Grease dripping from bottom of Timberline 850

[captgadget]

As I was using the Timberline 850 set at 350˚ grilling bacon I noticed grease dripping from the bottom of the grill. I pulled the tray out and as you'll see there is liquid grease covering the lid. Removed the lid and the pan inside is only 1/2 full of grease. The hole at the end of the grease tray is open leading to the pan so what do I check on to see why the drips?

 

[RemE]

I too just had this happen, slow cooking a brisket at 190F. This is my first leaking experience in 1 1/2 years of use of my 850.

Looking it over I believe that the hi temp fabric gasket must be leaking, allowing drippings to flow onto the top of the cover and out the back slot in the drawer where the cover tongue inserts.

I thought of inverting the cover, which has a nice slope into the pan. The down side to this is that the current setup pretty much seals the drip pan to the cooking chamber, and now it would allow the grill to vent a lot more exhaust and ash thru the drawer. I'm not sure that would be good.

Time for a call to service, probably need a new gasket to fix this.

 

[RemE]

UPDATE - I just spoke with Traeger Support, they were very nice, we went to video chat and I showed her where the grease had leaked. She researched and came back with this; The gasket seal for the grease drawer is NOT REPLACEABLE (fact check, not true). She was ready to replace the drawer and cover, I showed her that it was like new and was not the problem.

She added a 2nd support person and we recorded the video of me pouring a pitcher of water onto the grate drip pan to test the drip system. The water ran swiftly down and out into the drawer, and of course, it didn't leak at all.

I explained that this leak was really only occurring because of my longer cook with heat and a long slow flow of grease. She said to just take pictures next time and we could re-visit the situation. So, the next time I cook anything that will drip a lot, I'll be suspending a larger drip pan below the drawer to catch any leaks.

Last thought, do not open the drip drawer until after the grill is cool. There is a possibility that if you check the drawer while cooking, with any grease flowing, will run onto the top of the drawer at that time. After you close the drawer it will eventually run down the top and drip outside the back of the drawer. My seal looks fine, and my recollection was that I saw the spill, then checked the drawer thinking that it was overflowing, only to find that it was only 1/3 full at most.

Take your pictures and show them to service, my current thought is that the seal should be high a high temperature silicone accordion shaped boot. There should be an engineering retrofit kit made.

 

[captgadget]

Thanks for the leg work. Well I cleaned everything up and put a new pan liner in the drawer and will check it on my next cook. I was kind of thinking of maybe doing a brisket Sunday and that would be a good test. I too will have a pan or something to catch any drippings when I do my next cook. I’m glad I had the rubber mat underneath the grill at least I can clean it up instead of cleaning up concrete.

 

[RemE]

I was lucky as well, my Tupper case on my lower shelf has a concave top which caught the pool of grease. I have a brick patio and it wouldn't have been pretty.

 

[RemE]

Thanks for the leg work. Well I cleaned everything up and put a new pan liner in the drawer and will check it on my next cook. I was kind of thinking of maybe doing a brisket Sunday and that would be a good test. I too will have a pan or something to catch any drippings when I do my next cook. I’m glad I had the rubber mat underneath the grill at least I can clean it up instead of cleaning up concrete.

Quick update, I think I know what the deal is with the leaking. Take extra care to clean the final channel that dumps into the tray, the very end and the tube dropping into the drawer.

I'm taking pictures and will post up all the details of how this happens.

BTW, how old is your grill? and how much use? This seems to be a grease build up issue, probably made worse with high temp cooking.

 

[captgadget]

My grill is 5 months old with a 20 grills on it varying anywhere from 20 minute grill of ground beef up to 3 to 4 hours.

 

[DVSCYCLES]

My new Traeger Timberline 850 instructions and videos I watched were not too clear on the lid to the grease catcher so I put it in inverted so there was a concave area for grease to run down into the foil pan.
Seemed logical to me anyway. Did some pork ribs yesterday for 5 hours and all the grease went into the foil as it should. Mine was built in August so I assume it is the Gen 2.

 

[RemE]

My new Traeger Timberline 850 instructions and videos I watched were not too clear on the lid to the grease catcher so I put it in inverted so there was a concave area for grease to run down into the foil pan.
Seemed logical to me anyway. Did some pork ribs yesterday for 5 hours and all the grease went into the foil as it should. Mine was built in August so I assume it is the Gen 2.

Yes, I tried the same thing, however, the reason for the seal is to prevent the grill from exhausting down into the drip drawer. With the cover inverted for sure much higher volume of exhaust will blow down there, possibly burning things up.

Here's my post with more details after really going closely over the drain system today;

Traeger Forum

Traeger Pellet Grill & Smoker Owner's Forum. Discuss BBQ Tips, Recipes, Reviews, How-to's, and more!

www.traegerforum.com