Hello,
Cust Service response -
Hello
Thank you for your email. It does not look like your receipt was attached to the email I received. However, we will still get the parts shipped out as quickly as possible.
Our engineers got back with me from their testing today with the following info. They have tested out a couple grills and found that all of them do have a high temperature on the drip pan and grill grate. They said this is normal and was pre designed. I do apologize, they were not able to find a way to insulate, to decrease the heat without causing temperature swings to accrue. The reason they get hot is heat transfer, when the air convents up and around the drip tray into the main body of the grill. This is what causes the temperature in increase in the drip tray and cooking grate. They explained that it is similar to an oven, when you move food down closer to the element, it will increase in temperature the closer you get no matter what the temperature you set it too.
I do apologize for this confusion on this situation. As I said before, this has not been brought to our attention before. However, now this has been tested, and we know this is normal. We have sold thousands of these with great reviews. I know as a consumer myself, I can understand the confusion and frustration, but now we know that these temps are normal.
Best Regards,
Camp Chef
Warranty Dept.
I also spoke with one of their engineers about the grill and how he uses it, he has one that he has used frequently for 4 years.
Basically he uses it at low smoke ( 225 ) for long cooks and ramps it up if foiled to finish. He never has run this smoker and 275 for hours. He has run it 325 for chicken.
He basically said when they tested it is working as designed, just like the oven in my house.... hotter on the bottom plate then the air temp on the racks.
I was the first person to bring this to their attention.
To Note -
Everyone I have talked to has been more than nice to me at Camp Chef.
Next steps -
I will check the temps at 225 ( low smoke ) and see what the grate temps and drip pan temps and adjust my process from their.
I will also test with foil and or another pan under the grate and try to block some of the heat coming off drip pan.
thanks haeffnkr