How to Replace the Firepot/Hotrod assembly

[NoGood Traeger]

...to just go ahead and grab some from the hopper and put them in the fire pot. don’t have to wait a couple minutes for the auger to do it. ...

.... I’m going to take it all apart and clean and inspect it soon.

About auger cleaning. You don't need to take it apart. Empty the hopper and then use the clear auger function from the controller menu. The clear auger function runs forever until you cancel it. It will take a while to completely purge the auger tube.

Auger priming. You only need to use the 2+ minute auger priming function if the auger tube is empty. Otherwise you overfill the fire pot. I run the function for 30 seconds to add a sprinkling of pellets to pot before igniting.

 

[Aztraeger41]

Hey Grill buddies! I’m having an issue with my hot rod and curious if anyone else has seen the same thing. I have a pro series 780 and I recently replaced it and was able to use my grill perfectly for 2 times. On the third time I went to start it and received the dreaded “Ignitor Disconnect Error.” After running through various checks, I went to check the fire pit and hot rod - only to see that the wiring was burnt apart.

Has anyone seen this before? I did not alter the placement of the hot rod on the fire pit. I installed it out of the box directly from Traeger. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[RayClem]

Hey Grill buddies! I’m having an issue with my hot rod and curious if anyone else has seen the same thing. I have a pro series 780 and I recently replaced it and was able to use my grill perfectly for 2 times. On the third time I went to start it and received the dreaded “Ignitor Disconnect Error.” After running through various checks, I went to check the fire pit and hot rod - only to see that the wiring was burnt apart.

Has anyone seen this before? I did not alter the placement of the hot rod on the fire pit. I installed it out of the box directly from Traeger. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

It sounds like the wiring got hot enough to burn through. Fortunately, you can purchase a replacement hot rod, fairly inexpensively. One mistake that can easily be made in placement of the hot rod is having it stick out too far. It should be between 4-6 mm (about 1/8-1/4".

If you have an Ace Hardware nearby, they will stock Traeger OEM hot rods as well as many other parts. However, you can also purchase replacements online, including third party.

The hottest most Traeger grills will ever get is during the initial burn off/seasoning. That is preobably when the hot rod got burnt, but the failure did not occur until a couple of cooks later.