It would be helpful if you told your viewers that he didn't follow instructions and that all pellet grills should be cleaned before using and should be started with the lid open. It would have also been great if you would have explained that once smoke and hot gasses reach thier ignition point they can 'flash over' and blow the lid off (another reason to keep the lid open). It would have also been good if you mentioned that if a pellet grill is smoking excessively: 1) move it away from any flammable structure, 2) be unplug it and, 2) open the lid till any fire subsides. I realize this would have rendered your piece less sensational, reduced the possible irrational fear, squelched the panic reaction and gotten fewer hits on social media.
Why do people expect others to have to educate people about things, like teaching safety classes. Sure would be great if people would raise their expectations and expect others to actually have some critical thinking skills. Did you need to be told all of what you said they needed to tell? No. And 99.9% of people don't. As for the other. 01%, well that's why we have the Darwin Awards. You must be a leftist. Ya know, that side of our population that thinks everybody is too stupid to take care of themselves so they need people in power to do their thinking for them. LOL And on a side note, I think it would be helpful if you would just let people do what they want to do while at the same time shutting that pie hole.
Traeger clearly states that the minimum distance to flammable objects is 18 inches, It's even on the cover of the operators manual. I doubt he has 10. His next video will be when he fry's a frozen turkey on his deck in a turkey fryer and burns down his house.
hah, I had renters do this to the top of a car port vinyl ceiling by grilling under it .. wish their grill would have exploded on them but i'm not that lucky.
👍👍👍👍👍 It was user error. In the video the lid was clearly closed, you are so right the lid must be open even when you your flames go out, that just means you have to start back over. It sucks when people try to blame the grill when all you have to do is read the manual. He just made his self and the news crew look pretty stupid...
Completely this mans fault! Read the instructions on power outages or improper shutdown. You can’t just restart without clearing igniter tray of residual pellets!!
I've never had an explosion but did have a runaway fire that I needed a garden hose to put out. Cooking at very low temp, the flame went out, as temperature drops, grill starts adding more pellets. Grill finely gets cold enough that the igniter comes back on. When it does relite the grill is full of pellets causing huge fire.
@@Ahw1231 The new ones have different starting instructions. I have a 2012 Traeger Lil Tex Elite, it get lit with the lid open until I see smoke. This guy's grill was NOT a newer model.
You must let the grill cool and clear the fire pot of fuel! If a pellet grill "over smokes", you have a problem. Turn it off, let it cool, and clear the fire pot. It's in the directions.
This "average fool" didn't follow the owners instructions. Plain and simple. He sure is good at pointing the finger elsewhere instead of thinking. "Maybe I should read the instructions and take ownership of my mistakes"
That bright red "Attention!" warning on the hopper door LITERALLY says: 1. Always Start your Grill with Lid Open 2. If the Grill runs out of Pellets, turn it OFF! 3. Charge the Auger with Pellets...
Just got a new ironwood 650 and came here to say just this. It says it in big easy to read font. Also cleaning the Trauger takes less than 5 minutes after each cook, it’s clear this guy cleaned his exactly zero times.
The fire didn't start and pellets were building up. Once the lit on fire this happened. Maybe a good cleaning would of helped, but that is not what cause the explosion.
Anytime your fire goes out, you either let the pellets burrow a hole in the hopper which doesn’t let fuel go to the fire pot or you didn’t do the maintenance and the heavy level of ash in the firepot put out your fire. Your machine is designed to regulate the feeding of pellets based on temperature you set it for, so when the temperature drops as a result of the fire going out, it thinks it needs to add more pellets, then tries to push more into a dead fire-pot. Then when you realize the issue of the temperature drop and no smoke, you assume cranking onto to smoke mode will fix the issue and get her going with the igniter, problem is the machine may have overloaded the fire pot with pellets and now you are igniting them. Then your pellets start smoking, the smoke gets so dense that the smoke pipe isn’t letting it out fast enough so your grill lid becomes your next best route for escape and will pop your lid open violently. If you leave your lid open it will burn the pellets and cause a lot of smoke. What you should do is turn off the pellet grill with the button (not unplugging it), once it cycles off and cools down. Take the grill apart and fix the issue by shop vac the ash or hand removing the overloaded fire-pot and put those good pellets back into the hopper. Yes, it will delay your grilling time but it is the only safe way to do it. You can’t neglect a pellet grill like you can a charcoal or gas grill. There is constant maintenance involved and is not for the faint of heart.
