houstonbudman
New member
Well, about a year ago I bought a used REC TEC Pellet Smoker here in Houston, Texas and was it ever abused and filthy …. Caked with grease. The original owner said it was about 2 years old. Unfortunately he had never used any aluminum foil to protect the drip pan and the stainless steel cooking grates looked like they had never been cleaned. Everything worked fine and only thing missing was the stainless drip bucket.
I knew I had a real job on my hands to get this smoker back into acceptable and useable condition so as soon as I got it home I started searching the web, BBQ smoker and pellet smoker websites, forums and blogs to see if anyone has refurbished a REC TEC. I guess because the REC TEC is one of the newer pellet smokers on the market, I shouldn’t have been surprised to find no blogs or postings about refurbishing one. I just might be the first person to do this.
First thing I did was to completely disassemble the grill down to its basic assemblies for a thorough cleaning. I used Easy Off oven cleaner and the Grill and Oven Cleaner Product by Awesome Products (purchased at the Dollar Store) to remove all the grease from the drip pan, grill grates and the interior and exterior of the grill barrel. I then completely chemically stripped the paint from the inside and outside of the grill lid. Increasingly finer grids of sand paper were used to get the grill lid prepared for painting. Here are the paint products I used:
• VHT Flame Proof Flat Gray Primer SP100 – Several Coats
• VHT Caliper High 600-900* Temp SP731 Real Red – 6 coats (2 Cans)
• VHT Caliper Clear Gloss SP730 – 6 Coats (2 Cans)
I elected to use the Caliper paint instead of the higher temperature resistant Flame Proof because of the extremely high curing temperatures needed for the Flame Proof.
I used the Rustoleum Specialty High Heat Satin Black Enamel for the Pellet Hopper, main cooking barrel, legs and shelf. It was brushed on and came out very nice. I found some peeling paint and rust between the pellet hopper and barrel, removed the rust with petroleum jelly and painted with several coast of the Rustoleum.
To reseal the Air Box Assembly to the pellet hopper and cooking barrel I used Rutland Black High Head 600 degree RTV Silicon purchased at Amazon. Replacement SS drip bucket was also bought at Amazon
I replaced the light kit, starter rod, and temperature probe. I also found new locking casters and wheels on eBay that fit perfectly. May have to replace the towel ring as it was heavily pitted.
I was concerned that the lid stops on the hinges might damage the new paint on the lid when it was fully opened so I bought some high temperature 3/8” laboratory silicon tubing and cut strips the length of the stops, slit them longwise and put them on the stops.
The project has been completed now for several months. The grill is stored outdoors and covered and every thing is holding up really well. Just bought some REC TEC searing grates and will be adding a shelf in the near future. Very pleased with how it turned out.
I knew I had a real job on my hands to get this smoker back into acceptable and useable condition so as soon as I got it home I started searching the web, BBQ smoker and pellet smoker websites, forums and blogs to see if anyone has refurbished a REC TEC. I guess because the REC TEC is one of the newer pellet smokers on the market, I shouldn’t have been surprised to find no blogs or postings about refurbishing one. I just might be the first person to do this.
First thing I did was to completely disassemble the grill down to its basic assemblies for a thorough cleaning. I used Easy Off oven cleaner and the Grill and Oven Cleaner Product by Awesome Products (purchased at the Dollar Store) to remove all the grease from the drip pan, grill grates and the interior and exterior of the grill barrel. I then completely chemically stripped the paint from the inside and outside of the grill lid. Increasingly finer grids of sand paper were used to get the grill lid prepared for painting. Here are the paint products I used:
• VHT Flame Proof Flat Gray Primer SP100 – Several Coats
• VHT Caliper High 600-900* Temp SP731 Real Red – 6 coats (2 Cans)
• VHT Caliper Clear Gloss SP730 – 6 Coats (2 Cans)
I elected to use the Caliper paint instead of the higher temperature resistant Flame Proof because of the extremely high curing temperatures needed for the Flame Proof.
I used the Rustoleum Specialty High Heat Satin Black Enamel for the Pellet Hopper, main cooking barrel, legs and shelf. It was brushed on and came out very nice. I found some peeling paint and rust between the pellet hopper and barrel, removed the rust with petroleum jelly and painted with several coast of the Rustoleum.
To reseal the Air Box Assembly to the pellet hopper and cooking barrel I used Rutland Black High Head 600 degree RTV Silicon purchased at Amazon. Replacement SS drip bucket was also bought at Amazon
I replaced the light kit, starter rod, and temperature probe. I also found new locking casters and wheels on eBay that fit perfectly. May have to replace the towel ring as it was heavily pitted.
I was concerned that the lid stops on the hinges might damage the new paint on the lid when it was fully opened so I bought some high temperature 3/8” laboratory silicon tubing and cut strips the length of the stops, slit them longwise and put them on the stops.
The project has been completed now for several months. The grill is stored outdoors and covered and every thing is holding up really well. Just bought some REC TEC searing grates and will be adding a shelf in the near future. Very pleased with how it turned out.
