RT-1250 Grease fire twice in a row

[Pete6737]

Greetings all
I’ve experienced a grease fire twice while using the 1250 and grillgrates at 450-475. It’s my first time grilling meat on the 1250, as opposed to smoking. There was clean foil under the grates both times. So my question is whether the grill grates are holding in heat between the drip tray and grill grates to super heat or prevent air to circulate properly causing the tray ignite. Hamburgers and Italian sausages were the meat on the grill.

It seems like using indirect convection at grilling temps should not really lend itself to a grease fire with a new grill and clean foil in the tray. My next plan is to separate the grates to allow for some airflow between the 3 grillgrates.

I’m in my first month with RecTeq and I’ve dumped 3 grills( gas, charcoal and charcoal smoker) to use this as an all in one cooker, so any advice is appreciated. Thanks, Pete

 

[Waterboy]

Are your grill grates running front to back or side to side on top of the smoker grates?

 

[Pete6737]

The grates run side to side. I’d like to try to get the grillgrates to 400 plus and turn down the grill temp. If my memory serves me the first time I did hamburgers, I was at 400 and there was little sear on the burgers. They cooked but they had no color on them. Might as well be been boiled. Lol. The next two times I bumped the temps up and got fire fire fire.

 

[sdynak]

It would be worth a call to Recteq.. just so they are aware or have seen it. Not sure this one has come up yet. Please let us know what they say.

 

[Pete6737]

Ok I’ll call Recteq and let y’all know. Thanks for all for your replies!

 

[C. Keeper]

Only possible cause I can think of, the drip tray is installed backwards and preventing proper drainage. Let's see what RT says.

 

[sdynak]

Only possible cause I can think of, the drip tray is installed backwards and preventing proper drainage. Let's see what RT says.

Good point

 

[okie]

1. Grill needs to be on a level surface. otherwise grease will follow your regular grate rods to the side that is downhill, and run off onto the little shelves that support them and then down the sides to the bottom. You want your grease to drip onto the drip pan only. Many decks and porches are intentionally tilted to drain away from the house.
2. The RT design does not have a steep drip tray angle. And sometimes if you foil, there are folds that catch grease and hold it. Try to get the foil flattened enough to drain efficiently.
3. I think the GrillGrates are supposed to be running front to back, but don't see how they could be a problem side to side.
Let us know what RT says

 

[Motodad1776]

The above post is what I am betting is occurring, and burgers are notorious for grease fires.

 

[PRC]

Good point

Not sure you can install the drip tray backwards. If you did it would not fit under the grate on the left hand side.

 

[C. Keeper]

Not sure you can install the drip tray backwards. If you did it would not fit under the grate on the left hand side.

Hummm, I've never tried.

 

[Pete6737]

So after reading the last few posts, I went out to the grill. It’s on a level concrete surface with a Recteq Mat under it. The tray is installed facing the correct way, the foil is flat. The tray appears to be installed correctly.
The only thing I see is that based the fire marks on the foil and the minimal drippings in the catch jar, it does appear the tray is not angled enough to allow for grease run off. It was evening so I’ll wait until daylight to somehow get the tray angled better

I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for the input! Pete

 

[Jim6820]

So after reading the last few posts, I went out to the grill. It’s on a level concrete surface with a Recteq Mat under it. The tray is installed facing the correct way, the foil is flat. The tray appears to be installed correctly.
The only thing I see is that based the fire marks on the foil and the minimal drippings in the catch jar, it does appear the tray is not angled enough to allow for grease run off. It was evening so I’ll wait until daylight to somehow get the tray angled better

I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for the input! Pete

Let us know what you find. The great part of forums like this is that we can share information that may prove helpful to someone else.

 

[Pete6737]

Greetings All

So I spoke with Corey from Recteq. He was super helpful. We covered a number of topics from the controversial foil or no foil question to proper tray placement etc. He sent me pics of what the tray should look like when installed properly. He also recommended checking and updating the firmware.

