Smoker advice - need goop remover

[tRidiot]

Ok, I've got a pellet smoker. It's got a chimney out the top, a hopper in the front and a drip tube on the right side. Lately I've noticed it is trying to burn back up the auger tube and smoke coming out the hopper. I've even once left it so long it burned all the way back up and started burning IN the hopper. Yikes.

So I did some research, seemed most of the advice had to do with cleaning the ash out and such. So I've done that a couple of times, yesterday even emptied every pellet, let the auger run to empty it out and used the ShopVac to clean out inside the auger as best I could, but I don't think there was anything significant in there in terms of ash or dust. Everything was pretty clean.

And yet, in spite of all that, it was still trying to burn up the auger tube and smoke was coming out the hopper again. WTF?



So then I noticed something... I wasn't getting smoke out of the chimney in the top and back like I used to. Sure enough, when I checked it, it was all clogged with thick black grease/goop! It's a pipe coming vertically with a Chinaman's hat-looking metal shield on top. The gap between the vertical column and the hat was clogged. I took a butter knife and tried to clear that gunk out, and I got a good bit, but it still wasn't smoking out the top. So I'm assuming I'm going to have to remove the hat with the bolt in the top and clean out the inside... and the whole smoker at the same time. I'm not sure what the best method is, as when I took that stainless steel butter knife inside to clean it, it would NOT get the goop off with just hot water and a sprayer. I had to use a dry paper towel and rub that sh*t off almost like tar. Ugh. So I can't imagine how hard it will be to clean out of the whole inside of the smoker with something that won't leave behind a flammable or nasty-tasting residue that will contaminate my food.

I thought of taking it to the car wash, but I dont really have a great way to transport it there - no pickup truck, I suppose maybe I could lay it down in my Tahoe, but even with something under it, I'm afraid of stuff draining out of it. Is a carwash my best bet for this thing? It's all gooped up, nasty, on the inside. I did think of a simple pressure washer (kinda been looking for an excuse, lol), but with cold water, it's gonna be next to impossible, I think.


So this is my theory - the reason it's trying to back-burn up the auger and smoke is coming out there is because the chimney is clogged with crap and it's looking for an outlet. I've vacuumed it and cleaned the pot and grates and such, but never thought of cleaning the chimney and the drain tube in the 2 years I've been using it.

Whaddya think? What are my options here?

 

[cm_osu]

I would try taking the cap of and see if you can heat the goop up with a heat gun to soften it up then try to wipe it up with a towel.

When I used to work as a short order cook our vent hood would get a similar build up of grease/gunk. Before the place opened we would turn on the grill without turning on the vent hood and let it heat up. It would nearly liquify the goop to where you could wipe it off with a towel.

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[Old Timer]

We had a smoker made out of a large propane tank, and it got full of junk, then attracted all sorts of bugs.
I did not like the idea of fresh meat that I did not cut up, so I decided to clean it.

I used a pressure washer and a putty knife for a while, it worked but got me filthy, so I took it to the neighbors.
He had a steam cleaner, it worked great, but still made a mess out of my clothes. :-)

 

[Shadowrider]

I've found that Simple Green works miracles on stuff like this. It would be worth a shot. Use it straight by hand and wear some exam gloves. But I think it might be best if you can remove the top and somehow and invert the stack in a bucket, then you could let it soak for awhile. Don't go nuts with that though, SG will eat aluminum and etch stainless if you give it long enough but even pretty diluted SG will dissolve the smoke residue on my pyrex dishes I use in my smoker when nothing else even touches it.

 

[tRidiot]

I wish I had access to a steam cleaner, I think that is the ultimate ticket for this. My fault, I've gone 2 years without cleaning the stack, just didn't realize it got this goopy.

 

[CHenry]

I buy ZEP degreaser by the gal. It concentrated and will melt the prints off your finger in seconds. Use caution but it's more effective thanSG even mixed 70/30 (water to ZEP)

 

[swampratt]

can't you just make a nice hot fire from dry, Very dry wood and cook it out.
Remove all the things that could get hurt from the hot fire.

I have some kiln dried oak planks that will make for some hot fire if you need some. Or just cut up some fir or pine 2x4's.

Good Hot fires with dry wood is how I heat my home(most of the time)( I have central heat) and no goop build up

 

[Barn Dog]

In the restaurant world we pay guys to clean our hoods. Our insurance won't cover us for fires if we don't have them cleaned and inspected on a monthly basis. Anyway the pro's use a hot water power washer to clean it out. The only way to get that crud out is heat, degreaser and lots of towels and a scraper, High pressure water helps too. I would recommend not burning it out. grease fires can get out of control really fast and can burn hot enough to damage the smoker itself.

 

[dennishoddy]

can't you just make a nice hot fire from dry, Very dry wood and cook it out.
Remove all the things that could get hurt from the hot fire.

I have some kiln dried oak planks that will make for some hot fire if you need some. Or just cut up some fir or pine 2x4's.

Good Hot fires with dry wood is how I heat my home(most of the time)( I have central heat) and no goop build up

In the restaurant world we pay guys to clean our hoods. Our insurance won't cover us for fires if we don't have them cleaned and inspected on a monthly basis. Anyway the pro's use a hot water power washer to clean it out. The only way to get that crud out is heat, degreaser and lots of towels and a scraper, High pressure water helps too. I would recommend not burning it out. grease fires can get out of control really fast and can burn hot enough to damage the smoker itself.

Agree to both ^^^. Swamprats method has to be done on a pretty regular basis to keep the soot under control. Restaurants don't have that option, so have to agree with their method as well.

Our Chimney sweep that has been in business for 40 some years told us to burn out the fireplace a couple times a year, and we wouldn't need to call him again.

As far as the OP, I'd be cautious about burning out a pellet stove. The auger and controls might get damaged. Scraper and steam.

 

[streak]

propane pluming torch, cheap welding gloves and a scraper. control where the heat is without getting that **** everywhere.