Viral Traeger Exposion Explained (My Opinion)

Anytime your grill shuts off with an error or loses power and is not able to shut down properly check the burn pot before restarting. The errors are there for a reason.
When you try to restart your grill with a pot that has residual fuel the air flow is restricted therefore it can’t breathe properly, it's like throwing a huge pile of leaves on fire. It will smoke like crazy. Smoke has gases in it. Once the pellets do ignite all these gas will ignite. Just like leaving the gas on your grill too long with the lid shut as your trying to get the igniter to ignite. As the gas builds when the electronic igniter does ignite you can get a small explosion. Opening a lid on any grill propane, pellet or otherwise during startup is a good and safe practice.

[@redwolf8539]

I LOVE my Traeger, however this happened to my nephew, I learned the warning signs and when I have to restart it, I watch for excessive smoke and open the lid until the heavy smoke dissipates. Knowledge is king. Great video!

[@StewartHaasNewman]

This is why I always make sure to complete the shut down cycle and I ALWAYS clean out my burn pot after every cook. With a shop vac and a brush. Not only does it help avoid explosions but it keeps the grill running clean and smoothly.

[@TheVikingSailor]

Traeger manual specifically says to start the grill in the "Smoke" position with the lid open until the grill is lit then close the lid and set your temp as needed.

[@thatjokerperson7062]

@@davehart7943 ours backdrafted when we bumped it from smoke to cook and kept the lid open

[@tomgates316]

It also says if you get the LEr ‘Low Error’ to turn off and unplug the grill until you clean out the burn pot and get it ready for initial startup again. Treager can flame out and leave a very small amount of pellets barely smoldering. It will try to keep adding pellets to burn to raise the temp to the current setting. But sometimes that doesn’t happen. You get a burn pot that is spilling over with fresh pellets. This will give the LEr error. Absolute worst thing to do at this point is to simply go through normal startup. This will heat up the hot rod underneath an overfull burn pot. The pellets will start to smolder, as usual, but when they flame over, there is that huge excess of pellets that lights and the convection fan works like a blast furnace on this pellet pile. You will get a huge amount of dirty gray smoke just before they flame over. When the full burn pot lights, the fumes that have built up under the cover will flash over and cause an explosion that will ‘at least’ bang the cover open an slam shut. The grill will also reach temps over 750F. Not built for that. Any time a pellet grill gets a Low Error, first thing to do is turn it off and unplug it so the hot rod and fan absolutely can not come on. The burn pot must then be cleared.

[@BOBcrazyguitarguy]

Most people dont sit down and read their manual first to last page. I know mine did emphasize that, but maybe there should be a fail-safe? Because theres many people who dont have much common sense.

[@MichaelRei99]

@@thatjokerperson7062 you are full of it, or really am dumb.

[@MichaelRei99]

@@BOBcrazyguitarguy BS ! You didn’t read the manual. It was provided to you and saying people don’t read manuals is the stupidest excuse ever!!!

[@jhall154ify]

Thanks for sharing John. I avoided the same situation with my Silverback when I had a flame out. I cleared out the excess pellets... and began startup again. Take the time to read the manual... never assume there’s nothing wrong 👏🏼👏🏼🤙🏼

[@mustbe_nick9936]

Thanks for showing the example. New Traeger owner here who accidentally unplugged his grill during a smoke and just replugged it in and tried to reignite it. Once I noticed the orange flame at the bottom glowing 5x the normal level of orange I immediately put it into a proper shutdown cycle. Quickly cleaned out the fire box and was able to restart the cook. Hopefully the meat isn’t ruined by a brief break but I know at least my whole house won’t be gone now 😂😂😂

[@elbob17]

There is a little bit of a learning curve with pellet grills. I didn't realize it until after I purchased one. I had two days to watch videos of success and a lot of mishaps before mine arrived. I'm prepared. Nice video.

[@kickrocks1016]

Great video John! I am thankful that I watched a few of these shutdown vids before I had it happen to me. I've had 1 flameout in 2 years, I am so glad I DID KNOW that the buildup would cause a giant fire! Your video is EXCELLENT for any newbie to see and understand, well done sir!

