Stampede Grease from left side of grill

[Kim]

Has anyone ever had grease dripping from the left side of the Stampede? I changed the foil last night before I put my meat loaf on and after the grill cooled we drug it back off the deck onto the screened in porch. The grill, not the meatloaf. We ate the meatloaf. When I went out on the deck this afternoon I saw what I thought was a wet spot on the deck but it hasn't been raining. It's grease and it's dipping out of the left side of the grill. The meatloaf wasn't even cooked on the left side it was in the center.

What's going on?

 

[NU2SMOKE]

That is completely wierd!! I hope you figure it out!

 

[Uncle Bob]

You got me to crawling under mine to see if that's happened and it hasn't. Couple things come to mind. Grease won't only drop down onto the drip tray, some will vaporize and coat the inside of the chamber so this may be from more than just the last cook. There is a seam at the bottom of the housing. It looks like you've done some tracking back, keep looking to see if you can spot the origin of the leak. You might want to touch base with RT support and see if they've heard of this happening before, they may already have an answer. There's also the foil wrap on the drip tray to consider. Unless you're ultra OCD and completely smooth the foil it could be that you had some ripples/ridges that redirected the dripping fat the wrong way.

 

[Mike]

Is the grill sitting level?

Sounds like you are wrapping the drip pan in aluminum foil. Are you just wrapping the bottom of the tray or up the sides as well?

 

[Kim]

I took the drip tray out an relined it. Checked the inside out pretty well and there is some grease in the bottom although so far I haven't had a full grill and have been keeping stuff over the drip pan. Of course steam from cooking food carries grease and it pops too so the whole inside is going to get greasy. I couldn't figure out where is was coming from so maybe a slight leak in a seam that didn't get sealed good.

My grill pad is on back order so I'm glad that we have one of those new fangled plastic decks that I could clean the grease off easily and no wood or concrete to stain. Also glad I found it before the dog whose had to get his white paws in the pictures did.

 

[Kim]

Is the grill sitting level?

Sounds like you are wrapping the drip pan in aluminum foil. Are you just wrapping the bottom of the tray or up the sides as well?

I went just up the sides but not over them to keep the grease from getting under there and defeating the purpose of wrapping. Funny thing is that there was also a little grease under the foil on that end and yeah it's level.

Loving the Rec Tec anyway. I'm gonna cook a turkey on it next weekend.

 

[Kim]

Of course my husband's first question was...who know's the question?






"Did you get the drip pan back in there right?" ???

 

[rrusch24]

In the middle of my first smoke on Saturday I noticed the same thing. My drip tray was not fully on the left side "lip" and it caused the grease to roll to the left instead of off the right into the pale.

 

[jdbar.tx]

I had pretty much the same issue on my stampede. I noticed after a greasy cook, grease had leaked from the chamber body itself. Called RT CS and they have me reseal the edges of the chamber with high temp caulk and that looks to have solved the problem.

 

[art425]

Had the same issue with my stampede. I called rec Tec and they sent me some high temp sealant. Never got around to putting it on and the issue seemed to go away after a cleaning I had done on the grill. I went ahead and resealed it when I had time and the issue hasn’t returned.

 

[ndfan6464]

Had the same issue. But wasnt overly concerned about it

 

[cookingjnj]

I do not have a Stampede, but maybe your drip pan is not set correctly on the left side. Do you have any grease going into the grease bucket? If the drip pan is not set correctly on the left side, maybe the grease is running to the left and out rather than down the right and out to the bucket? But, as I write this I am sure you have already looked at this scenario.

 

[George Karahalios]

I just got my RT-590 last week and just cooked two turkeys for Thanksgiving on it. I had the same issue!! It was a lot of grease leaking out the left side I had to prop that side up so it would be angled down more on the right. This morning I cooked some bacon for the family and even before it had totally heated up it was leaking again on that side. When it cools off I’m going to clean it and see what’s going on.

 

[George Karahalios]

Well, I cleaned my grill and sprayed some simple green in the left corner and immediately it started to drip onto the floor. So I have a poorly sealed grill over in that corner. I grilled a London broil along with 4 New York strips tonight and I guess residual grease that I couldn’t clean or reach in the grill dripped out. Very frustrating to say the least but the steaks turned out great. I’ll call customer support tomorrow and see what can be done. Not sure if I can even reach the area that is leaking with high temp sealer??
I even made sure the grill was level on my patio.

 

[Buckeye smoker]

Goodluck let us know what they say..you may even get a different grill if the area isn't accessable...

 

[George Karahalios]

Goodluck let us know what they say..you may even get a different grill if the area isn't accessable...

Well, I called them this morning and they said it’s normal for them to do that and the more I cook on them the more buildup they will get to season them plus coat the bottom. It’s not really the answer I thought I would get.
I love the grill just don’t think it should leak grease the way it does.
George

 

[Buckeye smoker]

I don't believe it should leak either, that's not the RecTec customer service I've experienced.... Strange.

 

[Kim]

Well, I called them this morning and they said it’s normal for them to do that and the more I cook on them the more buildup they will get to season them plus coat the bottom. It’s not really the answer I thought I would get.
I love the grill just don’t think it should leak grease the way it does.
George

For what the grills cost they should not leak. I haven't had a repeat with mine.

 

[Kim]

Well, I called them this morning and they said it’s normal for them to do that and the more I cook on them the more buildup they will get to season them plus coat the bottom. It’s not really the answer I thought I would get.
I love the grill just don’t think it should leak grease the way it does.
George

This is the kind of customer service that I am getting from them. Based on what others say I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone or something. People on Facebook are saying that RecTec saw them post with a problem and called them. Others saying that they called after hours and the on call person called them back within minutes and I'm sending them everything that I can send them to help me diagnose a problem and they tell me to call on Monday when the store opens.

I have a grease fire which should not have happened and they tell me to foil my drip pan rather than try to go through with me and help figure out what the issue was. I tell them that my grill is leaking from the left side and they tell me if I foil the drip pan right it won't run down in the left side. WTH LOL

Maybe they bought stock in Reynolds.

 

[Midwest Economist]

@Kim, I’m just going to come out and ask the question (at risk of taking flak from the group)...perhaps the skew in responses from RECTEC are personality dependent? Could it be that who you get as a CS rep will determine the quality of the support received? Maybe there isn’t a standard checklist like there is for an IT support desk?

I‘m not trying to make excuses, just brainstorming....