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19 replies

Grease Fire of Monumental Proportions

FM Former Member
I need some help...or at least some reassurance.

We have had our FEC100 for exactly one year and Saturday we had a nearly catastrophic event. It took three fire extinguishers (with two on standby) to put out the fire and I may yet end up with stiches if the cut on my finger doesn't close today.

Here is the story...see if you can help figure out what happened.

Placed the 8 pork buts on the FEC at 8p friday night for a neighbors wedding reception. They were put on the smoke setting. At 12:30a I went to the cooker (it read 110) and turned it up to 180. At 9a my dad checked the cooker and it was sending pellets but there was no fire and the thremometer read 80 degrees. There were probably 2lbs of pellets in the bottom and the meat temp looked like it had been off about 2hrs (I saw smoke coming out of the chimney at about 5a when I was making bottles for the babies.) However, when my mom went by at 7a she didn't see smoke.

We cleaned out most of the pellets there was probably a cup of pellets still lying on the base of the cooker and started it back up. We checked the meat (basting it) a couple of times and turned the heat up to "225". About 1-2 hours later around 3p there was an unusually heavy amount of smoke coming from the truck. My dad and I opened the cooker door and flames had engulged the entire inside cooker. Four of the 8 butts were on fire, the drip pan, the heat shield and the pellets on the floor of the cooker. We surved our options (with door closed) and got a small extinguisher. I tried to put out the flames on the base (trying not to hit the meat so I could rescue it maybe). Eventually I had to don cooking mits and pull the engulfed drip pan out of the cooker and throw it on the ground. At that point I used the second extinguisher and made a siginificant dent in the fire.

My neighbor ran across the road to tell us our chimney was on fire and sure enough it was fully engulfed. I used his extinguisher to put out the flame which pushed the flame back into the cooker and the heat burnt through the flex pipe I was using for exhaust shot flame throughout the truck which we quickly doused.

Somewhere in all of that action I suffered a pretty significant gash on my middle knuckle of the middle finger.

Here lies the questions and suppositions...

the wind was blowing from the opposite direction than normal at about 10mph gusting higher.

why did the fire go out in the morning causing the pellet overrun?

What started the blaze internally?
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FM Former Member
wow, sorry you had to endure that- and glad your knuckle was the only serious hurt.

Maybe there's something about the 180 setting (as in my post this weekend) that is allowing the fire to extinguish. Either the pellet feed rate or not enough air if the fan seizes.

As for the fire, I suspect that when the temp got high enough to ignite the pellets, you got a little fire going in the firepot. I've seen this when there are too many pellets in the pot when it finally ignites and it flares up good. I suppose if you have a lot of pork grease drippings that the flare might ignite them and away it went.
I hope you can clean that fire extinguisher residue out!
FM Former Member
Not a normal occurance, I think a could of things happened.

quote:
Originally posted by Commish:

We cleaned out most of the pellets there was probably a cup of pellets still lying on the base of the cooker and started it back up.


These ignited and created a fire, at least just based on what you've posted and my theory based on experience with the smoker.

I've found that when you leave a cup of pellets on the bottom, they'll ignite and create a VERY hot temp. If that extra pellets got the temp higher and started the grease on fire(remember, the smoke setting doesn't turn OFF if the temp gets too high, it's a set amount of pellets)

You should clean out any/all pellets from the bottom because they do combust (it gets hot enough they seem to ignite) funny that way.

The fire going out in the pot has to be related to the wind and/or the blower fan on the auger. Open up the side of the unit and make sure all the fans are operating. They sometimes need 3 in one oil. I've had mine about 3 years and had to replace a fan as it stopped completely. for me the fire would burn a while and go out. I checked and the fan wasn't blowing air across the fire. But I also have a very old unit, non ramp model and pre-production version.
FM Former Member
Thanks...I just spoke with Tony for about 20 minutes. He was helpful with a few suggestions that we will take.

1. Make sure that the Chimney is at least two foot above the roof of the truck to make sure I am getting a good draft (about 8" now).

2. Stay with it a bit more to make sure the pellet overrun isn't being cause by a smothering of pellets based on trying to ramp up the temp to quick.

However, he did say Okie that he had never seen pellets catch fire on the floor of the cooker. I started to argue but didn't see any reason. Nice to see I wasn't crazy...I knew I had seen them catch before.
FM Former Member
I suffered the nearly the same scenario last month. I have noticed that when on the lower settings just before the auger starts adding pellets that if the wind is kicking up it can blow your fire out. I use a 90 degree elbow on the exhaust and keep it turned out of the wind. I also keep a couple of extra door seals on hand. Also when cooking a large number of butts never turn the heat up past 250 degrees.
Hope this helps.

Dan
FM Former Member
quote:
Originally posted by Commish:

However, he did say Okie that he had never seen pellets catch fire on the floor of the cooker. I started to argue but didn't see any reason. Nice to see I wasn't crazy...I knew I had seen them catch before.


Yeah, I'm not crazy, you're not crazy.

Isn't that what all the inmates in the asylum say Big Grin

I've seen it happen. Guess I'll have to take some photos to prove it. I think it happens on the hotter temps.