These grill are super safe if you don't leave the lids shut during start up as white thick smoke is highly combustible... don't have to know that fact to follow startup instructions also the instructions tell you to keep an eye on pellets in hopper... this was absolutely user error and the video backs that up completely
Yes it was user error. Read the instructions for proper shut off and start up. Read instructions when you have a flame out. Which is what happened here. The auger began to feed pellets along with whatever was not yet burnt into the firepot and caused a pile up. The igniter then set them all off. Also there is a lot of clutter under and around that grill. It needs proper ventilation.
I just bought my first pellet grill and have not even used it yet. I’m going to cook some pork shoulder this weekend and I already know that the door needs to be open to let the start up gasses escape. It’s a shame that he will be missing out on some tasty smoking because he made a simple mistake. I don’t think a blowout could be much worse than that one. Most just lift the door.
I thought I’d add. My manual says start with the door closed. I guess it is better to rely on RUclips for directions. I watched several mistakes 1st time pellet grill users make. Leaving the lid closed on startup was one.
mine did it yesterday, brand new out of the box. I was getting it seasoned I came out side and couldnt see anything from the white smoke everywhere. i opened the lid and turned off Smoke mode, waited in 5 minutes late kaboom. but my lid didnt fall off
That was exactly user error. Based off what he said he didn’t start that grill properly. And was the grill cleaned properly before the start. You don’t go out just start a pellet grill without maintenance. The smoker chamber must be cleaned from all particles from the last cook. The pellets should be put in before each cook not left until the next cook. The pellets could have taken on moisture which would not allow to them to move properly from the pellet bay through into the auger tube. By him saying he just went and turned it on, probably means he did none of those things. Not to mention the most important thing. You never start a pellet smoker with the lid closed. The fire igniter for the pellets is air exhausted to start and maintain the fire and temperature and has to breathe to start. Otherwise you’re going to get a lot of air building into the chamber causing a back pressure. Which is why the smoker exploded. I’m always on the consumer’s side but this was indeed user operator error. Just glad no one was hurt. Don’t stop using pellet smokers, you have to jump back on the horse after you’ve been bucked off. Just remember to do all the maintenance and startup process and this would never happen.
What a knucklehead... he'll probably put too much starter on his charcoal grill, have a fire and blame the grill for it too. He DOES need to stay away from grilling!
Complete user error. He let a void happen (stir your pellets on long cooks) and he also restarted it with a full fire pot and left the lid down. Completely his fault and he's trying to blame Traeger and contacted the news to try to make people feel like pellet grills aren't safe. Alex Burch you should interview someone who actually knows how to operate them correctly.
Maybe a little cleaning and attention, l never believed in set it and forget it. nothing is perfect. No issues for me, 2 years, still smokes and cooks great.
It is USER error. Read the instruction manual. It states to leave the lid OPEN during start-up. I believe that there should be an explanation as to WHY, in the instruction manual....but the Sales Dept likely edited that out, in my own amateur opinion. Kind of like the Pinto gas tank cover-up issue. This is NOT unique to Traeger.
you have to keep your pellet grill clean it's in the manual... your hopper and furnace part cannot have any crust in them when you start a smoke and you should never reignite a gas grill with the lid down, this guy had a wood gas explosion, you can run an engine on wood gas.
"does what he always does" obviously read the user manual is not one of them ... DO NOT START YOUR COOKER WITH THE LID CLOSED says it right in the manual
I want be so harsh like some, but,,,, the manuals do say leave the lid open on most all pellet grills until you have ignition. Wood is a solid fuel and it gives off a gas until it ignites you need to leave the lid open.
User error. I bet the guy has never cleaned out the grill or the firebox ever.. Traeger is not stupid proof, looking at this thing it’s dirty as hell and I am not surprised it blew up on the guy.
The manual tells you to start it a certain way with the lid open! Yes it was definitely user error! Also as much flame as was visible he must have overflowed the pot as well as never cleaned. All grills have potential to explode or catch on fire if you don't properly clean and maintain them.
