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Chili Palmer

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Last weekend my Traeger quit while I was doing my brisket. I went online and it turned out that I had an auger jam. I vacuumed up the cooking box, the fire box, I took the motor off the auger and pulled the auger and cleaned up that jam. I put everything back together and now the motor only works for a few minutes and stops. If I turn the dial to shut down and back to smoke it starts up again, then after a few minutes it shuts off again. I tried turning the temperature up, but it won't turn on unless I turn it back to shut down and back to smoke.

What do you think it is? The motor or the controller? Are Traeger parts readily available or do they have to come from the home office?
 

blue wonder

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Tuned into this one, mine did the same thing on Xmas cooking a prime rib and rack of lamb
 

ArizonaKevin

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Did you prime the auger? Not sure if traegers need that, but my pit boss said it's required anytime you clear out the auger.
 

sixdays

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Did you prime the auger? Not sure if traegers need that, but my pit boss said it's required anytime you clear out the auger.

They benefit from being primed but it’s not required. FWIW, I’ve had several Traegers with 4 currently in the fleet (yes, I know I have an issue). Of the few problems I’ve had, Traegers customer service has been over the top helpful and they’ve sent me parts whenever I’ve needed them.
 

LBsuperJET

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Sounds like either a bad auger motor, in the sense that the controller board may be seeing an 'overcorrect' while trying to run. I have an extra auger motor here for the pre-wifi Traegers here in LBC if you want it. I haven't ran into that issue before, and I restore traegers on the regular.

Also, how long are the pellets that you are using? Over the years, I have seen certain wood types of wood could be in longer pellets than others.
 

Chili Palmer

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I’m using the Traeger Special Blend pellets that they sell at Costco. These latest pellets do look longer than than they have in the past, but that doesn’t seem to be affecting the auger motor. It seems that the controller is what stopping the auger motor.....but I could be wrong.
 

4Waters

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Sounds like either a bad auger motor, in the sense that the controller board may be seeing an 'overcorrect' while trying to run. I have an extra auger motor here for the pre-wifi Traegers here in LBC if you want it. I haven't ran into that issue before, and I restore traegers on the regular.

Also, how long are the pellets that you are using? Over the years, I have seen certain wood types of wood could be in longer pellets than others.
I had some long pellets bridge on me on july 4th
 

LBsuperJET

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I’m using the Traeger Special Blend pellets that they sell at Costco. These latest pellets do look longer than than they have in the past, but that doesn’t seem to be affecting the auger motor. It seems that the controller is what stopping the auger motor.....but I could be wrong.
Yeah, I haven't a clue which one it is. The auger motor is cheap but the controller usually isn't. I have found them used and new on offerup and facebook marketplace.

I wonder if the selector that the knob is attached to or the actual power switch may be faulty.
 

LBsuperJET

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I had some long pellets bridge on me on july 4th
Yeah. My favorite blend, big game, usually has very long pellets and has done the same to me too. I usually make it a habit to smack the hopper once each time I walk by the Traeger during a cook. It helps keep that from happening.
 
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