cleaning up after the fire - picture UPDATE!

Skippy,

It's been over thirty years since I worked on the pipeline, but back then, dry chemical fire extinguisher were filled with baking soda. Probably not a food grade, but it shouldn't hurt anything food wise if that's the type of extinguisher you used.

Skipyp

When I had my fire I used my high pressure sprayer on it. Sprayed it down with Easy Off Oven Cleaner, let sit for about 15 to 20 minutes and sprayed it down again. You will most likely need a new set of door seals and check your fan. The fan blade is made of plastic and it probably melted. Check everything out before you start ordering parts and it will keep the frustration level down quite a bit. Don't feel too bad about the fire, you are not the first one to have one.

Dan

Need some information regarding the fire issues with the FEC 100. I was very interested in purchasing one of these units but have read that these fire incidents are more prevalent than expected. I am starting to crawfish after I read these sad tales about the units catching on fire. Is there a cure for this. Is it lack of self maintenance or is it a manufacturer's flaw? Please enlighten me....

Without going into a forensic evaluation of what I did, I'll just say this:
I have a WSM and I've had a fire in it. I have a large offset and it's had a fire. I've cooked with David Klose and seen one of his pits have a fire. And I've seen championship rodeo teams lose all their stuff to fire.

In an environment where there's heat, wood, and grease, fires are going to happen. No amount of diligence will prevent it- it's just a matter of time.
One thing I definitely take away from this is to have a CO2 extinguisher handy.

Amen, to everything Skippy P said. FE is simply the best, most versatile cooker out there.

Fellow Texans it is good to hear reassuring posts regarding the FEC 100. This will sway me back into my decision to purchase the unit in question.

if you're here in texas, give Red Ritch a call- he's the local guy for sales and cam recommended form FE himself.
7138233936
You can also call Thom, who posts here and the pelletheads.com forum.

And here is the event in pictures:

first couple are the fire just after it was put out. anyone for chicken burnt ends?





and then the clean up. this one is after the scrape down and shop vac, followed by the big box of crud:



Reset the temp cut off and check out the fans.... look! there's fire!



and finally after a basic hose wash. It's getting dark so I'll save the rest of the work for tomorrow. Fedex should bring me a new door gasket and a fan+motor. Ends up I don't need the fan+motor but better safe than sorry!

Sorry to see this Skippy. But it reminds me of the old Timex slogan, "Takes a beating and keeps on ticking." You will be back up in no time.

Skippy,
One issue that I have had on long cooks is pellets bouncing out of the fire pot. Not much of an issue unless you have a bunch of grease on the bottom. I am going to fashion a heavy stainless wire mesh screen to go around the fire pot to see if that corrects it.

Any idea on how yours started?

Mark

Scott,
I agree with ribdog. Everything will come out in the wash. Good luck with the cleanup. You will probably be up and running in no time. Take care!

This happened to me while cooking three porterhouse steaks that were prime, dry aged beef, and cost $96.00 for the three. I hadn't cleaned out my smoker for quite awhile. I slow smoked them, and turned up the heat to 450* to get a sear, before removing. The dripping fat caught on fire. It took a long time to put the fire out. When it was finally out, I grabbed one steak, while crying, and it was so tender that the bone crumbled in my hand. I then washed it out, replaced the gasket, and was back in business.

Hey Skippy,

What temps were you cooking. It looks like you have chicken on, did you have other items in there that were putting out alot of grease?

I have a FEC100 on order and I'm really interested in what to watch out for.

You might want to invest in a Co2 Extingisher. Just put the nozzel into the exhaust port and squeeze. absolutely no mess to clean up except your burnt food. Don't ask me how I know.

Hey Skippy,
On a different note. The 500 you were asking about, would be almost impossible to have a grease fire in. The burners are on the opposite side of a steel wall which is a couple of feet tall. The cooking chamber has a large surface which will get grease all over, but the spark source for the fire is removed.

I had a kingfisher combo unit. And one day when I was starting it up the temp went very high. And then the smoke started to boil out of it. All the grease from a previous cooking had gotten too hot too quick, before it could drain out. Everything was very clean afterwards though.

