RT-1070 Fixing grease leaks

[okie]

I found a grease leak where the grease trough on the right empties into the drain tube. The grease ends up on the bottom around the drain tube. The tube is spot welded to the trough. The tube is bigger than the drain hole in the trough, and I figure that RT thought that the oil would just drip down the inside of the tube. Duh! It seeps sideways and leaks out the space not welded. Seems just on one side. So I cleaned (and cleaned) the surfaces all around the outside of trough and tube, and then used alcohol to pick up any residue. Then used high temp caulk to seal around. First on the side leaking, (see Pic). And the leaking stopped. Then I went ahead and sealed all 4 sides, although the back side was a blind job. Rechecked with oil and water both and no leak. I have seen another c/o of the same thing elsewhere so I thought my report might help. There should be no grease leaking to the bottom of the drum. Keeping the pit level also is a good thing.

 

[okie]

 

[Mozekian]

I had a leak too on my 1250 on the sides of the firebox, would leak onto the pavement below. Took some high temp caulk like you did and worked up a lot of ash to fill any gaps and knock on wood, has worked out well like yours has.

 

[okie]

Do you get grease down on the floor of the barrel? Should not happen if your pit is level. If tilted either to front or rear, then grease follows the the grates rods to the support shelf and then leaks down to bottom of barrel. If your grease is now not leaking to pavement, it will puddle and may cause grease fire. You should be able to take out the grates and drip pan and see where it is running down. I apologize if I am incorrect, but I had that problem with my 590 when new. The end caps of the barrel were leaking around the rivets on the end cap and after I caulked it well (both ends), I still got grease in the bottom. I later found out it was not level and grease was just following gravity to the back and right corner, and running down that side. After leveling, that stopped it. Of course making sure all cooks are always completely over the drip pan is a given. All in all, I am very happy with the 1070 to date.

 

[okie]

Rechecked and as of Feb 24, no recurrence of drain tube leak. Barrel bottom is dry. Conclusion: advise all 1070 owners to check drain tube areas. Gray high temp caulk does the job if needed.

 

[4Papa]

I’ve got a 2-year old RT-700 and had a grease fire when pre-heating this past winter. A quick investigation revealed a boatload of old grease pooled in the barrel bottom. Not sure how it got there… either poorly applied aluminum foil to drip pan or (thanks to Okie’s comments) previous unlevel cooks. Never considered the units to be that sensitive to not being on level, flat surfaces.