[@lefebeer]

Happened to me. Luckily didn’t damage the grill but did scare the crap out of me. Learned quickly of what to do the next time that happens. Great breakdown

[@arthurirwin8235]

Wood gas is pretty amazing stuff and is released during the charcoal process so i can see how you could have a dangerous built up that would cause an explosive situation. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and insight.

[@chucklucas8747]

Clean your smoker after 2-3 times its easy an its safe to use

[@ShopperPlug]

no thats not gunna help, these digital pellet smokers are dumb and can be easily fooled. u need to add a pressure release valve which is few bucks and will avoid this explosion.

[@deplorableredneck4.02]

Bull I cleaned mine out next use it caught fire 🔥..

[@Big_Ballz1983]

Clean mine after every use. Never had any issue at all.

[@MarkPhippard]

I like that you took the time to edit this and keep it flowing with examples. I made this same mistake when I first got my grill. Had it go out during a long cook and I tried to restart without checking it. My grill was full of pellets so of course I got a big fire and a lot of smoke. Thankfully I was able to get it shut off and extinguished before it got out of hand, but I learned my lesson to always check after an error or unclean shutdown.

[@johnbazyk9976]

Mark Phippard thanks. Making videos is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Going to keep working on it.

[@lordvader5706]

Had that happen too during burn I ....I pooped a little .

[@GardenDocSC]

Excellent video and excellent explanation. People need to understand how their pellet grill works, to avoid such "high drama" events. Thanks.

[@ActingCareerExpert]

This video saved me! Thanks so much. I have a grilla grill and it's exploded no less than 4 times. I never thought to take it apart and look inside. My fire pot was FILLED with old soot and pellets. Thanks again

[@pennychilds4171]

This just happened with my GM grill. Thank you for this video. I will always check the pot before restarting from now on. The grill had shut down for some reason, I was not sure why. So I restarted. Won't do that again.

[@marythomson1952]

This is excellent! Thank you. We just had a fire yesterday!

[@georgegarton8736]

Excellent advise, very articulate presentation. Yes follow instructions, never has happened to me and I have 4 grills. Be safe

[@CRworbs2]

Thanks John... Great informative video! All should take a look see at this video. Very interesting and always safety first!

[@sdgoes99]

I have a grill coming in and I wasn’t sure what caused it. Your video made things very clear, between your video and actually reading the manual I should be good. Thanks John

[@Mike-ik7dl]

Great video another thing I can add is never start the grill with the lid closed once your fire pot is burning then close your lid I have had one since the first traeger never had an explosion thanks again

[@MrFletch0806]

This happened to me. It made me very nervous to use my grill afterwards. I had no idea why it happened, but I do now. Thanks for the video!

[@bjpeak-graham167]

Happened to me on my second cook. It was a windy day and I think that it started the problem. The BLOW came AFTER I unplugged the unit. Lots of smoke, I closed the lid, unplugged, took uncooked chicken through the door and BOOM. Startled me so I thought it had blown out my patio doors. This Traeger made me so nervous but the Traeger ppl were great. We concluded that it might have been the combo of high winds and dust from pellets caused by moisture, even though I keep it clean. My take away is that if I don't use the pellets for more than two weeks, replacement them because of all the rain. Still I feel it is way too much work. I grilled on my propane at least 5 days a week even with snow. Now, I haven't grilled since the incident 4 months ago. Buying a propane. I won't abandon it completely but . . .

[@johnwoodcox5374]

Great info! I am a recent pellet user and appreciate the warning. Thanks!

[@DenaInWyo]

Brand new to pellet grills, and just got my first one this weekend, a camp chef woodwind. I was really struggling with learning how to get the thing turned on properly (turn the dial, click the dial, it's not super intuitive, at least not for me.) I really wish they'd had better instructions in the manual. It was all an explanation of what each setting does, but not "Step 1: set the temp." I feel like an idiot, but if you've never used one... But anyway, after several youtube videos, which also don't really clearly explain step by step, I finally had it going through the startup. The problem was, all my failed attempts had a bunch built up in there and I wish I had a video of myself ducking and covering when I heard the BANG. I got super lucky that it was very minor. No grill damage or people damage. Sure was a learning experience though! I wish I'd seen this video yesterday. I understand personal responsibility, and this was totally on me, but Camp Chef needs to do better with their instruction manual, too. But, here I still am, and excited to keep learning!