Anyone ever heard of a wood gasifier? Yes wood gas can be run in a combustion engine . In other words you can let the wood gas hit stoichiometric mixture it will explode. The fix is to keep the lid open until you hear a flame 🔥
I had this happen. The mistake was turning the smoker back on again without cleaning it out. It didn’t blow the door off my smoker but it did incinerate some chicken I was smoking. The warning sign is the thick white smoke. If that happens to me again I will unplug the smoker, let it cool off and vacuum it out before restarting.
Wow...I also had an issue with my stick burner pit. My stick burner got a stuck stanky stick stuck in int. Not only that, but the stupid stuck stanky stick also stunted my steak and that just stinks. So, to summarize, stop sticking stupid stanky sticks in your stick burner to avoid stunted stinky steaks. Just sayin'.
Any time you start or restart you pellet grill you need to have the lid open. The explosion is build up of pressure. Reading the owners manual would have prevented this.
If it cut off you need to inspect the grill to find out why. You dont restart a pellet grill without emptying the feeder tray. Its going to have a massive build up of pellets and cause a mini explosion as you can see. You just need to do more research on pellet grills and how they function.
Mine did this midway through a brisket on my 2nd smoke. For whatever reason the temp on the display went down to where I knew something was wrong. I turned it off, let it do it's thing for what seemed like a reasonable amount of time, then set it to smoke again. Bad choice. The neighbors probably thought I was burning old tires in there. In hindsight, I should've cleared the fire pot. I had assumed any pellet buildup in the pot had probably been burned off. Lesson learned. What I am still unclear of is why it happened to begin with. I'm assuming there must've been some sort of bind in the auger that caused the pellets to stop feeding, and then the pot experienced an overflow once the auger was freed up, but I really don't know. I do know I am leary of leaving the smoker unattended for more than 15-20 minutes.
It happens with all pellet grills, even if you maintain it. A nice wind can blow out your flame and the auger will keep feeding. I am constantly checking my Pit Boss when using it. Part of the fun.
@@nwestark I got lucky I was a fire fighter for 5yrs and seen it coming. The smoke was getting thicker and thicker. And I seen a backdraft coming so I prepared. It blew up right in front of me but I prevented damage
@@jjtorres3891 Sorry buddy that it happened to you. I go back to my original comment that all of us pellet grill owners know all too well. It was user error. Sorry, at least no one got hurt, :)
@@nwestark mine still works. No damage at all. I have 5years FD experience and noticed a backdraft occurring so I backed everyone up and was lucky the lid just popped up maybe halfway instead of opening all the way from pressure and flying off. The grill has been great since and no issues. I taught the girlfriend how to properly use it and I have the grill setup on a light switch so when the grill cycles and shuts off we hit the light switch to turn power off to that outlet. That same outlet is running out led string lights on the back porch so they work as a reminder to turn the power off
The manufacturer of all these grills tells you to keep the grill open during the first 10 minutes or so. I followed these instructions not knowing WHY until watching videos like this in which these instructions weren't followed. The same could happen in any type of cooker IF you allow gasses to build up and then ignite the gases.
Literally just used my traeger for the first time yesterday smoking a brisket. Never even heard of this or heard of a flameout. Flameout happened to me yesterday, and common Sense would tell you to shut it down and pull it apart to see what's going on. Turns out the pellets kept pushing through into the chamber. No way would I start that back up without cleaning it. That's just common sense.
You are well first thing it was a mistake you had it run through light up while the lid was closed that build up the fuel and the the gases from the pellets smoldering until it lights and when it lights and all that fuel in that smooth from the the gas is that's from the pellets trying to ignite feel that whole cabinet and when it finally lights it explodes you're supposed to have a lid open until it lights and you see all that smoke evaporate from it and then get a clean burn and you close the lid and let me keep filled up
Lack of maintenance will def do this, the ash builds up over a couple sessions, then when it aligns itself with the feed tube it starts burning those pellets in the tube, then it all goes to hell after that lol
Will not only so this after a flameout. It produces the white gas cloud every time you start up your grill. Instructions plainly tell you to leave lid open until start up white gas cloud dissapears. In other words....READ THE INSTRUCTIONS.
