chemical smell from smoker

dano

dano

is one Smokin' Farker
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I have an Assassin Smoker (Stumps clone) and lately I have been getting an awful smell coming from it even when I am burning clean with lump. I have cleaned it out and re-seasoned with the same results. I know it is coming from the firebox/chute are but it is hard to located exactly where the bad smoke is coming from. Only thing I can think of is that I am burning insulation somewhere maybe? Any thoughts? Thanks.
 
What are you seasoning it with, could it be going rancid? Has food or grease gotten in there and gone bad? Have you cleaned out between the firebox and the chamber?

Not sure how it is setup so i'm guessing here.
 
Seasoning it with Pam...the firebox and chute are pretty clean but I have not cleaned there.
 
I just did my initial season last night on mine and figured it was just the fresh paint out gassing from the heat.
 
I got this smoker last year. Used it probably 30 times with no issues. Wierd that it just started recently. Can't believe I busted a weld to get to the insulation (hottest I have cooked is 350).
 
Has it made the food taste funny? Can u tell what material the fire box is made out of. I know the chute is stainless steel right above fire box.
 
Call the manufacturer. If it is a problem with the pit/insulation as you suspect maybe they are aware of it and can help. Just a suggestion as I am not familiar with this pit.
 
Check what little "extras" might be in your lump. I use Wicked Good exclusively and when they changed from paper bags to poly bags there would always be some pieces of plastic string mixed in. When burning it produces a wicked BAD stink! Now I always dump the bags out and sort through looking for anything suspicious.
 
I was planning on calling the Manu on Monday. I have tried 3 different kinds of charcoal with all having the same results. Thinking about taking a torch to different spot to see if I can produce the same results without using charcoal and to centralize the heat.
 
Could be some baked-on burnt grease somewhere down in there.
 
Update...burning right now at 187 with the firebox door open and the guru running. No bad smell or smoke...think it could be the door gasket???...it is hard and burnt on the bottom edge.
 
Is that a common thing to have door gaskets burn? I am no familiar with style of smoker.
 
Well now I am stumped...closed the door and burned clean for over an hr. Added more charcoal and it started to do it again....also noticed some white smoke coming from the back of the cooking chamber just above the firebox hole....
 
I just spoke to Jeff over at Assassin Smokers (great guy). I just sent him over some pics of the firebox so I guess we will see what he says. More or less just posting to praise them for their customer service. Best I have come across hands down.
 
I have had the same problem in the past, kinda smells like burning plastic/chemicals. Happens on my cooker when I run hot. I have cleaned, inspected welds, tried different wood etc... still no solution. I now just leave my firebox door open when cooking hot and that seems to put a band-aid on it. However i would like a real solution as well.
 
BeaglesBBQ said:
I have had the same problem in the past, kinda smells like burning plastic/chemicals. Happens on my cooker when I run hot. I have cleaned, inspected welds, tried different wood etc... still no solution. I now just leave my firebox door open when cooking hot and that seems to put a band-aid on it. However i would like a real solution as well.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I noticed that if I don't fill the charcoal very high in the chute it burns okay. Once I add a couple more lbs it's started back up. I am burning ozark oak too which is burns clean with zero smoker at all.
 
i had that happen once in my wsm. couldn't understand it. so i killed the fire and started over again. did you change bags and it still did that ?
if lump you cannot just pour in a bag. you got to go through it as lump can and will have pieces of junk/plastic/insulation in it.
 
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