[@MichaelRei99]

Sorry but Camp Chef puts very concise directions in the manual . And the customer service is top notch. If for any reason you are not able to use the smoker properly is YOUR fault not Camp Chefs. You’d have to have a pretty low IQ to not understand the directions.

[@lvc394]

Thanks you may just be a life saver. I did not know why the lid needed to be open at startup. I just did it because it said to do it. Sometimes I need to shut it off if I am in a hurry. From now on I will check the pot before using the grill. Thanks again.

[@paulsq_]

Great info for people in this video. People who own or are looking to purchase a pellet grill need to know these kind of things can happen. Awesome share here cheers

[@cutweldngrind]

When I bought my Traeger I told the guy the way I thought it was to be ran and he told me " thats how you blow up" lol

[@Adam-lv8sz]

Im here cause I blew my smoker up. I literally did exactly what he said not to do. Great video. Now I know

[@Adam-lv8sz]

@Schmelly G. I have a real smoker as well. But i have 4 toddlers and this is safer to use when they are home and i dont have to take my attention off them to man the smoker.

[@liamobrien7404]

Really appreciate this video as it helped me understand the flame outs better! Will keep lid open at start up going forward and make sure I stay on top of cleaning. Thanks again

[@takeniteasyfriend]

I’ve gathered the same conclusion also Liam: 1) clear the firebox (2) visually check firebox got cleared, not assuming the drop door cleared all residuals (3) keep lid open on initial start up for a few minutes to avoid incomplete combustion (the flame “backdraft” others speak about).

[@123valve]

Traeger instructions says to turn the grill on with lid open until you see the temperature is above 125 degrees before you close the lid. After you get the grill up to 125 degrees then you can close the lid and then raise the temperature up to the desired cooking temperature. There is reasons why the unit comes with instructions.

[@alexcecenas2531]

Thanks for posting this. I’ve had my traeger for 2 years and foolishly have made this mistake before. I allowed the hopper to run out of pellets and this caused my grill to “superheat”. It went into “super smoke” mode with a quick surge in temperature, which of course the first sign that something is dangerously wrong. I immediately turned the unit off, and opened lid and the hopper door to quickly cool the unit down. You’ll likely hear some sort of “pop” as it adjusts for the influx and burn off of the pellets in the popper. Thank you again for showing us the science on how these work, this will help me avoid problems in the future.

[@richsun247]

This is exactly what happened to me today. Man it scared me to death

[@jillianelliott2899]

Great video! Thanks for the information. I had this happen to me for the first time and I’ve been using the Traeger for quite some time but this video explained it. Totally 100% user error.

[@shannonbowman1086]

Thanks for taking the time to make the video.

[@firefighter12301]

You touched on the true point at the end. It’s not so much the extra pellets getting pushed in as it is all the smoke building from the previously burning pellets and more being added to it. When the smoker is filled with smoke and the pellets finally ignite, it’s actually the smoke that then explodes. That’s why it clears up instantly. Good video though

[@Elembytes]

Great video. I find it interesting that GMG talks about what to do and how to restart the grill if you lose power. I hope that is how they bypass an explosion. I know with my Traeger that is 14 years old I have always opened the lid while starting the grill. Now I am selling it and going to a GMG Daniel Boone Prime grill. I find it interesting that you can start up the grill remotely with your phone app. To me that could cause this very thing to occur. I don't mind using the remote app but I think for starting I will always do so with the lid open until I know it is fired up. Hopefully I will never have a flame out either but live in a rural area where electricity does have issues. Thank you for the great video John!

[@jesseyjulson1967]

Good tip. Never blew my traeger up. But have been guilty of just shutting it off and not doing a cool down. But now I know so ill.make sure to do it every time now

[@TheRevealerXX]

Thanks for the video, really helpful as a first time pellet grill owner

[@beebroot]

I agree with you there are also other problems with treager being temperamental. I have experience a few hopper fires and a massive grease fire. You have to make sure the unit is level, clean and clear of debris. I for one would never leave it unattended like so many people do because when things go wrong they go really wrong fast. So have your fireproof gloves and your baking soda ready and fire up those pellets!

