# Traeger heat element quit working



## ddakota (Jun 28, 2009)

Tried to use my 4 month old Traeger this wkd, set it up for a pork butt, at 225, 2 hours later temp was at 131 and falling. Pulled everything off, opened it up and the fire pot was full of fresh pellets. Called Traeger support, they said the heating element must have quit working...... The guy said..... " It shouldn't do that, it's only 4 months old." I replied, "No s*^t......". Replacement parts on the way. Changing it out looks easy enough, but I'm not real pleased about the whole thing. 

Any one else experience this?


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## 6.5 shooter dude (Jan 8, 2008)

Mine is over 3 years old and works great. Never a problem.


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## Mid-Coast Bay Charters (Aug 20, 2013)

I was on my back replacing parts from he first two weeks. I think I changed everything on it and still had problems. The sent me I complete pellet hopper with all the internal parts, just a 4 bolt change. Still have had many issues with it. I think I am finally out of warranty.


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## ddakota (Jun 28, 2009)

That's kinda what I've been reading - some seem to last forever others are snake bit out of the box. Buddy has one 2+ yrs old and no misfires, works great. Wonder if newer models are using cheaper sourced parts with more failures. 

Hoping the new parts last and I can say this has been a good pit in a few yrs. bought it at Texas Star Grill Shop. When I called them they gave me the Traeger phone number and said good luck. 


DB


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## Harveypigskin (Jun 2, 2017)

The only problem I had with my Traeger was operator error in the first month of ownership. I neglected to clean the ashes out of the fire pot and the fire died out. I've probably fired mine up once or twice a week for the past year with no issues.


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## ddakota (Jun 28, 2009)

I've cleaned it out a couple of times, did not notice a large amount of ashes in the firebox, but will check that this wkd. Replacement part arrived, haven't changed it out yet but will try to fire it up again before I swap since I cleaned it again while diagnosing the problem. 


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## McGuyver (Aug 23, 2004)

The hot rod only heats up when you initially start the grill. Once the fire pot is lit up the element shuts down so that may not be your issue. Could be a fan/auger issue or a problem with the pellet feed to the auger. If the auger does not add pellets to the fire pot to maintain temperature the fire goes out. The the grill cools down, then if the auger starts feeding correctly again it will fill the pot up with pellets. You can turn the controller off to reset and back to smoke to restart it. Traeger customer service is great, if you have issues they will keep sending parts until it is right. 


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## ddakota (Jun 28, 2009)

McGuyver said:


> The hot rod only heats up when you initially start the grill. Once the fire pot is lit up the element shuts down so that may not be your issue. Could be a fan/auger issue or a problem with the pellet feed to the auger. If the auger does not add pellets to the fire pot to maintain temperature the fire goes out. The the grill cools down, then if the auger starts feeding correctly again it will fill the pot up with pellets. You can turn the controller off to reset and back to smoke to restart it. Traeger customer service is great, if you have issues they will keep sending parts until it is right.
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


I wasn't sure about that.....thought it may work that way, but thought maybe the hot rod cycled to insure fire stayed lit. Both the fan and auger seem to work just fine.

I received a new hot rod from Traeger, before swapping it out, I cycled it again a few times to watch it. Hot rod still never heated up. I had Swapped fuse to make sure that wasn't problem even though original fuse looked good - still no heat.

Removed fire box to swap out hot rod and the dang screw that holds the hot rod in place twisted off. Grrrrr......drilled it out and tried to get new stainless screw in, no good. Went ahead and put new one in without using the screw holder, zip tied the wires so it couldn't move any further out than the 3/8" or so the original was set at. Bolted it back up.

It fired up and works. Cooked a whole chicken on and it seemed to work fine. Called Traeger, they are sending a new fire box, will get around to swapping that out if this setup has issues.

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## McGuyver (Aug 23, 2004)

Glad to hear you got it going!


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## Pocketfisherman (May 30, 2005)

I had the same problem, but mine was caused by the fan that creates the firepot draft sticking and not starting. Now I just poke it with my finger to make sure it is free before I wire it up. It was sticking because of a wasp nest they built up under there. The fan just inside the bottom right side of the front control panel, mounted to the side of the pit.


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## Hooked (Oct 15, 2004)

Daughter has the smaller (20"???) model she picked up at the livestock show this year. It cooks well but you have to monitor closely as the pellets don't feed well due to the design of the hopper. Traeger has been no help with that. The fan also seems to be a problem as it's very loud and blows like a hurricane (so she doesn't need to worry about ash buildup.....).
Is the fan noise standard on all these units?


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## ddakota (Jun 28, 2009)

I can hear my fan blowing when I get close, but it doesn't seem too loud. If I pull the pan and heat deflector out , it blows ashes everywhere, but once the deflector is back on, it keeps them all below it. Other than the element going out, mine has worked flawlessly since I bought it in January. 

I've slow smoked some beef ribs, cooked a pizza at high temp and a big rib eye steak in the past few days.....worked fine. .....knock on wood!


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