Off smell, pungent

B

BeaglesBBQ

Knows what a fatty is.
Joined
Oct 24, 2011
Messages
103
Reaction score
45
Points
0
Location
Richmond Virginia
Recently i have been noticing a slight off smell coming from somewhere around my smoker when i was cooking. at first i thought it was the hickory i was using so switched to some other stuff and that seemed to fix the problem.

A few days ago i was cooking some tri tips and got her really hot and noticed the smell was worse, like burning plastic almost. i opened up my warming box and WHAM! got hit in the face with a really strong chemical/plastic burning oder.

I know it is not the wood now, i have tested several of my woods from apple all the way thru to hickory. It happens when i bring the cooker up past a certain temp.

I have an insulated firebox, is it possible the insulation is melting and the fumes are seeping out somewhere? i just can't figure it out. any thoughts?
It doesn't seem to be affecting the main cooking chamber too bad but id like to be able to use my warming box.

Before anyone asks, NO, i have not ever had plastic or cleaned with any chemicals in my cooker.
 
this was the first time i really got her this hot. id say she was at 400 or so. There isn't too much build up in the warmer cause all I've ever done is hold in there. almost as clean as new so i don't think its creosote. Maybe there is some paint that needs burned off?
 
I had the same smell one time coming from my offset. I was freaking out trying to figure what it was coming from. My first thought was that something was in my charcoal, I took all of it out spread it on the driveway. Nothing but hot burning coals. Started looking inside cooking chamber and under the piece metal that I have to make a reverse flow there was a melted flashlight. My son at the time 3 yrs old said thanks Daddy for finding my flashlight.
 
hahaaa good job super dad! ill take a closer look inside this evening. the only way something like that could have happened would be sabotage so hope thats not the case.
 
There is always the most irrigating process, you can completely clean and reaseason the cooker, this would allow you to inspect it closely.

It would not make sense for it to be insulation, as that normally requires a lot of heat to ignite. If you use lump, it is possible a random piece of garbage snuck into your firebox
 
landarc said:
There is always the most irrigating process, you can completely clean and reaseason the cooker, this would allow you to inspect it closely.

It would not make sense for it to be insulation, as that normally requires a lot of heat to ignite. If you use lump, it is possible a random piece of garbage snuck into your firebox
Click to expand...

Using that Spell Check for Landscape Architects program again? :mrgreen:


To the OP; I thinking there must be something foreign in either your smoker or the fuel source.
 
i was cooking on my weber kettle when all of a sudden it started to stink. i checked everything and couldn't find anything. so i finished my cook. the next day as i was cleaning the kettle, i found melted plastic on the underside. i guess a plastic bag had flown up and melted on the kettle when i wasn't looking.
 
i burn wood only. Start my fires with kindling from the wood of the day. I have a call into meadow creek. Might not hear back until tuesday, i guess more trial and error is on its way this weekend. I take pride in keeping my cooker clean but ill give it another good once over and see what i see.
thanks for the input guys
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

F
Dirty smoke smell?
Replies
4
Views
410
Fishwater2002
F
T
Magnolia for smoking?
Replies
4
Views
358
Ron_L
Ron_L
H
Low and Slow over open fire
Replies
18
Views
2K
harrybbq
H
creek bottom
Meadow Creek Chicken Cooker
Replies
10
Views
657
Pife
P
L
Mellowing cold-smoked bacon
Replies
15
Views
858
lhommedieu
L
Back
Top