[@ATOMark]

Great video. I heard about this and people talking crap about Traeger. Great to know exactly what happened.

[@SHOCKSTRUT]

What an informative video. I am currently looking at pellet grill reviews before purchasing my first one and I had no idea that those precautions were necessary in case of an aborted grill start up. I work on jet aircraft for a living and I have seen what happens when there is residual fuel left in the tailpipe of a turbine engine. Violent doesn't even come close to describing what happens. I had no clue that a grill fueled by pellets could cause such an explosion. Thanks for making this video brother. You may have very well just saved me from possible injury so a subscription is in order. PEACE!

[@DenaInWyo]

sub here too because after my rookie near miss, I want to learn all I can to keep from losing body parts ;)

[@jeffgreenfield7025]

Happened to me once with 20lbs of pork on the grill. ( i knew about the possibility) I really like the camp chef idea of auto re-light if you get a flame out during cooking. At least the videos i've seen they seem to have it.

[@robertsalas3984]

I was looking into a treager but i see yours and i want that one now has the super cool wheels and looks awsome

[@lifewithjonathan5277]

The camp chef grills have a special restart mode just in case you lose power or had a flame out.

[@RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS77]

That seems like a common-sense feature it'd be nice for more of them to have.

[@catlady8324]

How evenly do those Camp Chef Pellet Grills cook? I love all their features including the big square back section. My Pit Boss Classic 700 is (Noticibly) hotter in the LR and cooler in the RF sections. It’s still way better than any gas grill, is that normal?

[@lifewithjonathan5277]

@@catlady8324 it's about the same. When I smoke meat I always put it the furthest away from the fire pot. Mine has 2 heat zones. One for grilling and one for low and slow.

[@lovera3878]

That happened to me. Now i know why. The power went out and i restarted the grill. It did cause a big explosion but it was scary at the time and there were flames inside just like a regular grill with very greasy hamburgers being cooked. This video enlightening.

[@1winlock]

I had the same thing happen with my Camp Chef. I had no damage and it still works fine after I cleaned things up.

[@przmatic_]

I just bought a Traeger Bronson 20. I did some research after I got it and became nervous hearing about all these issues. My understanding is this could happen with any smoker and a lot of the times it's user error. I also found that a lot of people want to pile on to the issue because they NEED to share their story. Even if they did the same thing the others have done. This compounds the problem, and makes it seem like the smoker itself is the issue, but it isn't. It's people doing the same things without following instructions and running into similar issues. Thank you for the clarification.

[@sled_dog_gaming3566]

Exactly. People who aren't capable of understanding that THEY did something wrong are the bane of my existence. So many people mentally peak at an early age because they aren't able to look in the mirror and realize how to get better at things. It is always somebody or something elses fault. Never theirs.

[@liliann95]

OMG....it just happened to me. Scary!!! It shut off with an error but I turned it off to clear it then turned it back on. WRONG....geez!! THANKS for THIS VIDEO! I totally GET IT!! THX

[@themontanan5892]

You are absolutely correct I had the same thing happen to me. I was cooking a rack of ribs when a person that will not be named turned the switch off on the wall in the house by the time I saw it cooled down and when I restarted it it was smoking a lot and than woof. It didn't take the lid off but the ribs ended up on the deck. So sad.

[@t0ej0b]

Love my Camp Chef, all I have to do is pull a knob to empty the unburned pellets or ash into the dump cup and empty it!

[@rlcunningham4106]

All grill should have that option. Maybe I'll try to find a way to modify mine.

[@sv.crypto5435]

Nice - Thanks - Nice to know this type of information.... Just bought a pellet grill for the first time....

[@timdrake9326]

Thanks for this video. We love our traeger and will never go back to gas. Nothing like the flavor and even heating.

[@takeniteasyfriend]

*Thanks. A must-see video for anyone new to pellet smokers ⚠️

[@brandonluxford6871]

Great video. I just got my 1st pellet grill and watched alot of videos on it. The biggest complaint i have seen is the mound of pellets in the burn pot. I vacuum mine out aftet every use and put just a small amount of pellets back in as a primer.

