How do I protect my pellet smoker from rust inside?

[albow]

My second hand pellet smoker is barely a year old, but some of the surfaces are showing rust on the inside, such as the lid on the burner pot and what I'll call the searing plate/heat diffuser. What's the best way to stop this from worsening? Is it a good idea to spray these surfaces with Pam (I love it when she comes over) or just rub a light coat of oil on them after it's cleaned and cooled off? Do I dare give it a light coat of some high temp Krylon? What should I do?

 

[DougE]

I coat all the surfaces inside the cook chamber with a high temp oil like canola and more or less season it like you would cast iron, by letting it run at 3~400 degrees.

 

[mike243]

No paint, not much of a way to stop it due to high heat, I just scrap it off and go on. fat drips down during cooking and helps slow it down. you could probably clean and oil right after it cools down enough to handle. I normally wait till next cook but if I don't start using it more I will have to clean and oil

 

[Gonna Smoke]

I don't have a pellet grill, but on my stick burners, I save some of my used frying oil and will mop the inside with that using a rag. That will burn off on the next cook and I'll reapply after it cools down...

 

[albow]

No paint, not much of a way to stop it due to high heat, I just scrap it off and go on. fat drips down during cooking and helps slow it down. you could probably clean and oil right after it cools down enough to handle. I normally wait till next cook but if I don't start using it more I will have to clean and oil

Yeah, I’m using mine too infrequently too

 

[Fueling Around]

I have a Traeger clone.
I don't do anything to the burn pot cover.
I cover the top side of the drip shield with foil.

 

[albow]

I have a Traeger clone.
I don't do anything to the burn pot cover.
I cover the top side of the drip shield with foil.

When you are through and you leave it on to protect it between uses, or do you mean foil only while you are cooking?

 

[sandyut]

Not sure there is much you can do fo r the parts you describe. They get the high heat and I would expect anything you put on will be burned off in no time…lid excluded - maybe just oil it.

If they are not terribly thin steel are they really at risk of rusting through?

Also - maybe see if you can buy spare parts for not much cash in case they are needed. Or run it till it dies and upgrade . Perfect shopping justification.

 

[tbrtt1]

Had my scratch and dent floor model old Treager Lil Tex (I think that is the model) for ~ 8 years or likely more. The burn pot and the heat deflector/diffuser will rust over time. Period. High, direct heat with do that. Mine did. And while there are many Pellet Smokers that are of much higher quality than most Traegers (no offense to Traeger users, cause, well......I are one), the best thing about having a Traeger is replacement parts are abundant.

My burn post rusted out: I replaced it. My ignitor rod went out: I replaced it. My controller died: I replaced it. My heat deflector/difusser warped somewhat and rusted a bit: I did not replace it. Do not at this point see the need to replace that. I brush it off to removed the loose rust and keep an old, small, filthy shop vac handy to suck that up as well as ashes and from the burn pot and the rest of the chamber prior to a cook.

I cover the drip pan with heavy duty foil, most of the time. If I don't, I just scrap off the grease and creosote. The underside of the drip pan is treated like the heat diffuser: brush the loose rust dust and vac it out.

I never found the need to "cure" the inside of the cook chamber. I have a large and a small scraper, so I can get into a some of the nooks and crannies, but I am not obsessed about getting every bit of fat and creosotes out. I scrape of the grease and creosote off the chamber walls and vac that out too. If you use it enough, it self cures on the inside and that handles any other potential rust from developing.

I keep saying one day I may upgrade, but since my Traeger was never a high end one in the first place, I may have spent a total of $150 bucks in replacement parts.

 

[Fueling Around]

When you are through and you leave it on to protect it between uses, or do you mean foil only while you are cooking?

I double or triple wrap the drip pan with HD foil. If cooking a really fat dripper, the top layer of foil gets pulled. Most of the time I let it go a couple of cooks

tbrtt1 gave the longer and better maintenance instructions.
My clone has performed OK, but has it's quirks in the controls. The cook chamber interior is all powder coated so it doesn't rust.