Traeger grills suck anyway, they rust out (inside and out even when covered) and the digital thermostats are crap, they don't heat to the desired temperature. I'll take a Weber grill over Traeger any day of the week! I've had my Weber for over 20 years, stainless steel, never rusts out and still fires up with one click. Also WAY more efficient than a pellet grill they burn way too much fuel and the pellets will often get soggy if you aren't careful with them. Just my two cents....not looking to offend anyone. I've had both types and I like the reliability and fuel economy of gas grills.
I'm doing a ton of research on pellet grills right now bc i bought a Z GRILL and one video states if you leave your pellets in the hopper they will soak up condensation or if it rains they will expand and get stuck in the hopper and may cause an explosion, does anyone else take out the pellets after every cook?
every single time. Most modern pellet grills have a hopper clean out door. Store your pellets in 5 gallon bucks next to the grill, then when you are finished cooking open the hopper clean out and dump the hopper into the bucket. Let the grill burn off the remainder of whats in the auger to burn off and then shut it down. takes 5 minutes to dump the hopper, burn off the auger, and be done. Then ever 2-3 cooks vacuum out the fire pot before you fire the grill up.
It would be helpful if you told your viewers that he didn't follow instructions and that all pellet grills should be cleaned before using and should be started with the lid open. It would have also been great if you would have explained that once smoke and hot gasses reach thier ignition point they can 'flash over' and blow the lid off (another reason to keep the lid open). It would have also been good if you mentioned that if a pellet grill is smoking excessively: 1) move it away from any flammable structure, 2) be unplug it and, 2) open the lid till any fire subsides. I realize this would have rendered your piece less sensational, reduced the possible irrational fear, squelched the panic reaction and gotten fewer hits on social media.
Why do people expect others to have to educate people about things, like teaching safety classes. Sure would be great if people would raise their expectations and expect others to actually have some critical thinking skills. Did you need to be told all of what you said they needed to tell? No. And 99.9% of people don't. As for the other. 01%, well that's why we have the Darwin Awards. You must be a leftist. Ya know, that side of our population that thinks everybody is too stupid to take care of themselves so they need people in power to do their thinking for them. LOL And on a side note, I think it would be helpful if you would just let people do what they want to do while at the same time shutting that pie hole.
He’s brilliant. Just look at that melted vinyl siding.
Traeger clearly states that the minimum distance to flammable objects is 18 inches, It's even on the cover of the operators manual. I doubt he has 10. His next video will be when he fry's a frozen turkey on his deck in a turkey fryer and burns down his house.
Lol
hah, I had renters do this to the top of a car port vinyl ceiling by grilling under it .. wish their grill would have exploded on them but i'm not that lucky.
😅 holy crap… he is worried about the Stove….. I’m thinking the HOUSE 😮
You are supposed to fire it up with the lid open until you hear flames... Dense smoke will ignite!!
👍👍👍👍👍 It was user error. In the video the lid was clearly closed, you are so right the lid must be open even when you your flames go out, that just means you have to start back over. It sucks when people try to blame the grill when all you have to do is read the manual. He just made his self and the news crew look pretty stupid...
Correct lid open,there is directions on how to operate it, I read mine,lol
Completely this mans fault! Read the instructions on power outages or improper shutdown. You can’t just restart without clearing igniter tray of residual pellets!!
Any time your pellet grill “goes out” it is IMPERATIVE to clean the ash pot of unburnt pellets. Completely this guys fault.
I've never had an explosion but did have a runaway fire that I needed a garden hose to put out.
Cooking at very low temp, the flame went out, as temperature drops, grill starts adding more pellets.
Grill finely gets cold enough that the igniter comes back on. When it does relite the grill is full of pellets causing huge fire.
Not completely his fault if that's not communicated well enough in operating instructions.
Well you open the lid till the heavy smoke goes away.
Has nothing to do with the ash pot. It's because the start up smoke is combustible. You have to have it open while you start a smoker.
@@dennispeterson7133 It's clearly communicated in the instructions, which the clown obviously never read.
Grill is way too close to house
Read the directions. You always light and relight with the lid open.
It's a pellet grill.
@@fartpluswetone8077 again, read the instructions...
@@bradyc3604 the traeger 575 pro in my manuel says to start closed.
That's not the problem here.