[@zleggitt1989]

You shouldn't add more pellets as a primer... These grills automatically feed pellets in to start it adding more could cause excess smoke and this situation could happen

[@290steam]

Don't need a primer ever.

[@slayerarrow]

Trauger also recommends leaving the lid open when starting the smoker. I have two of them. My first one i had a mini explosion before i read the instructions. I use shutdown mode and clean with a shop vac regularly and have had no issues with either smoker for a couple years

[@r2db]

I have used a pellet smoker for over a decade now. It does not matter what brand you have. When lighting it up, leave the lid open. Turn it on and stand back a bit. There will be some thick smoke and then it will sound like a jet engine with a lot less smoke. At that point you can close the lid. You do not need to clean the fire pot between uses or after a power outage. Just open the lid and restart the smoker. The only thing that needs cleaning with every use is the cooking surface for food, and usually I crank up the temperature as high as it goes after I am done cooking to make the food stuck to the grates easier to remove, followed by scrubbing with a brass grill brush. About once per year I completely clean it out, but overall they are much less maintenance than other outdoor cooking equipment I have used and I have not had a lot of issues with excessive ash accumulation from the pellets I have used, but as they say your mileage may vary. Some pellets might have a ton of ash and require much more frequent cleaning. The biggest issue I have had has been that some of the supplied hardware was not stainless steel, and that hardware rusts over time.

[@jomama8577]

The lid can be open and this happen as well. Happened to me on several occasions. If the pellet get slightly damp they wont burn properly and smoke much more and take longer to ignite. The smoke when this happens seems heavier than normal and linger near the open grill. I understand its user error as well, but sure is fun to watch.

[@jorgesandoval8244]

Great informational video!

[@NicSchilling]

Thanks for the video. I've always wondered what the shutdown countdown is doing on the Rec Tec when I press the power off.

[@jonathanreeder9894]

Great video explaining it. My question is what do you do when you have a flame out? Just wait for those pellets to burn? Or clean the unburned pellets out?

[@herbiesnerd]

Traeger should install a delay feature that delays the auger from turning for a full minute while the fan ventilates the bbq.

[@jarodmorris611]

They can't try to design around every stupid thing a person could do.

[@ShopperPlug]

no thats not gunna help, these digital pellet smokers are dumb and can be easily fooled. they need to add a pressure release valve which is few bucks and will avoid this explosion.

[@herbiesnerd]

@@ShopperPlug pressure wasn’t the cause here. I’m retired career fireman. You’ve heard of backdraft from the movie? Well, this isn’t a backdraft. What it is is another dangerous phenomenon that firefighters face on most every structure fire. It’s called flashover. Smoke, although it’s the byproduct of fire consuming something that will burn, is full of combustible gasses that can still ignite. If you contain all that superheated smoke in a box, like a room or in this case a bbq, and then you get it hot enough it will ignite rapidly mimicking a small explosion. That traeger flashed over and it had nowhere to go when it lit off. For it to have been a backdraft, which is an oxygen starved environment, it would have exploded like this when he opened the door. This exploded when all that trapped smoke was heated again from the pile of pellets igniting. Your pop off pressure release idea sounds good in theory but it blew the lid completely off. That would have to be one hell of a pop off valve to relive that much pressure in a flash. If he turned it back on, and the traeger had a simple delay added into the circuit to run the convection fan for a minute or so before it began to heat the pot and start the auger, that smoke could have been ventilated-no explosion. Firefighters ventilate every structure fire to get rid of heat and smoke, preventing flashover.

[@ShopperPlug]

@@herbiesnerd You're right, I actually never knew the exact science of wood smoke being flammable which can ignite and explode. It is somewhat a user error and a pop out safety release value doesn't seem it can help. I think the best thing that could be done is that the company adds a metallic lid attached to a solenoid which can cover the fire pit depriving it from oxygen due to electronic error or power outage. This will stop more smoke to be produced and will require user to investigate and reset the smoker. On top of that the company should also add a mini powerful fan blower which can exhaust out all the smoke in the chamber within 10 - 20 seconds which is connected to a sperate battery. There can be sensors implemented inside the chamber to see the levels of carbon monoxide too.

