As for cleaning the racks ,all I do is soak them overnight in a rubermaid tub with a little Dawn dish detergent, and in the morning everything wipes right off.The inside depends on how often I use it but usually once a year I just use a plastic scraper and go over the sides and top and wipe out with hot water on a rag and thats it. I do clean out and around the vent hole before every smoke,if you dont when you feed the probe wires through it you will get small black specks on the meat.