Cleaning a smoker of "Traeger tar"

[Fred Rickson]

I have been smoking food for maybe 45 years, both cold and hot. I started with a converted fridge, but then living in Oregon and smoking a lot of fish, I have just stuck with a Little Chief for a number of years. Last year, for the first time I tried a load of Traeger pellets, and noticed a "drool" of a black, tar-like substance running down the outside surface and, on cooling, the top was tightly stuck to the box. All those years I just used wood chips available everywhere and never had any problems. Even though I have stopped using the pellets, the top is now stuck to the box after each use.

My question is asking for suggestions to scrub out the tar in my smoker. I can go through the list of break drum solvent, citrus goo, acetone, etc., but I thought someone out there might have run into the same problem and have a suggestion. I can scrub out the box with soap and water after cleaning without any problem.

Thank you for any help.

 

[68sting]

I recently cleaned up my MES40 with some SOS pads. They did a great job.

 

[TentHunter]

Interesting, I have used BBQ'ers Delight pellets in foil pouches for years (long before I ever got a pellet fueled smoker) and have never had that issue. My guess is it's something in the Traeger pellets.

The black greasy buildup I do get is normal and I use a plastic paint scraper with some spray cleaner from time to time to scrape it out. What's nice about the plastic paint scrapers is they will bend slightly to the curve of my Weber Kettles and are gentle enough to not scrape off the finish of my MAK 1 Star.

 

[Fred Rickson]

Thank you

Your ideas of just SOS and scraping will be tried. I got a bottle of Dawn spray cleaner which should cut the tar. Thanks again.