The grill caught fire in the middle of the night. The fire was on the right side and I believe the very noticeable slant of the grill is the cause, but I'm not sure. I think maybe grease got built up on the right side and caught fire. I appreciate input that anyone can provide. When I took the picture, I made sure to snap the picture with the camera level at 0° to show the true slant of the grill. I believe the slant is severe, while my dad thinks it isn't.
by ifyouknowwhatImeme
15 Comments
That’s weird, though, it should be draining the grease more on that side, that’s where it drains? Also what would light the grease if it was pooling away from the fire pot and rod igniter?
Damn that sucks man. I’m not sure, but I level mine just because. A few degrees off wouldn’t matter.
Your greese drain channels were clogged.
This looks like you had a grease overflow* and b/c of the slant most of the grease was on the right. Ironically you may not have had a fire if it was slanted even more as the grease would’ve pooled even more on the right and not reached the firepot. Since it was only slanted a little, the grease was able to spread out toward the firepot and it caught fire.
*Perhaps the hole next to the grease channel that leads to the bucket got clogged. Or you had too much food on the grates and the grease dripped over the sides of the deflector. That happened to me once.
Mine caught fire recently. Thank God I caught it. It was because my grease pot was full and I didn’t realize it. Was yours?
Any idea how many cook hours you had on it after your last cleaning?
Had to be grease. I’ve seen these grills at quite the angle and still be fine. Like a 2 inch incline type situation. This isn’t a propane type situation, the pellets just have to be augered into the fire pot. However, you have to make sure they are clean. Very important with these.
In my head , I read that as Ralphy’s dad running down into the basement. “It’s a pit bOSSSS!”
Full grease pot almost for sure.
Needed cleaning or your meat was way greasy and caught fire.
Too high of temp and lots of grease would be my guess. Though I am sure the angle didn’t help as it may have concentrated the grease faster.
How often and when did you last thoroughly clean it
I would bet on it being grease unable to drain.
Cause being not cleaning between cooks. The channels where the fat goes get blocked up and don’t drain down. Then the fat will just pool over the burn pot.
It’s happened to me before and this was the cause. I clean after every session now.
I also turn temperature to ~200-250c after smoking to burn off any of the residual fat. Just be careful with anything catching fire during this.. if it does shut and unplug to stop the fan.
Makes it easier to clean.
Obviously this time it won’t work as you have too much fat in there
Edit: Just to add.. you might find a black layer peeling from the inside of the top of the lid. This will just be carbon from the fire. Peel off will be fine
Also… you could put a temperature probe somewhere in the oven and set a max alarm on it. So if there’s a fire it alerts you. Like If you’re smoking at 120c and it reaches 200c there’s probably a fire
Grease fire
100% grease fire, happened to be where a piece of food? was blocking the drain tube, channel filled and poured into the pot.
You have to clean it or do burn offs, the constant low temps +ash makes for a thick liquid than can start cooling off and easily get trapped.