[@12370ts]

@@ShopperPlug I'm thinking the best thing the company should add is a set of instructions (in multiple languages) explaining how to use the appliance properly...

[@staseghrrhgesats1946]

I have not seen any of these with a multispeed auger. The augers run on timed intervals via the temp and logic in the board.

[@jomama81ranch8]

That explains our burn out on our Traeger! I had stepped outside a few weeks ago and I heard what sounded like our grill was running?? Sure enough, even though the cover was on... our grill had turned on because one of our outdoor cats had put their paws up on the side and flipped on the switch... which happened once before! Of course I just shut it off and that was that. But a week or so later I went to start it to grill some chops and got the flame out! The hopper had overloaded the burn unit with pellets and overflowed into the outer chamber and caused a big fire. I don't think anything was hurt, but I shut it off until the weather is good enough to completely clean it out. It hadn't been that long since I had cleaned it, so it didn't have a lot of grease and sludge build up, but I was baffled by the fire!

[@willelliott5052]

Another possibility when the fan has stopped unexpectedly is an auger or hopper fire. I don't know how unlikely that may be, but some more recent designs locate the auger well above the firepot, dropping the pellets for some distance into the fireport, so as to decrease that risk. Some designs also include a slide between the auger and firepot, separating them laterally as well.

[@rma7921]

👍nailed it, smoke has potentially flammable gas. When you keep the lid closed on startup, you can build up this gas; then you're asking for it. Always follow manufacturers instructions: 1.Keep the lid open during startup. 2. Let the pellet grill complete it's cycle during shutdown.

[@CarefreeStian]

On recent Traeger models (like my Traeger Pro 575) you're supposed to start up the grill with the lid closed and set at the desired temperature, so I guess they changed a bit compared to the older models.

[@rma7921]

O man, that's news to me.... embrace the technology!👍

[@lawrencedelong9748]

Really great video. OH YEA !

[@timbryan57]

If I stopped to clean out my traeger every time it malfunctions, it would take a week to smoke a butt. And four bags of pellets. My traeger is now a dust collector in the garage.

[@prljamfan]

Great video John. I think this is an extremely important lesson for pellet grill users. I once had a flame out and was unaware what happened. When I took the grill apart I saw a mound of pellets sitting on top of the fire pot. This could’ve easily turned into a bad situation if I restarted without cleaning it up. Keep up the great work.

[@johnbazyk9976]

Knowledge is power my friend. The more you know the fewer problems you have!

[@TimBeitz-vp2fw]

You also made a mistake when you started your grill Open the lid and start your grill on smoke wait 5 minutes then close the lid and set your temperature.

[@jaywarren3505]

Shoulda bought a camp chef, their ash cleanout system is the best.

[@AzTurboMini]

@@jaywarren3505 it can happen to ANY pellet grill idiot.

[@kermann-bv8um]

Thank you for explaining this

[@chpsuey]

Had this exact thing happen on my Rec Tec. The only difference was mine had a flame out, I noticed the temp dropped while swimming in the pool. It was bellowing out yellow smoke so I opened the lid and BOOM! Pissed me right off

[@o.w.dobbins6927]

Never allow your Rec Tec to swim in your pool, ever.

[@sconner]

Although you are spot on saying it’s user error, look up “wood gasification “. Short story is smoldering wood with no flame produces a flammable or explosive gas. You can literally run an engine on it.

[@Bigdaddy200042223]

Great answer this would explain my situation because I did everything by the book watch the shutdown procedure but still got a fire in my pellet box

[@paultyler5989]

thanks for the explanation. Side question. Where did you get the replacement cover for the Burner box assembly you have in the video? My Treager is in need of a replacement... Might be a option. Thanks in advance

[@clintcaldwell7232]

This exact thing with exception of the lid blowing off happened to me. The grill was running 350 deg. I checked again and it was 90 deg. So I selected smoke (start) with lid closed. Then boom. Pit Boss, it has worked flawlessly ever since but I wont leave it unattended for a long time.

[@acdii]

Replace the control with a Savannah Stoker, never have to worry about a flame out again, and more precise temperature control. I also have a Pit Boss, had the same thing happen mid smoke, and BOOM. Why these don't have a re-ignite system, I don't know.