@@Ahw1231
The new ones have different starting instructions. I have a 2012 Traeger Lil Tex Elite, it get lit with the lid open until I see smoke. This guy's grill was NOT a newer model.
You must let the grill cool and clear the fire pot of fuel! If a pellet grill "over smokes", you have a problem. Turn it off, let it cool, and clear the fire pot. It's in the directions.
I guessing Randy's wife is named Karen and neither one of them reads directions or warnings.
This "average fool" didn't follow the owners instructions. Plain and simple. He sure is good at pointing the finger elsewhere instead of thinking. "Maybe I should read the instructions and take ownership of my mistakes"
That bright red "Attention!" warning on the hopper door LITERALLY says: 1. Always Start your Grill with Lid Open 2. If the Grill runs out of Pellets, turn it OFF! 3. Charge the Auger with Pellets...
Just got a new ironwood 650 and came here to say just this. It says it in big easy to read font. Also cleaning the Trauger takes less than 5 minutes after each cook, it’s clear this guy cleaned his exactly zero times.
Open the damn lid like the instructions saids.
Did what he always does? Not read the instructions is what he "Does". His grill looks uncared for and filthily. 1:43 grease burning off.
Mark R Exactly what I was gonna say.👍🏻
The fire didn't start and pellets were building up. Once the lit on fire this happened. Maybe a good cleaning would of helped, but that is not what cause the explosion.
@@justinkramer05 what caused it?
@@Caliguy760 didn't clean out fire box before restarting. Too much smoke is basically compressed gas.
Reporter: “He did what he’s always done.” That is no excuse. He should have done what he was “supposed” to do. Read the manual.
Exactly. I just recently bout a pellet grill and there are clear relighting instructions in the manual. He just chose not read it.
"they should know."
Like he should know to vacuum out his grill every 3-4 cooks and read the owner's manual. This could have been avoided.
I vacuum mine every single time. It takes 5 mins
I vaccume mine everytime on long cooks of 6+ hours. Otherwise I do every 4 if only doing short cooks.
Instead of turning it off, he pulled out his phone instead. SMH. Remember, blame the “pellet stove” first.
Its a shame they didn't let Traeger give more of a response, instead they're causing unfounded fear
Not to mention the user manual tells you to never restart the grill on a flame out or power failure. It also need cleaned out on a regular basis
User error, if it was starved for fuel he need to reprime and redo start up procedure.
Anytime your fire goes out, you either let the pellets burrow a hole in the hopper which doesn’t let fuel go to the fire pot or you didn’t do the maintenance and the heavy level of ash in the firepot put out your fire. Your machine is designed to regulate the feeding of pellets based on temperature you set it for, so when the temperature drops as a result of the fire going out, it thinks it needs to add more pellets, then tries to push more into a dead fire-pot. Then when you realize the issue of the temperature drop and no smoke, you assume cranking onto to smoke mode will fix the issue and get her going with the igniter, problem is the machine may have overloaded the fire pot with pellets and now you are igniting them. Then your pellets start smoking, the smoke gets so dense that the smoke pipe isn’t letting it out fast enough so your grill lid becomes your next best route for escape and will pop your lid open violently. If you leave your lid open it will burn the pellets and cause a lot of smoke.
What you should do is turn off the pellet grill with the button (not unplugging it), once it cycles off and cools down. Take the grill apart and fix the issue by shop vac the ash or hand removing the overloaded fire-pot and put those good pellets back into the hopper. Yes, it will delay your grilling time but it is the only safe way to do it. You can’t neglect a pellet grill like you can a charcoal or gas grill. There is constant maintenance involved and is not for the faint of heart.
Best comment so far !
These grill are super safe if you don't leave the lids shut during start up as white thick smoke is highly combustible... don't have to know that fact to follow startup instructions also the instructions tell you to keep an eye on pellets in hopper... this was absolutely user error and the video backs that up completely
The instructions say during start up leave lid open......and during non pellet feed its the same thing that why he experienced that
This is a backdraft
Happened to us in June! 6th time using our Blackstone combo grill. We only use Traeger Reserve pellets.