I also like the comment about "adding" pellets to quick, especially moving up from 180.
FM Former Member
You might want to invest in a CO2 extinguisher. It leaves no residue. Also why not keep the door closed and spray thru the exhaust port. this works very well, it is a sealed system then. when you open the door you are feeding the fire more oxygen. Not that this has ever happend to me. Roll Eyes
FM Former Member
That is a fantastic theory however our cooker is mounted into the back of a box truck with a full kitchen set-up. It is exhausted with 10' chimney liner and double flue pipe out of the top of the truck.

With flames burning throughout the chimney, eventually burning through the flex....preserving the truck and not blowing it up was concern 1a, meat was 1b.

Wink
FM Former Member
Wow that is one heck of a close call. Hope your finger is ok and glad to hear you didn't lose your rig. I can tell you that yes the pellets that are scattered on the bottom of the smoker will and have caught fire on me. I was doing some chicken after pulling some ribs out and bumped the temp up to 325 about ½ hour latter I noticed tons of smoke coming out. I carefully opened the door and saw that the pellets that had accumulated on the bottom had ignited. It was maybe a couple of handful's or so. I didn't use a fir extinguisher so I threw a few handfuls of rub on it. I now make sure to keep the pellets off the bottom. My FE is mounted inside my step van I use a piece of 6 inch flex pipe that exits out the side of my truck through a dryer vent.
FM Former Member
Ding. Ding. Ding. And the answer is it went out because of ash accumulation in the fire box.

Now if you clean out the fire box after every cook then I'm wrong. But it's happened to me twice now when I do an all night cook and am lazy and don't clean out the ash. During the second cook there's enough ash to block the air from the fan and the fire goes out real quick without the fan and pellets dump everywhere. I do a quick cleanup and am back in business. So far they have not ignited. AND from now on I clean the fire pot before every cook.
FM Former Member
quote:
Originally posted by Commish:


Placed the 8 pork buts on the FEC at 8p friday night for a neighbors wedding reception. They were put on the smoke setting. At 12:30a I went to the cooker (it read 110) and turned it up to 180. At 9a my dad checked the cooker and it was sending pellets but there was no fire and the thremometer read 80 degrees. There were probably 2lbs of pellets in the bottom and the meat temp looked like it had been off about 2hrs (I saw smoke coming out of the chimney at about 5a when I was making bottles for the babies.) However, when my mom went by at 7a she didn't see smoke.

We cleaned out most of the pellets there was probably a cup of pellets still lying on the base of the cooker and started it back up. We checked the meat (basting it) a couple of times and turned the heat up to "225". About 1-2 hours later around 3p there was an unusually heavy amount of smoke coming from the truck. My dad and I opened the cooker door and flames had engulged the entire inside cooker.


Maybe one of the butts was touching the temp probe? That could be why after 4 hours on smoke it was only reading 110. Then you turned it to 180, don't know why the fire would go out. But it could explain why the temp got hot enough to ignite the pellets and grease inside the cooker after turning it to 225.
E ezgoinMember
I learn more every day. Please explain the temperture limit switch and how it's intalled and how it works. I have two new 100's, one of which is still on he pallet. On my second load in the one have have used, my temps suddenly jumped way above the smoker setting.

Would a temperture limit switch have shut it down or what.

Please explain for a newbie.
R ribdogMember
The temp limit probe was first installed on the UL rampa models if memory serves me correctly. The probe will shut the unit down if the temp goes above a certain level. I do not know what that temp is. I believe this feature was added more so for units in a commercial environment that would be probably enclosed in a structure of some type.

Regarding a jump in temp, and I do remember you previous posts, I have started my pre-ramp FEC up on the smoke setting and had it get it to 220. When I was ready to put the meat in, I just opened the door a few minutes ahead of that and let the heat dump out of the smoker. Then I would put my load of butts in and the smoker ran right at 140.

Your problem was something that should have been dealt with by customer service at CS.
FM Former Member
If you have new units, you have the limit switches. When the temp reaches 450 in the cook chamber, the switch cuts power to the burn system. They are a requirement for UL listing. When you found the fire, had the burn system turned off?

Another little safety issue is the stove pipe. The cooker will contain a 600 degree fire, but ordinary stove pipe will give up before that. If you use it in an enclosed area, think about the quality of the pipe.

Tony will fix you up with a new controller and you will be cooking up a storm. My current FE is a year and a half old and hasn't a single glitch. Don't let this problem cause you to lose faith in the cooker.
FM Former Member
I had another thought on what might have caused/contributed to your fire. I was cooking today and used some Traeger pellets that are about 2 years old and are broken up. I noticed that the fan was blowing glowing red pieces of pellets onto the floor of the cooker - if there was grease there, it could have ignited it. So, don't use old pellets that are broken up (mainly a problem with Traeger pellets, I have some Fast Eddy pellets that are just as old and they are not broken up). The pellets were Black Walnut, but I've noticed the same thing with other Traeger pellets.
FM Former Member
Over two years of smoking oversize loads in my FE-100 and never a fire. Here in California the call for Chicken is unrelenting and thats the one that worries me the most. Higher temps with lots of fat rendering.

I keep at least 5 layers of foil on my grease slid and 3 on the bottom of the cooker. This sure makes it fast and easy to clear away the fuel source for these fires.

Knocking on wood and crossing my fingers.

Walt

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