# Power washing a smoker



## Medina Joe

I think it's time to clean out the smoker. Has anyone power washed theirs before? I have a lot of creosote build up. Do you also re-season it as well?


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## Jonok

What flavor of smoker do you have?


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## hardcookin

I pressure wash my grates and reverse flow plate about once a month. 
Spray some Pam on the grates and fire my smoker up an smoke on.


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## ravenclan

WHAT???!!! ........and wash out all the flavor!!! I never wash but I do scrape the inside if needed and then reapply smoke to protect it from rusting.


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## sigmo

One thing to keep in mind is that the coating of condensed smoke on the inside of a smoker always "looks" about the same once you have a good coating built up.  On the other hand, the bare stainless steel of a new smoker is very reflective.

To make things operate consistently, you need to keep things the same from one smoke session to the next because a shiny surface reflects infra-red energy while a dark surface tends to absorb that radiation.

So you either need to leave the smoker well-seasoned, or you need to polish it clean every time!  Being the lazy type, I prefer to keep my smoker "well seasoned" at all times.

"Well seasoned" sounds a lot nicer than "filthy with creosote", you'll note!  ;)


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## Jonok

I've done it to a couple MESs when they got full of overflowed drippings and schmutz.
Didn't seem to hurt anything, and really did a nice job on the window with a 0 degree tip.  On the other hand, where the powdercoat was orangepeeling it took it off, and I suspect there would have been hell to pay had I hit the door seal...


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## 6GRILLZNTN

ravenclan said:


> WHAT???!!! ........and wash out all the flavor!!! I never wash but I do scrape the inside if needed and then reapply smoke to protect it from rusting.



This!


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## sigmo

I'd be concerned that a power washer could force water into places where you might not want it to get, causing electrical problems.

These smokers are likely designed for gravity dripping and not high pressure spray.


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## Jonok

Yup, me too, but I seem to have skated and removed the rancid grease to boot.
Multiple statements in the factory literature clearly suggest that nothing but tincture of ambrosia and unicorn farts are to be used for cleaning, so I'm sure stronger measures are Verboten,  but I suspect that there was a chinese engineer with "ɡāo wán" who realized that a necrosectomy might occasionally be needed and maybe worked a little extra into the gemish...


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## smokerjim

I never washed my mes30 with water, I just scrape it once in a while to knock the loose stuff off.


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## Nole4L

I think this is going to depend on what kind of smoker you have.  My Lang has a large drain and Ben Lang suggests spraying it out when it's hot after every use to steam clean it.  When I had a box store offset I would occasionally remove everything from inside and light the build up in the cook chamber to clean it out.  That's probably not the FDA approved method :-)


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## Medina Joe

it's a off set rivers grill smoker. It's charcoal & wood only. I may just scrap it out.....

Thanks everyone for there input


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## Bearcarver

smokerjim said:


> I never washed my mes30 with water, I just scrape it once in a while to knock the loose stuff off.




Same Here, but I never soak any of my electric power tools in water either.

Watts & Water don't Mix.

Bear


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