Fire in the auger yesterday

[rickorton]

Was cooking 2 racks baby back ribs yesterday at 225F. We were about 2hrs in and I noticed wisps of smoke coming out of the hopper. I opened the lid and a bunch of smoke poured out of the barrel. I thought there might be a grease fire happening so pulled off the ribs and started the shutdown cycle. Realized that was probably a bad idea so switched her back on and ran it at 150 while scooping out all the pellets from the hopper into a metal pan. Continued running at 150 while the temp gradually came down and the auger cleared the burning pellets out of the tube. While waiting for this to finish smoke was just pouring out of the hopper. Luckily the fire never made it all the way into the hopper.

 

[primeone]

Wow, what kind of pellets were you using? Glad it wasn't worse and caused any damage.

 

[CampWhatnot]

Which model snd any update thought on cause and has it been ok since?

 

[canyonblue737]

What is the best way to handle this? I've heard if it isn't a grease fire perhaps just pulling the electrical power will end up smothering the internal fire due to lack of oxygen and then when done you prime the auger over and over to get the burned debris out and then vacuum everything before actually priming with fresh pellets again. Disturbing. I run my new Traeger on my deck, its the main reason I bought it because I really wanted a smoker on the deck vs. my old Weber Smokey Mountain which for safety I would only dare run on a concrete block in the grass, something I tired of doing. Thanks.

 

[GrillMeister]

Proper maintenance, cleaning, and using good, dry pellets will prevent these issues. I bought my first Traeger years ago because of a drought and burn ban. I wanted a safe way to grill and the Traeger presented that.

Keep your Ironwood clean, vacuum the ash, change the foil on the drip pan regularly, don't let grease build up in the drain area, use good pellets and use the shutdown method of the Ironwood and you should be fine.

 

[GrillMeister]

Proper maintenance, cleaning, and using good, dry pellets will prevent these issues. I bought my first Traeger years ago because of a drought and burn ban. I wanted a safe way to grill and the Traeger presented that.

Keep your Ironwood clean, vacuum the ash, change the foil on the drip pan regularly, don't let grease build up in the drain area, use good pellets and use the shutdown method of the Ironwood and you should be fine.

 

[DAeats]

Was cooking 2 racks baby back ribs yesterday at 225F. We were about 2hrs in and I noticed wisps of smoke coming out of the hopper. I opened the lid and a bunch of smoke poured out of the barrel. I thought there might be a grease fire happening so pulled off the ribs and started the shutdown cycle. Realized that was probably a bad idea so switched her back on and ran it at 150 while scooping out all the pellets from the hopper into a metal pan. Continued running at 150 while the temp gradually came down and the auger cleared the burning pellets out of the tube. While waiting for this to finish smoke was just pouring out of the hopper. Luckily the fire never made it all the way into the hopper.

I had that happen this summer on my Ironwood. Not a blazing fire in the auger, more like it was smoldering. Pulled the plug, emptied the hopper, plugged back in and did the auger clean out running it in reverse. Totally my fault. A hard rain sprinkle passed overhead while I had the hopper lid up. I checked the pellets and they looked okay but when I emptied the hopper I found pellets that fell apart when touched. When the auger cleared there was a small pile of sawdust in the hopper. That caused the auger jam that started the problem.