Fellow Pellet people, help me find this grease leak on my Camp Chef!

[FlipprDolphin]

So I have a Camp Chef Slide and Grill 24" and I have a pretty bad grease leak:

Outside photos: https://imgur.com/a/k9WzEQt

Inside photos: https://imgur.com/a/gtSzk53

I called them and they said to deep clean it, add water in spots, find the leak and caulk it. They have not heard of this before.

And they are also giving me a credit at their camp chef store for $150.

So any ideas on where this leak can be occurring if someone has seen this type of leak before?

The drip tray is in the correct position as well.

I can also take the easy way out and return/exchange it to Dicks since its in my return period, but its 50 miles away and I would have to take it apart to fit in my car.


Edit:

I think I found it

http://imgur.com/gallery/AakRUWa

Any ideas on how to fix it?

Edit again:

They offered to replace the entire smoker for me since they have never seen that kind of leak either.

[Donw]

You are missing the weld, or is it caulking, right at the spot where the leak appears to be coming from. (Right under the rod.) i’d try and caulk that area and then test with water.

[Jerod Broussard]

Would it be a rinse, spit, repeat??

[FlipprDolphin]

I think I found it

http://imgur.com/gallery/AakRUWa

Any ideas on how to fix it?

[Randy-Phx]

It looks like you had meat near the edge that was not over the drip pan. On the outside do you have a sear box?

[FlipprDolphin]

Just a shelf

[jerrybell]

That's not normal to have that much grease in the bottom bowl of the pit. I think you have grease leaking from your drip trough. I would try scrubbing the trough well with some hot soapy water. Then shine a light at the bottom of the trough and look for light leaks. Or stop up the drip chute and fill the trough with water and look for drips. If the trough is not leaking then, as suggested above, your meat is overhanging the drip tray and dripping into the bottom bowl of the pit.

[jerrybell]

I agree with bten, if enough collects it will leak around the ash cleanout rod. I'm not familiar with a drip tray that has holes in it, mine is solid. You may be right about the drip tray holes being the problem. Seems odd they would design a drip tray that doesn't effectively drain the drippings to the grease collection bucket.

[FlipprDolphin]

I'm going to test it today. I do think it's the holes on the tray, I'll see

[FlipprDolphin]

I think I found it

http://imgur.com/gallery/AakRUWa

Any ideas on how to fix it?

[jerrybell]

I just looked at illustrations of the Slide and Grill cooker. It seems plausible that you could get drips into the bottom bowl of the pit with that louvered drip tray. I mistakenly assumed a solid drip tray like I have. Seems like you could try caulking that section near the rod that looks like it is missing in your photo, but I'm not sure how to keep it from leaking around the rod penetration.

[FlipprDolphin]

Thanks for looking, it does seem strange they would design something that doesn't work well. I'm going to test it today

[FlipprDolphin]

I think I found it

http://imgur.com/gallery/AakRUWa

Any ideas on how to fix it?

[FlipprDolphin]

Inside, I already scrubbed it

http://imgur.com/gallery/PGZpdjr

[Derickls]

From those pictures i think you have multiple leaks. It is clearly coming out from the rod penetration as well as the area near the lid you found. It seems odd that so much grease would be collecting near the door. that it would come out that way

[FlipprDolphin]

They offered this morning to send me a whole new smoker since they have never seen this either. I said I will try one more time tonight to clean and heat it up before they replace it.

[bten]

In my Yoder, there are areas that have to be sealed with a high temp caulk. this is caulking they use.

https://www.amazon.com/High-Temp-Sil...+oz.+Cartridge

[FlipprDolphin]

I found out it's a leak from the lid area, but I don't know what to caulk since I don't see any areas that were previously caulked

[Ricardo]

I have a CampChef woodwind. I’m not familiar with your specific model; however, from what I’ve seen, CampChef pellet smokers are very similar.

How are you setting your drip tray? Can you send a photo of it?