Help! Timberline 850 constant flare ups

[raggededge]

So if I go above 375, instant flare up. I decided to do a deep clean, and then with shields off, I fired it up to 500. It gave a high temperature area almost instantly. Looks like the flare up occurs in the fire pot. Here is a picture.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[traeger860]

What kind of pellets? When you did the deep clean, did you clear out the pellets that were in the firepot? If not, try that. Clear anything in the auger tube as well. And then start from scratch by priming the auger. Hard to see from the pic because of the flames, but there appears to be a lot of pellets in there.

 

[raggededge]

What kind of pellets? When you did the deep clean, did you clear out the pellets that were in the firepot? If not, try that. Clear anything in the auger tube as well. And then start from scratch by priming the auger. Hard to see from the pic because of the flames, but there appears to be a lot of pellets in there.

Yes, vacuumed out the fire pot completely. I have not emptied the auger tube, I'll do that and report back.

 

[RayClem]

In order to reach 500F, it is going to take a lot of pellets and there will be a lot of flame.

When you say you are getting flare ups at 375F, how are you measuring temperature. If the controller says 375F, the actual cook temperature might be higher or lower. In my specific Ironwood, if I set the controller to 450F, I get a cook temperature of 400F. However, I have heard of some grills in which the cook temperature is higher than the controller temp. If you have the controller set for 375F and the actual temperature is 450F or higher, this might explain the flare ups.

Whenever possible, I try to do my cooks on the top grate of my Ironwood. I place a cookie pan lined with aluminum foil on the bottom grate directly below the protein to catch any drippings. After every cook, I change the foil. That prevents grease from ever getting on the drip tray and grease chute. That reduces the chances of flare ups.

I will be cooking a Turkey for Thanksgiving. That is too big to cook on the top grate, but I plan to put the Turkey in an aluminum roasting pan on a roasting rack to keep it off the bottom of the pan.

 

[raggededge]

Like most on here, my TL850 is about 25 degrees lower than what is reported.

I repeated this process and started at 250, then bumped it to 350, then 450 and finally 500. The grease residue in the channels ignited at the end. I think I just need to clean it, I really don't ever run it super hot, but for things like wings, I like to be able to hit 400 or so for about 25 minutes at the end of the cook to crisp them up.