Need to reseason my FEC100

Eddy likes to cook a couple racks of fatty burgers in them.

I'd probably toss in a couple butts and just cook 'em normal.

Here's a picture of Jim's FEC100's. How did you smother the fire?

Everyone here sure seems calm about fires,,,,is it avoidable???, should we empty grease pans mulit times during long cooks??? by the way, plumber or cook????

I don't believe it is the grease in the grease pans that causes the problems. It is some buildup of grease in the smoker itself which says it is very important as to how to level your smoker each time.

I think it could also occur when you go from a lower temp cooking environment to a good deal higher one without possibly changing out the foil on the heat shield and/or the inside bottom of the smoker where grease can accumulate.

Let me preface this with I have never had a fire in mine so I could be way off base here but I don't think so.

John

What happened is we cooked 12 briskets on each FEC. When they were done we switched to chicken. We had 90+ leg quarters in each unit. I did change the foil on the drip shelf and emptied the grease pan. What I didn't have time to do was give the inside a real good cleaning. With chicken being fairly fatty, all that grease just overwhelmed the cooker and we had a fire. I managed to choke the fire in the second FEC by wrapping a soaking wet towel around the smoke stack. I also pulled the grease pan out and plugged the hole. I closed the door and the fire went out quickly. I now have a CO2 fire extuinguisher. With that, I can kill any fire and save the meat. All in all it was a learning experience to say the least.

Thanks for sharing the specifics. That helps a lot. Sad to see it happen but we can all learn from it.

wow Jim, glad it worked out for you in the end. I also think that cooking on a level surface is a must. I think my fire started in the back corner behind the firepot where I couldn't clean as well (in a hurry between loads).

Where's you score that co2 extinguisher?