Flare ups and grease fires. Did something change?

[Jack Henry]

Curious if anyone else is experiencing this. I've used Weber gassers for many years and had several different models. My most recent was a Spirit 3 burner purchased last winter (don't recall the model, but I believe it was the last one with a side burner that was not made in China).

I am noticing much worse flare ups with this model. I'm wondering if it is related to the sort of "pyramid" shape of the grates with very sharp angles to the flat side (not something I recall with previous models). Seems like fat, etc., sort of gets trapped under there.

Worse, if cooking anything fatty like burgers and chicken thighs, I am getting a grease fire almost every time. With past Webers, I've made a point to scrape out the grease trap, I don't know, every 4 or 5 cooks (or if I noticed stuff igniting on a cook). With Spirit, I really have to scrape it before every clean. And last night, after cleaning, cooked chicken thighs and still had a grease fire.

Not sure what the design change could have been, if anything. Or maybe because it is a smaller grill than my prior Webers, it just operates a bit different (heat source closer to the pan?).

Anyway, wondering if anyone else has had this problem. Thanks.

 

[Bruce]

I tend to get a grease fire after doing a long slow cook on something like a rotisserie chicken and then the next use where I grill some steaks at full power. Once that accumulated grease from the chicken or whatever heats up to full power it ignites. I don't know that the newer designs on the grills are more prone to this than the older ones however.

 

[Jack Henry]

Thanks, Bruce. Yeah, I've had that happen for sure. Like I said, this is a strange thing that I've only noticed with my new one. Totally scraped out box and it still does it. I might getting some particularly fatty thighs and burgers lately, not sure.