Stampede Fire!

[Kim]

I haven't said anything to RecTec about the deflector because it's only slightly warped. It rocks about 1/4 diagonally and it's not interfering with the drip pan. However I checked the level on the drip pan with a longer level. There's not much drop there.

 

[Midwest Economist]

@Kim, I did drop them a line, specifically stating that I didn’t do so to gain a new deflector (since I purchased one elsewhere), but rather as a suggestion that perhaps there needs to be an upgrade on the production line....continuous process improvement, if you will.

Others have mentioned that there have been improvements in other areas (I.e., the WiFi antenna), so customer feedback does have a benefit for those that purchase in the future....doesn’t solve your problem though (BTW, I’m still stunned by what happened).

 

[Kim]

Thank you. I am reading a thread about a grease fire on the Facebook group right now and you should see how grody some of the cookers are and yet they aren't having issues. Craziness.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Okay Kim, two things. First, the deflector distortion when cool may not reflect what is happening when there's a live fire under it. It is a dynamic thing. It may or may not be more pronounced, but likely different.

Second, I got my 2 foot level and dropped it on my drip pan and the pic is attached. Just a bit over half a bubble off (like what some on here probably think is appropriate for me ). That would imply that yours is not correct as situated.

 

[Kim]

My husband actually asked me if it was half a bubble off as it should be and I asked him how he knew it should be half a bubble off. ;-) We had already decided that the drip pan needed altering after I set the level on it. When I first got the cooker on the second cook my foil creased a little and I had grease running out of the left side. Since then I have been very careful with the foil and it hasn't happened again. Then I leave the foil off and get a fire.

I'm going to contact RecTec again even though their customer service annoyed me the other day. I sent them a link to this post and asked them to have someone look at it and then give me a name and number to call so that they could read what happened and see the pictures. Waste of time.

Once I got CS on the phone and was trying to tell them what happened and they decided that I should send them pictures I started to tell them that in the pictures the sear grates were on the left side in the pictures and why they were there. I was interrupted at that point for him to exclaim that they would cause temp fluctuations. I asked him to please let me finish my sentence. I have no issues with temp fluctuations when there isn't a blazing fire. The RecTec is great about setting the temp and holding it. Better than my Viking oven in fact. Yes I said that.

My oven has never flamed though.

Thanks for checking your drip pan with a level for me Uncle Bob!

 

[Kim]

How can I check the deflector when there is a live fire in there?

 

[Uncle Bob]

How can I check the deflector when there is a live fire in there?

Unless you've got some excellent fire/heat resistant gloves to facilitate removing the drip pan after the unit gets up to temp it could be tough. You could remove the grates and drip pan and just run the unit with the deflector visible and see if you can detect movement and in which direction/orientation. The only issue I see with that is that absent the drip pan the thermal dynamics would be different and may not reflect what happens when the drip pan is in place. And, of course, there are potential safety issues.

As to the CS persons interaction with you there may be a point where you have to say something along the lines of, "look this is a serious matter that could lead to some ugly financial consequences for RecTec. While I appreciate that you have the job of being my first line of contact, I think it's time you passed me up the chain of command to your boss or one of the owners." There was a time when the owners included their direct contact phone numbers with the initial paperwork that came with the cooker. I seem to remember seeing that in my docs, but don't know where it is right now. Perhaps one of the other members here has that info. If you had that a direct call to one of them might be more to your satisfaction. Time for a little hardball...……..

 

[Kim]

I don't know who I am messaging with on Facebook but they are back to telling me that I need to use foil all the time. They are completely neglecting the fact that grease isn't going to drain from that drip pan. They told me to call customer service on Monday. When I asked them if they were saying that if I wanted to reverse sear a piece of meat I had to clean the drip pan before I seared they went away.

 

[Kim]

Foil and drip pan aside, I have about convinced myself that the cause of the fire was the sear plates. It really is the only thing that does make sense and I have been worried about the grease down in the grooves that I haven't been able to get out. I tried to burn them out before I cleaned the grill the last time before the fire but the grill never would get hot enough.


A piece of 95° degree beef in a 300° cooker for 15 minutes at the most should not cause a grease fire with the cooker being as clean as it was.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

For the record, my new Bull now has a twisted heat deflector too. It's twisted pretty much as someone else posted in their picture. Since it's the same twist for all of us, it likely has to do with the cold forming which was used to fabricate it. Looks like a classic case of stresses from manufacturing being relieved from the heat. It doesn't appear to have any affect on the cook. But if someone wanted to fix it, simply twist it back past the straight condition a bit and heat cycle it a few times. If it twists back again it should be less twist. Over twist it again and repeat the heat cycle. Eventually it will meet you somewhere in the middle.

 

[bfletcher]

... it likely has to do with the cold forming which was used to fabricate it.

For curiosity sake, would this imply it could be limited to a specific lot code?

 

[Roaniecowpony]

For curiosity sake, would this imply it could be limited to a specific lot code?

Could be the angle the "grain" of the sheet metal was oriented on a particular run. The stainless sheet used for our bbq parts is "cold rolled" for its finishing to thickness. This induces a lot of stresses in the metal. It's likely they, as well as the stresses induced from cold forming the deflector shape, combine to twist when enough heat is applied. When it's critical to maintain shape thru a high temperatures above stress relief thresholds, parts are sometimes put in restraining fixtures that hold the shape and are put into ovens to stress relieve but hold shape. Sometimes an engineer will just form, stress relieve, and straighten. Sometimes that process has to be repeated several times to get a part that won't deform under elevated heat. Bear in mind that stress relief processes on fabricated parts raises the costs. As you could imagine, a stress relief with a restraining fixture is a process that would take a lot of time (therefore money) and equipment. A consumer part of a BBQ is not a type of part which would get such a process applied to it.

 

[Kim]

By cold forming do you mean stamped?

 

[Midwest Economist]

RECTEC customer service did hit me back about my warped heat deflector. To paraphrase the CS rep, the purpose of the heat deflector is to distribute heat, which it will continue to do even if warped, so nothing to worry about, keep using your grill.

As I previously stated, I bought one (10 gauge) from Smoke Daddy, so I‘m not looking for a replacement from RECTEC...just wanted to let them know so they could plan for an improvement on the production line.

 

[bfletcher]

RECTEC customer service did hit me back about my warped heat deflector. To paraphrase the CS rep, the purpose of the heat deflector is to distribute heat, which it will continue to do even if warped, so nothing to worry about, keep using your grill.

I would have to consider challenging them on this if mine warps and if I continue to use it as a smoke tray (I'm currently experimenting with adding a few charcoal briquettes and/or wood chunks on it).

 

[Kim]

Hah when I called they told me that I had a grease fire. Yah think?

 

[Gonefishin]

Your fellow firefighters must have gotten a kick out of those.