Rust inside brand new Pit Boss smoker - need advice

[diversification]

Hi there,
I just bought and put together a brand new Pit Boss Platinum Laredo 1000 smoker, which is one of the ones that is only sold at Walmart. I thought I checked it pretty thoroughly before setting it up, but unfortunately some rust managed to hide from me til I stuck my head all the way inside the firebox and looked back toward the opening, and noticed a few rust spots - it looks like they screwed up the powder coating (or whatever the black coating is.)

Pit Boss customer service was great and wanted to ship me a new barrel / auger assembly, but they don't have any b/c it's a Walmart-only product. They advised I either take it to Walmart and exchange it (I'm inside 30 days and haven't used it yet) or I could keep it and sand it, and then season it. My instinct was to return it initially, but that means pulling the legs off (a big pain in the butt) so that I can put it in my vehicle, and then driving 1.5 to 2 hours (round-trip) because my local store now is out of stock of this unit.

Before I make my decision, I'm hoping you guys can shed some light on how this may affect the smoker. Below is a stock picture of the grill, with a circle showing where the rust spots are on the inside of the grill, and also the picture of the rust spots. This is my first smoker ever, and so I don't really know if this is something that a bit of sanding and seasoning will essentially fix and prevent for the most part, or if it's something that is worth going replacing despite the time / gas / hassle.

 

[forktender]

Wire brush and some high temp blk gloss paint, and it will be as good as new.

 

[Chasdev]

No paint in the cook chamber for me!
Spray some Pam on it and do the burn in, problem solved.
Once you get a nice layer or 3 of smoke and grease residue inside, it will never be exposed to air again.

 

[chesterinflorida]

That’s really nothing. Just bare metal rust patina. Spray Pam or some other oil on it and it will burn off on your first cook, and turn black with the smoke creosote going through it.

 

[diversification]

Thanks guys, that makes me feel better about just holding onto the unit, which is what I think I'll do.

 

[ravenclan]

My 700FB PitBoss had some rust inside of it. Wire brushed it clean then applied oil to it and did the break in on the unit. Still doing good today and that's been two years now.

 

[forktender]

No paint in the cook chamber for me!
Spray some Pam on it and do the burn in, problem solved.
Once you get a nice layer or 3 of smoke and grease residue inside, it will never be exposed to air again.

Good catch, I figured it was on the outside of the smoker.