Traeger Burn Pot Designs
From Cornburning
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A visual list of all the burn pot designs for Traeger boilers.
Contents |
Standard
The standard corn burning burnpot. This is the burnpot which was shipping as the standard burnpot 2004-2005 and perhaps before. The burn pot is build out of stainless steel. It seems to be quite a good grade of stainless and is quite hard. Note the bent corners on the upper side of the burn pot. This differs from later models where the top is cut from one piece of stainless and welded on all four sides. This top only needs to be welded on two sides, and around the rim of the burn chamber.
The corn, in this pot design, drops in from the top, but burns from underneeth on a fluidized bed of molten corn.
This pot suffers from several design issues that have now been addressed in later models.
Circa 2007 Standard Burnpot
This burn pot differs from the earlier model in the way it is welded and the design of the inner burn chamber. Whereas the earlier burn pots used a single sheet of stainless steel which is rolled into a tube and then welded directly across from the corn entry point, this pot uses two sheets. The two sheets are bent into crescents and then welded into a tube. These welds are then placed at 3 and 9 o'clock in relationship to the corn entry point.
This should prove to be a superior design. The Previous design suffered from the weld breaking perhaps because of two reasons. First, it was located directly across from the corn entry point and this is a spot for very intense flame. Putting the seam and weld in this spot caused it to have a great amount of additional stress. Second, because there was just one continuous piece of metal in the old design, the stresses of expansion and contraction due to heat was all centered in one spot. The weld.
The new design answers to both of these problems. Having two pieces of metal, the expansion and contraction stress is split between the two joints. And, having those two welded joints on the side of the pot, where the fire is somewhat less intense should greatly increase the life of the burn pot.
Another design change, the combustion air holes have been changed from earlier designs. They now are just in the top 1/3rd of the burn chamber. The bottom row of holes is no longer present. This should have the effect of moving the fire up somewhat. Perhaps it will slow the pilot mode burn? Users of this new design of pot will have to report back and let us know how it works.
Bottom Feed
New for the 2006 season, a bottom feeding burn pot. This was an experimental pot to see if it had less of a clinker buildup than the standard top feeding design. To some degree this design did work as planned. It is less maintainance, but not by a great deal. Perhaps it would extend the time between burnpot changes by two extra days.
The idea of this burn pot comes from the success of the LDJ model of bottom feeding pots. The corn, rather than coming in a hole at the top of the burnpot, landing in a pile at the bottom of the pot and then burning, pushes in from the bottom. This changes the fluidized bed concept of the previous burn pot designs because the corn flow pushing in seems to breakup the bed. Not a problem until the point where clinker buildup is beginning to block the combustion air holes. Then, the fire tends to rise, sometimes above the level of the top rim of the burn pot. This burning above the top of the pot can not be as efficent, and you can note blackened whole kernel ash in the ash pan.
Pellet
A pellet burnpot. Note the wire for auto ignition.
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Hightop
We don't really know the reason for the top rim but this is designated the 'hightop' burnpot style.
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