[@bigneilh]

That silverback looks very nice!

[@richsun247]

Had my first pellet grill explosion today. This video helped. Scared the shit outta me

[@Snek03]

What happened to yours? Same thing?

[@Zhukov-3]

I just had a slight explosion! I didn’t know this was possible, conditions must have been perfect!

[@novakenss]

My Traeger began to drop in temp yesterday. Then it only put out smoke and not enough heat. I moved the ribs into the house oven. I took it apart and the fire pot was full of pellets and smoldering. The induction fan had died. I'm glad I shut it down. I'm replacing the fan, the auger motor and the firepot and fire rod. Should be much safer and a better smoker soon.

[@overson15]

My camp chef says to leave the lid open during start up

[@ericgreen3275]

yep!.. Happened to me and it was a pretty large explosion!. not as bad as that other video though. And you're correct, mine had shut off and i didn't know and turned it back on. THANKS for the info so i'll never do it again.

[@nitrojunkie22]

Another thing......wood gas is flammable. You will get a build up of smoke and wood gas, like the dude in the video had, and if it can't escape fast enough, it could ignite. I just experienced this phenomenon a couple of weeks ago. I have just a plain Jane Masterbuilt electric smoker, and when I got the initial smoke rolling, I had a REAL GOOD "pfoomph!" (I spell it like it sounds). I didn't have my top damper open enough, and the heater element was enough to ignite the trapped wood gas. Just food for thought (no pun intended).

[@tomschumacher5434]

Awesome video!

[@malimag99]

That grill looks so clean!! Is it new? If not, can you make a video on the cleaning maintenance.

[@anthonymentalewicz5143]

It's like you tube can read my mind... Instant subscribe, now let me tell you my horror story from today. All the videos I've watched on it... you just explained perfectly and I'm almost ashamed to type this out as a father and the family "grill master" (these pellet grills are cheat codes - my mom and dad never had butter thyme garlic basted steaks at home, so I made them once and now I'm a master chef to my parents, I love it because my brothers and sisters know exactly what I do and it pisses them off because its nothing special, just reverse seer like every KZbin video on steaks ever made says.) Anyway earlier today, i started up some short ribs, got it up to 350... realized I bought an extention cord so I can point the exhaust away from the house... I'm ashamed to say it but since I'm commenting you know what I'm about to type... I unplugged, not even thinking about a shut down, and I thought "don't open the lid and trap the heat and move it quick!" so I was able to get the grill in the direction I wanted on my porch, and now comes the juice... thank goodness I didn't have a blow out, but my hopper caught fire, TWICE! I cleaned the hell out of it, TWICE! I looked up the number one reason and they said "damp pellets" or "smoke mode with all lids open and empty hopper" and I'm handy enough to figure this out (8 years certified machinist) so now I'm drinking a beer, open up KZbin for a second and your the first suggestion. I just had too much fuel loaded... and now that explains the excessive sparks too - tons of sparks escaping from under the sear plate when it was fully covered. Burned my short ribs too, but knocked my sauce out of the park so I was able to salvage more than I should have. And now I see the my short sighted mistake. Thank you.

[@tomashton3345]

Whats nice about pellet grills is that it’s so easy to remove the the grill rack and drip pan to clean and vacuum out the bottom and pot that there is no excuse for the kind of problems people encounter with pellet grills. The same is true for gas grills, but the maintenance and wear on gas grills is greater. The burner plates tend to rust giving uneven heat distribution, grease will accumulate in the bottom and attract rodents. I have found that with pellet grills there is a short learning curve then you get very consistent results and everything tastes great with no over charring ,flame outs and under cooked areas depending on where your meat is placed. Especially when grilling higher fat meats like Rib eyes.

[@alexvids9232]

I love charcoal, lump and my Weber's. I do have a small masterbuilt for easy smoke jobs. What more do you want.