You have to start it with the lid open until you hear the fire in the fire pot if not the fumes from the smoke is very flammable in a closed in space
You might try cleaning it once in a while. That thing looks like a public barbecue at a park
Yes it was user error. Read the instructions for proper shut off and start up. Read instructions when you have a flame out. Which is what happened here. The auger began to feed pellets along with whatever was not yet burnt into the firepot and caused a pile up. The igniter then set them all off. Also there is a lot of clutter under and around that grill. It needs proper ventilation.
Bingo
When you create a smoker designed for idiots... that's who will use it
What about when your grilling drunk? Mine ain't blew up yet.
If people read the manual this shit wouldn't happen. Read your manual!
He called it a “pellet stove”......mystery solved.
I just bought my first pellet grill and have not even used it yet. I’m going to cook some pork shoulder this weekend and I already know that the door needs to be open to let the start up gasses escape. It’s a shame that he will be missing out on some tasty smoking because he made a simple mistake. I don’t think a blowout could be much worse than that one. Most just lift the door.
I thought I’d add. My manual says start with the door closed. I guess it is better to rely on RUclips for directions. I watched several mistakes 1st time pellet grill users make. Leaving the lid closed on startup was one.
mine did it yesterday, brand new out of the box. I was getting it seasoned I came out side and couldnt see anything from the white smoke everywhere. i opened the lid and turned off Smoke mode, waited in 5 minutes late kaboom. but my lid didnt fall off
Always open lid to start stupid, read directions.
That was exactly user error. Based off what he said he didn’t start that grill properly. And was the grill cleaned properly before the start. You don’t go out just start a pellet grill without maintenance. The smoker chamber must be cleaned from all particles from the last cook. The pellets should be put in before each cook not left until the next cook. The pellets could have taken on moisture which would not allow to them to move properly from the pellet bay through into the auger tube. By him saying he just went and turned it on, probably means he did none of those things. Not to mention the most important thing. You never start a pellet smoker with the lid closed. The fire igniter for the pellets is air exhausted to start and maintain the fire and temperature and has to breathe to start. Otherwise you’re going to get a lot of air building into the chamber causing a back pressure. Which is why the smoker exploded. I’m always on the consumer’s side but this was indeed user operator error. Just glad no one was hurt. Don’t stop using pellet smokers, you have to jump back on the horse after you’ve been bucked off. Just remember to do all the maintenance and startup process and this would never happen.
What a knucklehead... he'll probably put too much starter on his charcoal grill, have a fire and blame the grill for it too. He DOES need to stay away from grilling!
Right before it blew up I could swear I heard "here.... Hold my beer."
Complete user error. He let a void happen (stir your pellets on long cooks) and he also restarted it with a full fire pot and left the lid down. Completely his fault and he's trying to blame Traeger and contacted the news to try to make people feel like pellet grills aren't safe. Alex Burch you should interview someone who actually knows how to operate them correctly.
Pit boss brand new blew up first use. Pellets fed and thermo ran full throttle when plugged in with no power.
glad everyone is safe,BUT clean grill/smoker do not PUSH pellet's with hand (no fingers cook) .
Maybe a little cleaning and attention, l never believed in set it and forget it. nothing is perfect. No issues for me, 2 years, still smokes and cooks great.
just kep the lid open when it is heating up until it stops pluming smoke, or if you have to add pellets lol, follow directions
I've had a pellet grill for years. The instructions for mine state clearly to start it with the lid open.
Can't fix stupid.
It is USER error. Read the instruction manual. It states to leave the lid OPEN during start-up. I believe that there should be an explanation as to WHY, in the instruction manual....but the Sales Dept likely edited that out, in my own amateur opinion. Kind of like the Pinto gas tank cover-up issue. This is NOT unique to Traeger.
100% user error! READ THE FREAKING DIRECTIONS!
He's also using the kind of grill cleaning brush that can put him in the hospital.
Mine did the same thing... lid didn't break off though...guess mine is just better quality
you have to keep your pellet grill clean it's in the manual... your hopper and furnace part cannot have any crust in them when you start a smoke and you should never reignite a gas grill with the lid down, this guy had a wood gas explosion, you can run an engine on wood gas.
"does what he always does" obviously read the user manual is not one of them ... DO NOT START YOUR COOKER WITH THE LID CLOSED says it right in the manual
I want be so harsh like some, but,,,, the manuals do say leave the lid open on most all pellet grills until you have ignition. Wood is a solid fuel and it gives off a gas until it ignites you need to leave the lid open.
gotta clean the ash pot after long cooks.. it can cause some build up..