I got to the grill and inspected the drip tray and it was indeed installed correctly. The foil was not clumped crinkled or otherwise impeding grease flow. The firmware was out of date, so I updated the firmware this evening after I got home. So now, everything should be in order. It’s late now, so Tomorrow I’ll replace with new foil or possibly go without foil…omg! And I’ll get some burgers on the grill. With all the attention this grill has gotten in the last few days I can’t imagine having any issues. I hope the firmware update fixed something! Thanks to the support from all you Recteq veterans and great competent advice from Corey/ Recteq service. I’ll keep you posted on my burgers tomorrow. Pete

 

[Pacman]

Good luck @Pete6737 I don't want to jinx myself, but I have been fundamentally trouble free since my first cook on the 1250. I've even seen the billowing smoke on startup thinking, "Cool, this will be the time it denotates...where's my phone?" (Full disclosure. I'm a bomb guy. 20+ years later, I still giggle when things go BOOM....assuming I am not too close.)

Anyway, looking forward to reports of amazing cooks rather than some of the speed bumps you've survived.

 

[Pete6737]

Some of my best buds were/are bomb guys. Especially when you get them tipsy!
Hoping for success in bbq with Recteq. I’ll keep you all posted. Thanks!

 

[SquireJim]

Definitely following this! Have a 1250 on the way, so (GULP!) hoping for your success!

 

[Subman619]

Even if it now works following all the recommendations, check the heat deflector over the fire box. Mine warped badly once (from cooking at high heat). Recteq replaced it (free) but the new one has developed a slight warp. The badly warped one prevented the grease tray from sitting at the proper angle causing grease build up. I no longer cook anything at high heat on my Bull. I have a Napolean 4 burner that took over those cooks.

 

[Dawgfan1]

I cook burgers on my 590 all the time with foil on the drip tray. I cook at 325, get the smoke taste on the burgers that everyone likes, and I've never had anything close to a grease fire. My grill grates are on a shelf in my garage collecting dust. I figure I am covering the burgers with tomatoes, pickles, etc.....and a bun so why should I care about anything other than the taste?

Yeah - I know I burn more wood pellets and it takes a little longer for the burgers to cook, but I would rather do that than use the still in the box fire extinguisher!

 

[Pete6737]

Update
Sorry this was delayed for those members following this….

Hello All
So I made 4 burgers and 3 hotdogs on the 1250, using the sear grates flat side up and at 405 with new foil. Once the grill went to temp I waited for the sear grates to get to temp before putting them on. No issues during the cook. No fire. I turned the grill to 250 and waited about 15 minutes before turning it off at 330 degrees. I know I read this before somewhere… I kept the cover down until I saw black smoke coming out…I got a grease fire in the drip tray at turn off….ugh

Later that day I fired it back up cooking about the same amount of food. Cooked exactly the same way and reused the existing used foil. and I just hit the off button from grilling temp 405. Left the cover down the whole time. No fire no issue. During or after shut down. Yay.

Then, later, I Fired up the grill using the same foil for the third time. Temp 405. 2 burgers and two hotdogs. After cooking, I removed the food, went inside, and after a few minutes turned the grill off at 430 degrees. Temps rose up with no food on the grill for just a few minutes…. But no fire.

So it appears that turning the grill off at grilling temps resulted in no adverse fire etc. on this day.

Trying to reduce the heat before turning off the grill appears to jack up the fan/air, fuel/ auger mixture and somehow make it favorable for a fire. I can’t explain it. Those are my results in three grilling temp cooks of burgers and dogs in one day.

I think there’s a correlation between heat from under the drip tray igniting the grease in the drip tray,, so if there’s some mass or something to insulate grease in the drip tray from the heat under the tray, it could reduce the what I think is spontaneous combustion of the grease in the tray.

I’ve cooked bacon in the oven on a foiled baking sheet at 400-425 degrees for years and never had a grease fire in the oven…. leading me to believe that something is causing ignition of the grease.

I’ll hit the grill again tomorrow and will share results.

Then it’s on to experiment with long smoke for the first time on the 1250. Pork butt will be on the to do list this week.