[@michaelluque5142]

So true this happen to me. I had a loss of power and restored my PitBoss, by re-priming it. What added to the problem was that I did all this while the lib was closed. After about a couple of minutes it went BOOM! The lid flow open and and then slammed close. I felt the percussions as the lit flying open. . I now always start with the lid open and start it at its lowest setting. Meaning I take my time, when it starts to smoke heavy I know its going good, so its at this time I raise the temp. I learned my lesson. However, now I'm dealing with the unit kicking off my GIF. After a lengthy trouble shooting process it's then when you figure out if it's the ignitor or something else. Shouldn't have to go through all this seeing I gave them my hard earned money. All these pellet companies should be more open with the potential hazards of owning a pellet gill. And yes I clean it after every two cooks.

[@frankdavid7020]

Since Treaters Grills have never liked GFI outlets, I tell my customers to drag out an old power strip. Plug that into GFI and the Treager into the power strip. More times then not, solves the problem.

[@donsvideos1985]

I have operated boilers for over 40 years. If there is a chance of this happening the control logic should include a pre purge sequence just as essential as a post purge sequence. Yes the user should and could be better informed. It would not take much at all to program a pre purge in these units.

[@DRelTaylor]

Very Helpful, thx!👊🏽💯🍻

[@mikethames3072]

Thank you for this!

[@tbok75]

Interesting this just happened to come up this morning after I had a fire yesterday. This is the third time my Traeger has caught fire. It was due to trying to run it on high, without having changed my foil, and having a decent collection of grease and gunk. So user error on my part too.

[@BurkaLifter]

Grilla !!!! exellent choice !!!

[@egshane]

nice vid...so if it loses power, is it safe to say, just scoop out the pellets from the pot before restarting?

[@TimHPop776]

Very well presented.

[@azfisher]

Smoke is tiny particles of unburned fuel (Carbon) and is explosive in concentration. Lid closed during startup is a mistake. Especially as you described with excessive amount of pellets creating a concentration of smoke. Once the pellets lit, the gaseous carbon went boom.

[@internaman]

Agree,,,,,,I learned the hard way,,,,,scared the mess out of me,,,,,,,

[@internaman]

Never restart after a flameout without checking burn pot first,,,,,I preach this to all my friends and family with pellet smokers

[@johnpaonessa5043]

I did the same mistake with a Pitt boss. Smoked like crazy, then exploded and scared the heck out of me. Lid flew open... put it in the shed and never used it again. I guess now that i know what happened, I have to get it out, clean it, and try it out!

[@harryerhart5978]

My grill is cleaned Everytime I use it with new foil trays

[@mrsir5866]

Great video.

[@rronmar]

Yep, fuel/air explosion in an enclosed space. Pellet stoves/heaters sometimes do the same thing… The issue wasn’t so much the extra pellets in the chamber, they would have lit and burnt OK, the issue was that the unit was probably warm/hot. So when he initiated a re-light, he had a bunch of wood gas/smoke and pumped in air, near the ignition temperature in an enclosed space. When the igniter finally got the pellets to that auto-ignition point and they lit, that little flame lit the rest of the heated wood gas throughout the chamber causing an overpressure. Especially on a re-light, you need to open the lid. This allows the smoke generated to cool and dissipate to a point where it is difficult for the fire pot to ignite once it lights. It also removes the enclosed space, so if some of the smoke does light, it cant build any real pressure.

[@klk1900]

This was common sense to me also but most Americans don’t have any sense. When I was a child I use to go turn the propane grill on and let gas build up then spark it and watch the lid blow open. I would do this over and over for fun. So you would think a full grown man named randy would know how to cause a combustion also. He acts like he had no clue a grill could do that. And I was taught from a early age, always open the lid to light it. That’s how I discovered it would blow up because I was told to always open it. So I put 2 & 2 together and got 4

[@69dannywarren]

What is very important is to keep your grill clean if you get oil buildup in the grill it can also cause this the oil will burn really rich and become a gas when heated

[@Jspackman]

I do think for the most part the ash dump on the camp chef is gimmicky. The majority of the ash seems to get blown out of the pot. But it is pretty darn handy in a situation like this to just pull a slide, then hit start again and not worry about an overfull fire pot.

[@jarispe32]

I own a pit boss (same thing) but I usually throw a hand full of pellets in fire pit power up and sometimes prime as well. So this will happen? 🤦🏽‍♂️