Grease Fire

rugbywaz · Feb 10, 2013

Hey all.....here was the situation and I'm embarrassed but figured that i would/should share.

Started two butts at 9:00pm last night at 225 degrees in my Electric Refridgerator Smoker - 1500 Watt Element with a drip tray above the burner. Its basically a cookie sheet that sits 12 inches higher than the burner and catches drippings.

I put the butts on an upper rack and my AMPNS on the drip tray with a tinfoil tent. I was using pitmaster pellets.

Nice light smoke and all looked good so i left to a late night poker game at 10:30pm.

Phone rings at 12:00am.......FIRE.

It appears that my door latch popped open. This opened the door about 1.5" increasing airflow. This cause the pellets to catch fire !Instead of the nice smolder I had ( due to incerased Oxygen flow) we had a big burn. The flame from the AMPNS lit the grease from the butt (sitting on rack with no pan).

Wife opened door and put out fire........according to the wife, grease on Butts were actually on fire.

I'll post pictures later but figured that since we talk about smoking food we should consider saftey since where there is smoke; you could get a big fire. I did..........post mortem pictures will be posted later.

No one got hurt.....butts were saved......house did not burn down.

smoking b · Feb 10, 2013

Glad everything turned out ok! Thanks for posting for others to see & consider - it can happen to anyone & it's always when you least expect it!

smoke happens · Feb 10, 2013

Ouch, glad to hear everyone was ok. Be interesting to see those pics when posted.

roller · Feb 10, 2013

Yet you got off light.. Glad no one was hurt. That is why I never never never go off with the smoker going....I do not even go to sleep with it going...

BGKYSmoker · Feb 10, 2013

Yeah like Roller

Happy to hear everyone is safe, structure is good. Smoker and butts can be replaced.

One reason i never do an overnight smoke. Easier and safer to get up early and smoke all day while im up.

pgsmoker64 · Feb 10, 2013

Thanks for posting this!

I also agree with Roller....if I leave it someone is watching it.

Bill

supercenterchef · Feb 10, 2013

Just tell people you were going for the perfect bark!!

linguica · Feb 10, 2013

Don't feel bad, we've all had something similar happen. I was slow roasting a ham on a gas Weber when my neighbors burglar alarm went off. I called the cops and grabbed my copy of his front door key and ran up the hill. Cops came, canine unit cleared the house and I shut off the alarm. Determined it was an alarm malfunction. Oh damm, I forgot all about the ham. Got home and found my juicy ham was little more than a crispy dog treat. SH*T Happens.

jarjarchef · Feb 10, 2013

Yes it can happen. Like others have said i never leave one without a baby sitter. You never know what can happen. With my luck if it can go wrong it will go wrong!!!

My fire story is this. We had just purchased a Pitmaker Vault for work. it is a vertical water smoker. the fire chamber is maybe 10"-12" in height. We were chugging along cooking some ribs and shoulders. Well when the water cooks out of the pan and all you have is grease above a fire, then open the door. Well lets say it set me back on my heals a bit. We had huge flames pouring out of it. So we added water to the pan and it went out, but I lost a few arm hairs in the process. Yes I know you are not supposed to add water to a grease fire, but we did not want to loose the product and it was contained outside.....

rugbywaz · Feb 11, 2013

As promised, please find the pictures documenting the great grease fire of 2013

My refridgerator smoker - fire came out by door latch and on the top. Door latch opened somehow and let to much air into chamber.

024.JPG

rugbywaz
Feb 11, 2013

The door latch.........it popped open somehow.

026.JPG

rugbywaz
Feb 11, 2013

The interior.......just a bit of char

028.JPG

rugbywaz
Feb 11, 2013

Drip pad is over heating element 1500 watts.

AMPNS was to the left on drip pan covered with a tin foil tent.

030.JPG

rugbywaz
Feb 11, 2013

The rack bent from the heat!!! - below

029.JPG

rugbywaz
Feb 11, 2013

The next two are my PID and element - no damage

031.JPG

rugbywaz
Feb 11, 2013

032.JPG

rugbywaz
Feb 11, 2013

035.JPG

rugbywaz
Feb 11, 2013

This is the pork... in a burt sugar casket......outer coat tasted terrible but insides were very very good.....needed a finishing sauce!

225 degrees started at 9:00pm....grease fire around midnight.....back in around 1:30pm.....finished at 196 around 3:00pm the next day - long stall.........used a finishing sauce 1/3 cup white, 2/3 cup apple, a little ketchup for color, salt, and pepper to taste, garlic powder, brown sugar......

036.JPG

rugbywaz
Feb 11, 2013

Pulled and eaten before I got the final picture........sorry

Moral of story.......DO NOT LEAVE SMOKER UNATTENDED........

My wife had a good nose and has a future in our town fire department......Thanks Honey! Again she saves the day......

Be rich in all things that truely matter.

smoke happens · Feb 11, 2013

AMNPS looks like it survived! Surprised that it was hot enough to bend the rack but not damage anything else. Was that the rack that the meat on it?

kathrynn · Feb 11, 2013

Thank goodness someone was home! Glad yall are okay!

linguica · Feb 12, 2013

The steel racks were warped (partially melted). You are one lucky dude to be able to just take pictures.

chef jimmyj · Feb 12, 2013

Glad to hear all turned out well. The AMNPS is a great product but sitting in a pan of Grease is not a Safe thing to do. You can hang it below the bottom shelf with 4 large Paperclips straightened to form an " S " or fab up an additional dedicated shelf. I'm no smoker designer but your choice of Drip Pan seems quite large as to block a great deal of heat flow to the shelves and it looks really close to the hot element...JJ

rugbywaz · Feb 12, 2013

Yes, the bent rack had the meat on it. They were steel grill replacement racks. Wife said the pork butts looked like a burning ball of fire when the door was opened.

Fat caps were burning like a Ghost Riders Skull.

As for the AMPNS, this was only its third use in this smoker. Normally I use a smudge tray on top of the element at the bottom of the unit. In the future; the AMPNS will go to the bottom. That may work. The placement of the AMPNS may not have been the smartest thing i did that day.

As for placement of the drip tray, it has served well as a heat diffuser and anything that falls from the top gets caught before it hits the heating element. Covering in tin foil makes it easy to clean. There is enough gap in the front and back for heat to get around. Temps in the smoker are easily easily maintained between 250 and 275 after a hour or two warm up. Its a well insulated box...... but I am no smoker builder either. Any improvement suggestions would be most welcome.

And yes, we did get lucky. It could have been very bad. Fortunately a box like this should contain the fire until all the fuel (i.e. grease and wood pellets) were gone.

rugbywaz · Feb 14, 2013

Any comments on how to improve design would be appretiated.

brianillinois · Feb 15, 2013

Did your build have a drain at the bottom?

rugbywaz · Feb 19, 2013

No drain on bottom, pan above burner catches any dripping.

smokinclt · Feb 19, 2013

Glad to hear no injuries on this cook. Im no builder either but maybe same pan a little higher with a nice ball peen dent to give it an angle then drill a hole and fit a smallish steel pipe at an angle down and through the walls to drip the grease out of the unit to a bucket

? I am sure others will have much better ideas but sounds like a cheap and easy solution that might work.

Doug

go4abliss · Feb 19, 2013

Im glad that no one got hurt . Something to think about is moving it away from the house wall. Your very lucky, a friend of mine burn the side of his house with his smoker

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