.

 

[Slimpicker]

That makes sense. I always had a spare hotrod on hand. They aren't that expensive. I usually went through a rod every 3 to 4 years. I am still tempted to expose the rod a bit further than 4 mm to see if would enhance fire pot light up.

is that even possible? obviously you would know since you've changed one before but how would the average user know how far out to stick it if it didn't have a set stop or something?

 

[iron1951]

Yes, the rod will stick out further. In my old Traeger I would put the rod all the way in until the ring on the rod hit the back of the tube. I did not think about exposure to the fire in the fire pot may shorten the life of the hot rod.

My old Traeger had the hopper in the front, BBQ124. I had it for over 10 years. I replaced 3 hot rods and the fire pot. Gave it to my friend's son in law who loves it. He did have to replace the fan motor. Not bad for more than 10 years.

That is why i bought the Timberline 850. Just wish the ignite cycle was a bit quicker. In cold weather I sometimes get a LEr which means that the Traeger did not get up to 120 within 10 minutes. I was wondering if sticking the hot rod out a little more would improve the start up cycle. I would rather replace hot rods more often than have my wife fret over the LEr message.

 

[RemE]

is that even possible? obviously you would know since you've changed one before but how would the average user know how far out to stick it if it didn't have a set stop or something?

Hotrods are locked in place with a set screw, you insert the rod to the recommended depth and lock it in place. Trager gives depth specs.

 

[RemE]

Yes, the rod will stick out further. In my old Traeger I would put the rod all the way in until the ring on the rod hit the back of the tube. I did not think about exposure to the fire in the fire pot may shorten the life of the hot rod.

My old Traeger had the hopper in the front, BBQ124. I had it for over 10 years. I replaced 3 hot rods and the fire pot. Gave it to my friend's son in law who loves it. He did have to replace the fan motor. Not bad for more than 10 years.

That is why i bought the Timberline 850. Just wish the ignite cycle was a bit quicker. In cold weather I sometimes get a LEr which means that the Traeger did not get up to 120 within 10 minutes. I was wondering if sticking the hot rod out a little more would improve the start up cycle. I would rather replace hot rods more often than have my wife fret over the LEr message.

I used a Junior Elite for about 8 years and never had to replace a hot rod.

However, my Timberline 850 was always a slow starter, seemed to take about 30min to be ready. When I joined this forum, I read that most others didn't have this issue. My grill would often give the LEr error and fail to start error. It would usually start but then have a big temperature overshoot from the slow start and probable pellet overfeed.

I called support, they sent me a new firepot/hotrod assembly, the hot rod was already installed in it. This immediately fixed the issue, startup gives smoke in minutes, no more errors, and minimal overshoot. Then the latest firmware updates fixed temp overshoots, the heat climbs slowly to the set point. Now I can dial up any temp, up to 500, hit ignite and the grill just does its thing.

So, Call Support! You should get a new firepot assembly, it will fix your slow starts.

And when you replace it, here's what I did;

How to Replace the Firepot/Hotrod assembly

I had startup issues, generally mine would give a "failed to ignite" error every time. It would actually ignite, but when set to 180F it would take about 20min, then error, then fire up and overshoot to about 300F before settling down. I called Traeger support and they agreed that it was...

www.traegerforum.com

 

[Slimpicker]

Set screw says it all... THNX, good info