I'll have stories and answers after this weekend- I'm so behind in the cooking my head is scrambled.

yesterday I got home with half a dozen bags of those nasty chicken quarters and some briskets. I was in such a hurry I forgot to replace the gasket!

halfway through the birst batch of chicken I was wondering why smoke was coming out of the door bottom.... then I realized I forgot!

nonetheless I cooked a bunch of chicken and 4 briskets overnight with no problem!

I bet the chicken had nice crispy skin. What was that white rub you used on it? Here are some suggestions for avoiding fire:

Hi, if your fire extinguisher was MAP (monoammonium phosphate), it's nontoxic. Just clean it out really good.

Chicken, high temps, overloading cooker, and possible drainage issues are what I've identified as causes of the fire I had in my FEC100 at 29 Palms.

With the FEC 100, the fire is under the drip pan and in the cooking chamber. Fire+grease=greasefire, so you have to be careful. Here are some tips I've mainly gotten from Palm Springs BBQ -

1. put several layers of foil on the drip pan and on the bottom of the cooker. If you do one meat before you do the chicken, tear off the layer with the grease and residue from the first cook before you do the chicken. Make sure the foil is smooth with no wrinkles on the drip pan so the grease can drain smoothly.

2. If you're cooking on an uneven surface, put is so the exhaust stack (the direction the grease goes down the drip pan) is pointed down the incline. Don't have the back of the cooker lower than the front of the cooker - grease can build up along the back of the cooker and ignite.

3. Don't overload with chicken. Don't have the chicken on the racks beyond where the grease will drip down onto the drip pan. The drip pan isn't as big as the racks because heat has to go around it. If grease drips down and isn't caught by the drip pan, it will sit on the bottom of the cooker. I only load the bottom rack about 1/2 way when doing chicken on higher heat.

4. Have a big bag of baking soda handy when cooking. You can get them at Costco or Sam's really cheap. A well placed handful can stop the fire and save your food. Which leads to #5.

5. Watch the cooker when you're doing chicken and/or using high heat. If there is a problem, hit it with the baking soda early. I don't think the FEC100 is airtight with the exhaust and the intake, so the fire won't smother itself if you just turn it off.

A KEY thing I see in the photo is the drip pan is smoking. Looks like a lot of stuff on the foil.

Absolutely, 100% of the time, if you're cooking high temp (above 325?) I would change the foil and make sure the drip pan is clean and free of crud.

If grease gathers on the foil, along with food droppings and then doesn't have a free flow path to the drip pan, you'll get a higher chance of a fire.

The only time it happened to me was that I didn't clean out the drip gutter.

Now that I've learned my lesson, I've never had a repeat.

Smokin'

I'm somewhat curious! No one else has addressed the statment made "Then tried using flour but after nearly 15# it was really blazing." My physics lessons always taught me that flour was one heck of an explosive. Be a fact, blow some flour dust into an area with a candle and you could lose some hair. Fifteen pounds of flour should have made a great bon fire. Just an observation.

Mack

Well I don't know what physics class taught anything about fire suppression let alone flour. Any I've had a lot of physics. Flour can be very effective on small fires because the ratio of flour to the available fuel and oxygen is very high and it smothers. That's why we dumped a lot. Flour dust is a problem but we didn't lightly blow it in. Dump a cup of flour on the candle and get back to me.

SmokinOkie: You are right (and Tom) and I think I know what happened after cleaning and looking at the cook area I use. The cook area is not level and there tends to be a relatively larger buildup of gook in the back left corner behind the firepot. Normally not a problem but I cooked the chickens right after a case of brisket. As Tom mentioned, the briskets were very big and touched the back, I think. There seemed to be a cascade of grease charr on the back wall. So I'm cooking along at 300 with chicken grease and water dripping down the path already having brisket goodness and I think either the wall lit.

One mistake I DEFINITELY made was to try to smother the fire for a few minutes at the exhaust. I capped it off, but the temp kept going up and fire started coming out the grease drains. That's then I think the buildup in the back corner ignited and melted it's wat to the drain. Never really thought about it before, but there's no wat to starve a fire in a 100 with those grease holes.