User error. I bet the guy has never cleaned out the grill or the firebox ever.. Traeger is not stupid proof, looking at this thing it’s dirty as hell and I am not surprised it blew up on the guy.
The manual tells you to start it a certain way with the lid open! Yes it was definitely user error! Also as much flame as was visible he must have overflowed the pot as well as never cleaned. All grills have potential to explode or catch on fire if you don't properly clean and maintain them.
He's the guy who had a gas grill for 10 years and never knew he could replace the igniter battery so he just used a lighter
This comment is definitely underrated. Thumbs up, my dude.
I would never use a grill that close to the siding and always keep an extinguisher handy.
User error! They warn you of this in the manual! Keep the pellets stirred...
Would you eat anything served off that nasty looking grill? I wouldnt
Read the instructions, open the lid when starting or restarting!! User error!!!
You created a backdraft and want to blame the company. Congrats
Common sense could have prevented that.. clean it once every few uses.
Anyone ever heard of a wood gasifier? Yes wood gas can be run in a combustion engine . In other words you can let the wood gas hit stoichiometric mixture it will explode. The fix is to keep the lid open until you hear a flame 🔥
At that point, you have to treat it like the initial startup, with the lid open
Read the manual.
I had this happen. The mistake was turning the smoker back on again without cleaning it out. It didn’t blow the door off my smoker but it did incinerate some chicken I was smoking. The warning sign is the thick white smoke. If that happens to me again I will unplug the smoker, let it cool off and vacuum it out before restarting.
Hes a muppet
We have a pellet stove for our house and you have to do this with those too.
When it ran out of pellets it's just like starting it cold again. You have to open the lid. Till it fires back up again. Definitely user error
This is called a burnout. It's either due to fan not working or pellets overfill in the pot. This particular one is more powerful than usual
That’s why the lid is open during ignition... if you starve a fire and it gets enough oxygen to ignite .. it’s going to ignite lol
I'm betting he didn't shut it down properly or clean it. (A few hundred times.)
Never get a wood smoker either then cause those "blow up" too. Just look up firefighter flashovers. Basically the same thing.
Wow...I also had an issue with my stick burner pit. My stick burner got a stuck stanky stick stuck in int. Not only that, but the stupid stuck stanky stick also stunted my steak and that just stinks. So, to summarize, stop sticking stupid stanky sticks in your stick burner to avoid stunted stinky steaks.
Just sayin'.
Any time you start or restart you pellet grill you need to have the lid open. The explosion is build up of pressure. Reading the owners manual would have prevented this.
If it cut off you need to inspect the grill to find out why. You dont restart a pellet grill without emptying the feeder tray. Its going to have a massive build up of pellets and cause a mini explosion as you can see. You just need to do more research on pellet grills and how they function.
I promise the smoker was filthy and greasy and it was his fault. You can get a flash back on any type of grill under the right circumstances.
My first pellet grill was purchased this last week. The second time I used it, this very thing happened.
Bet you read the operators manual after that.
Mine did this midway through a brisket on my 2nd smoke. For whatever reason the temp on the display went down to where I knew something was wrong. I turned it off, let it do it's thing for what seemed like a reasonable amount of time, then set it to smoke again. Bad choice. The neighbors probably thought I was burning old tires in there. In hindsight, I should've cleared the fire pot. I had assumed any pellet buildup in the pot had probably been burned off. Lesson learned. What I am still unclear of is why it happened to begin with. I'm assuming there must've been some sort of bind in the auger that caused the pellets to stop feeding, and then the pot experienced an overflow once the auger was freed up, but I really don't know. I do know I am leary of leaving the smoker unattended for more than 15-20 minutes.
It happens with all pellet grills, even if you maintain it. A nice wind can blow out your flame and the auger will keep feeding. I am constantly checking my Pit Boss when using it. Part of the fun.
Of course the media paints the pellet grill as a killer and needs to be outlawed...how about blame the dude for not following the instructions.
Lack of cleaning reading instructions. When he noticed the pot ran dry he should have unplugged . Let cool and restarted the start up process
It was user error. Smoke is combustible so when you go to relight you OPEN THE LID.
