Grill grate fires

[PriceMP5]

Turned on the traeger last night for some steaks so I set the grill on 500 and let my grates heat up but when I went out there to throw the steaks on I opened the grill up to a fire. I immediately put the grill into shutdown mode and closed the lid, but this is the second time this has happened since I started using grill grates. The first fire was very minor but this one was pretty severe so I’m a little concerned.
For people who our veteran grill grate users does this happen to you at all?
Outside temps were probably somewhere between 20-30 degrees so I don’t know if that comes into play at all as to why the fires have happened.
The grill was about due for a cleaning so I’m thinking that could’ve been the cause. But the first minor fire seemed to be on the grates only and it was a freshly cleaned grill.
Any suggestions?

 

[jp9724]

Turned on the traeger last night for some steaks so I set the grill on 500 and let my grates heat up but when I went out there to throw the steaks on I opened the grill up to a fire. I immediately put the grill into shutdown mode and closed the lid, but this is the second time this has happened since I started using grill grates. The first fire was very minor but this one was pretty severe so I’m a little concerned.
For people who our veteran grill grate users does this happen to you at all?
Outside temps were probably somewhere between 20-30 degrees so I don’t know if that comes into play at all as to why the fires have happened.
The grill was about due for a cleaning so I’m thinking that could’ve been the cause. But the first minor fire seemed to be on the grates only and it was a freshly cleaned grill.
Any suggestions?

Did you set the grill to a lower starting temperature and then crank it to 500 once it reached that or start it at 500?

 

[PriceMP5]

I did do a straight shoot to 500 last night, could be the culprit. Dang I never do that usually

 

[Flatlander]

What's the harm in preheating to 500°? I'm new to pellets but many of the recipes on the Traeger app state to set temp to high and preheat. Am I missing something? Thanks

 

[PriceMP5]

What's the harm in preheating to 500°? I'm new to pellets but many of the recipes on the Traeger app state to set temp to high and preheat. Am I missing something? Thanks

Doing a start up straight to a high temperature can cause over shooting, which can lead to a grill fire or the traeger fire pot over heating essentially. Usually I do start up around 325 and then I dial the temp up higher from there.

 

[jp9724]

Keep us updated if you encounter another fire! I also suspect it overloaded and when it caught it went for it. Kinda the downfall to a fan feeding the fire in this scenario...

 

[primeone]

Interesting. We need to figure out what's causing this!