So I guess as I cook more and more I'll have to be less lazy. I did a cook this weekend with foil on the bottom and replaced it between cooks. No more back-to-back cases of anything without replacing the foil.

and finally (that post was getting too long) I had cs fedex a new door gasket and fan (with motor?) since when I ordered I didn't know if the fan had melted, yet. Ran out to a 2 day event out of town and forgot the new parts.

Cooked a dozen dump cakes at 300+ and reheated 160# chicken, 50# sausage, and 150# brisket with no problem- even with a compromised door seal. The only think I notice is that the fan vibrates more than it used to. Should get that fixed up when I replace it along with the gasket.

Thanks for the words of encouragement and good advice. When I get the 500 I have a shopping list:
at least one spare part for each thing and a portable tool kit with the tools to replace them;
a CO2 fire extinguisher (or two). I know the 500 doesn't mingle fire and grease, but that scouts' motto and all...

Skippyp,

The NEC (National Electrical Code) defines flour as a Class II Division G hazardous material. This is defined as G: Flour, starch, grain, combustible plastic or chemical dust (explosive). Not a good thing to use around open fires. By the way, wood is a Class III hazardous material easily ignitable, but not likely to be explosive

Mack

quote:

Class II Division G hazardous material

I guess I don't understand the pedantic attitude. You're curious why no one addressed me about flour? and this is because your physics class always told you about that? then you are bemused about the fire- but that's just an observation. And now I get NEC codes?

obviously flour wasn't the best choice and had I known it had gotten as bad as it had I would have just used the extinguisher in the first place. The nec code is specific to flour dust as class 2 is for dusts. dump flour on a candle.

So if it's possible to stop kicking me when I'm down I'd sure like to get back to constructive posting about fire avoidance in the 100 or what else you can do if you don't have a co2 extinguisher.
maybe there's a market for smoking meats in a nitrogen blanket?

I was only addressing the issue of fire fighting. I would not want some rookie throwing in flour to put out a fire becase of this post. When my fec 100 caught fire, I opened the door (this was intended to protect the seal and also prevent the fire from spreading up the auger as the positive pressure with the door shut is an issue.) I then got a spray bottle of water (it was bleach water by the way) and proceeded to spray the fire at the base. once it was out, I removed the food and threw it away, cleaned out the pit, to include the auger and pellet bin, and started over. This was a year ago and I'm still using the unit but, I now clean it a lot more often.

Mack

I've been considering how to close off the unit to smother a fire but not much comes to mind. just too many holes for fire to go.

looking forward to the 500...

Hey Skippy,

Glad to see your up and going strong. With the volume your doing. You will be in heaven with the 500.

Flour will blow up if you throw it at a fire. Having been in boy scouts, I know. Kids and fire, you can use your imagination.

The baking soda works on grease fires, if you hit the fire before it ignites the meat while it's still on the bottom of the smoker, you can save your cook. That's why I watch the cooker when it's doing chicken on high heat.

As for smothering the fire, with the grease drains, air inlets which are through the hopper, and the exhaust, I don't think that's a practical way to deal with a fire in the FEC100.

I learned the hard way - had a fire myself - and I know it's not a good feeling. Just be thankful the FEC100 is so well built. Mine suffered no damage. From looking at the FEC500, it really looks like fire won't be an issue with that cooker.

Interesting post fella's, I learned a lot from your notes and experiences. I have 2 100's and carry 3 extinguishers. I will definitely keep it clean, not overload, etc. What does cookshackhave to say about this issue? I heard of the auger fires in the past, but was told these no longer occurred when I asked them.

I guess common sense and care are the answers. I love the cookers.

Wanzo,

In my opinion, you hit it on the head that "common sense and care are the answers." I don't mean this to say that anyone else that has experienced a fire did so willfully. The FECs are no different than other smokers in that proper leveling is necessary to gain proper grease drainage, keeping the outside wind from blowing directly into the exhaust, and proper cleaning of the unit is necessary. Especially, the firepot.

I have been very fortunate in that in the two and half years that I have had my FEC, I have not had any fires.