Built like a Traeger junk mine would fill the pot up and not light all the time and it was brand new. Get a recteq
Instructions were too much for him apparently.
"He did what he's always done" would look cool on a headstone.
User error
This just in!… “local man doesn’t read instructions”
2 problems here, 1st, he failed to properly use his pellet grill. 2nd, the TV station sensationalized this guy's failure.
Mine is exploded also, difference is, I own up to user error
Mine also, totally my fault.
@@nwestark I got lucky I was a fire fighter for 5yrs and seen it coming. The smoke was getting thicker and thicker. And I seen a backdraft coming so I prepared. It blew up right in front of me but I prevented damage
@@jjtorres3891 Sorry buddy that it happened to you. I go back to my original comment that all of us pellet grill owners know all too well. It was user error. Sorry, at least no one got hurt, :)
@@nwestark mine still works. No damage at all. I have 5years FD experience and noticed a backdraft occurring so I backed everyone up and was lucky the lid just popped up maybe halfway instead of opening all the way from pressure and flying off. The grill has been great since and no issues. I taught the girlfriend how to properly use it and I have the grill setup on a light switch so when the grill cycles and shuts off we hit the light switch to turn power off to that outlet. That same outlet is running out led string lights on the back porch so they work as a reminder to turn the power off
Doesn't look like it has been cleaned or maintained much. Need to read the instructions and do some research definitely user error.
Smoke is fuel
This is what happens you you don’t clean out the pot and start or shut down improperly.
100% user error
Says right in user manual not to do that
The manufacturer of all these grills tells you to keep the grill open during the first 10 minutes or so. I followed these instructions not knowing WHY until watching videos like this in which these instructions weren't followed. The same could happen in any type of cooker IF you allow gasses to build up and then ignite the gases.
Literally just used my traeger for the first time yesterday smoking a brisket. Never even heard of this or heard of a flameout.
Flameout happened to me yesterday, and common Sense would tell you to shut it down and pull it apart to see what's going on.
Turns out the pellets kept pushing through into the chamber. No way would I start that back up without cleaning it.
That's just common sense.
You are well first thing it was a mistake you had it run through light up while the lid was closed that build up the fuel and the the gases from the pellets smoldering until it lights and when it lights and all that fuel in that smooth from the the gas is that's from the pellets trying to ignite feel that whole cabinet and when it finally lights it explodes you're supposed to have a lid open until it lights and you see all that smoke evaporate from it and then get a clean burn and you close the lid and let me keep filled up
^^ Stay in school, kids ^^#punctuation
Lack of maintenance will def do this, the ash builds up over a couple sessions, then when it aligns itself with the feed tube it starts burning those pellets in the tube, then it all goes to hell after that lol
you have to start a pellet grill with the cover opened , it is in this case a USER ERROR
Wow… the news really falls off when there isn’t reports of something bad happening huh?
Will not only so this after a flameout. It produces the white gas cloud every time you start up your grill. Instructions plainly tell you to leave lid open until start up white gas cloud dissapears. In other words....READ THE INSTRUCTIONS.
Traeger grills suck anyway, they rust out (inside and out even when covered) and the digital thermostats are crap, they don't heat to the desired temperature. I'll take a Weber grill over Traeger any day of the week! I've had my Weber for over 20 years, stainless steel, never rusts out and still fires up with one click. Also WAY more efficient than a pellet grill they burn way too much fuel and the pellets will often get soggy if you aren't careful with them. Just my two cents....not looking to offend anyone. I've had both types and I like the reliability and fuel economy of gas grills.
I'm doing a ton of research on pellet grills right now bc i bought a Z GRILL and one video states if you leave your pellets in the hopper they will soak up condensation or if it rains they will expand and get stuck in the hopper and may cause an explosion, does anyone else take out the pellets after every cook?
every single time. Most modern pellet grills have a hopper clean out door. Store your pellets in 5 gallon bucks next to the grill, then when you are finished cooking open the hopper clean out and dump the hopper into the bucket. Let the grill burn off the remainder of whats in the auger to burn off and then shut it down. takes 5 minutes to dump the hopper, burn off the auger, and be done. Then ever 2-3 cooks vacuum out the fire pot before you fire the grill up.