Grease fire


 
Greg M

Greg M

TVWBB All-Star
A few days ago I was cooking a tri tip on my genesis 1000 and had a grease fire. It was in the bottom tray.

I didn't notice it at first because the old grill literally never flares up. I was kind of at a loss for what I should do? I ended up pulling the tri tip off and it did die down after a few minutes.

My question is what is the best way to handle grease fires? I'm a pretty experienced griller over many years but this was a first for me. I've read you don't put water on a grease fire right? Shut the lid and turn off the propane?

Fortunately it didn't harm the tri tip or the grill. I put the tri tip back on and finished it and it was maybe the best steak I've ever grilled LOL. And the grill cleaned up fine.
 
Greg M said:
A few days ago I was cooking a tri tip on my genesis 1000 and had a grease fire. It was in the bottom tray.

I didn't notice it at first because the old grill literally never flares up. I was kind of at a loss for what I should do? I ended up pulling the tri tip off and it did die down after a few minutes.

My question is what is the best way to handle grease fires? I'm a pretty experienced griller over many years but this was a first for me. I've read you don't put water on a grease fire right? Shut the lid and turn off the propane?

Fortunately it didn't harm the tri tip or the grill. I put the tri tip back on and finished it and it was maybe the best steak I've ever grilled LOL. And the grill cleaned up fine.
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Grease fire are common place with gas grills. The best thing to do is preheat your gasser to 500+ and if a fire occurs, let it burn off with the lid closed. If you open the lid, you better not be too attached to the hair on your arm
 
The best way to handle a grease fire is to avoid it in the first place. Clean that bottom tray regularly. When I used my Genesis with regularity I did it once every 10 days or so. It's now in my son in law's hands so I will train him. My Summit I look at every time I use it and clean as necessary. The Wolf needs a little more attention but mods I will do to it hopefully this year should make it less needy. Purposely "making" a grease fire though is not a good thing. It can warp or burn through the case aluminum fire box. So best to just do preventative maintenance
 
What LMichaels said. I had a nasty one in my Silver B years ago and it warped the firebox it got so hot. Never had one in my 1000 though. Learned my lesson on the "B".
 
Thanks for the advice. The crazy thing is I've been cooking on gas grills for probably 35 years and never had a grease fire.

The old grill wasn't that dirty but I guess it was dirty enough. These old webers lull you into a false sense of security since they work so well and never flare up much. On my old disposable grills they just stopped working when they needed cleaned.

I certainly don't want a warped firebox on my 1000 being it was my father's and has a lot of sentimental value.

Thanks again.
 
If you've never had a grease fire in a gas grill than you really have not been cooking LOL. My first gasser was a Sunbeam (MANY years ago). I ruined many a meal on that thing until I made an invention for it I called "convection tubes". They actually worked VERY well and made that old Sunbeam dead even from corner to corner, almost impossible to flare up and it had very good convection air flow. My Broilmaster was also notorious for flaming up if not cleaned regularly as is my Wolf. I don't find my Weber grill(s) any better or worse than anything else
 
LMichaels said:
If you've never had a grease fire in a gas grill than you really have not been cooking LOL. My first gasser was a Sunbeam (MANY years ago). I ruined many a meal on that thing until I made an invention for it I called "convection tubes". They actually worked VERY well and made that old Sunbeam dead even from corner to corner, almost impossible to flare up and it had very good convection air flow. My Broilmaster was also notorious for flaming up if not cleaned regularly as is my Wolf. I don't find my Weber grill(s) any better or worse than anything else
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I had one of those old Sunbeams too. That's been so long ago I don't remember much about it except the heat was really uneven. I think it did at least last 5 or 6 years which is longer than a char broil and a Kenmore I had.

Dustin I do have one of those plastic scrapers dedicated to the grill. I guess I'm just not using it often enough.
 
I had one on a Genesis Gold C.... I put it on high to burn off the grease and came out 10 minutes later to flames licking up the front of the grill literally higher than the lid. I couldn't get near it to shut it down so I did what you aren't supposed to do and sprayed it down with a hose from about 20 feet away. That put the fire down quickly and let me get close to the grill to shut down the propane. I flooded the grease tray and the fire was gone. Luckily it's a stainless grill and it was only sooty and had no damage. It was the inlaw's grill at the time and they never ever cleaned the grease tray which cause the fire. I still have that grill to this day and it's going a strong as ever.
 
For grease fires, it's good to have a box of baking soda on hand. It will put it right out and makes for easy clean up. As for cleaning, I pull the tray once or twice a year and give it a good scraping. How often it should be cleaned depends on how often you grill as well as what you are cooking.
 
My brother just laughs at grease fires. He has a landscaping company, so he's out and about a lot with a pickup truck. His theory is that a lot of people get scared when one happens and throw out the grill. In some cases, I'm sure, there is a demand to "throw that thing out!" ..... So he grabs the grills, makes sure they work and sells them!
 
DaveW said:
For grease fires, it's good to have a box of baking soda on hand. It will put it right out and makes for easy clean up. As for cleaning, I pull the tray once or twice a year and give it a good scraping. How often it should be cleaned depends on how often you grill as well as what you are cooking.
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Didn't know about that use for baking soda. Thanks. Once or twice a year is about how often I cleaned my grills in the past. But I do grill more often now (since I obtained my 2 webers) so I think I need to up the frequency.
 
I used a spray bottle with filtered water on flare-ups. I also line my drip tray with 2 layers of foil. When one gets too bad I just peel it off and toss it in the trash. For the drop pan, I foil it too and place a piece of paper towel in there to soak up any grease that makes it that far. Also, toss in the trash simple.
 
LMichaels said:
If you've never had a grease fire in a gas grill than you really have not been cooking LOL. My first gasser was a Sunbeam (MANY years ago).
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I still have my Sunbeam gas grill, and it does a great job on chicken. Much better then the old char-rock models.

The bottom of it is designed to come off for cleaning.

Sorry for the hijack.
 
No worries. Mine was the old lava rock type. I bought it in the mid 80's. It was still going strong with the convection tube mod I had made to it. I gave it to a good friend who had moved here from England, and he did some mods to my mod and it was even better, but then he bought a Weber and I got the old Sunbeam back. Later around early 2000's my father in law bought a lake place in central MN so the grill was brought up there and left until he finally passed away in 2005. Wife was wanting to bring it back when they were cleaning out and selling the lake house. I told her to leave it for next owner. Who knows they may still be using it LOL. Bottom line that thing was doing it's job very well for about 20 years.
 
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