British BBQ Society Forums

I was cooking for the usual monthly gathering at my house yesterday. Turned on the traeger to heat up, and soon realised that we didn't have flame. Fan was whizzing round, but no pellets were being delivered.

Today, I took the beastie apart, suspecting an auger jam. However, the auger is fine when connected straight to external power. My old 3-way controller seems to have blown.

Now, I can get another one from Nick at americanbbq, and have asked him for a price. But I am a little loathe to, as I am so close to finishing my own controller. The problem is that I have my brother and sister-in-law visiting me on July 23, specifically to see the "new" BBQ.

So I was wondering if any of you who have upgraded your controllers for the Traeger would be prepared to lend me your old controller for a couple of weeks, just to cover their visit. If not, I'll completely understand (as you don't actually know me!), but I thought it dumb not to ask. I will of course cover all postage costs.

Looking on the bright side, it gave me a chance to dazzle my friends, feeding over a dozen people with oven baked burgers, chicken and sausages - it wasn't BBQ, but it was still tasty, largely due to the burgers being home-made . Also it meant that I finally took the Traeger apart, which I have been planning to do, but hadn't gotten around to it.

Sorry, waiting for replacement parts myself, if yours is under year old it will be covered under warranty so worth getting it replaced even if you are eventually changing the cotroller.

British BBQ Society wrote:Sorry, waiting for replacement parts myself, if yours is under year old it will be covered under warranty so worth getting it replaced even if you are eventually changing the cotroller.

Actually, you are right - I only picked it up last September, even though it seems a lot longer ago.

Cheers for pointing that out.

Chris

OK, we are sorted. Nick is getting a new controller to me in the next day or so. I have also ordered a new hot rod, just so I have a spare.

Thanks to Toby for pointing out the warranty issue. On my part, I hadn't thought of that, as initially I had assumed it was a burned out motor due to a damp pellet auger jam, which I put down to "my fault". When I realised that the auger was clear, and the motor functioned when connected to the fan power line, indicating a controller problem, I didn't change my mind-set. On Nick's part, seems he didn't have my details from Jackie to hand. The moment I mentioned when I bought my Traeger, he was happy to oblige.

I have to say I received excellent customer service from Nick. I emailed him about my initial problem on Saturday, after my guests left, but I didn't expect a response until today. However, Sunday morning, there was an email waiting from Nick telling me how to diagnose the problem.

It is perhaps an indication of how my mind works and looks for excuses to indulge itself, that one of my first thoughts after the Traeger failure was "Maybe I should think about getting a backup grill".

Am pleased to say my replacement controller arrived today, and works. So I am back in business again.