Your Gas Grill: Keeping It Safe

8/13/2020 (Permalink)

Don't let a gas grill fire ruin your cookout … or destroy your home! Our three easy tips will help prevent a fire disaster.

There’s nothing like a meal cooked outside on a convenient gas grill! Many people use their gas grill year-round, but summer, of course, is prime grilling time. That also means that summer is the season to be especially careful about gas grill safety and maintenance.

Each year, about 9,000 fires are caused by grilling, and more than 80% of these originate with gas grills. Take these three basic steps when grilling to help prevent a fire tragedy from happening to you.

Keep It Clean

Much of the food cooked on a grill is greasy, such as burgers or steaks. As the food cooks, the grease drips into the grease trap beneath the grill top and builds up. Soon enough, this trap gets filled up and becomes a source of fuel. Because the temperature inside a closed gas grill can reach more than 500°F, that accumulated grease can easily and unexpectedly ignite. The resulting flames can spread to your deck, nearby furniture and even your home.

Insects, such as spiders, often build nests inside the burner tubes of grills, which can block the flow of gas and cause the fuel to back up. When you try to ignite the grill, it may light but that backed-up gas may also ignite, resulting in flames shooting out around the control panel. That’s called a flashback fire.

To prevent either of these situations, you need to regularly clean your grill. Focus on the areas where grease typically builds up, such as the grease trap beneath the grill, and under and around the burners. Also clean the flame tamers, which are flat pieces of steel that distribute heat as you’re cooking (usually found above the burners). As a part of your regular cleaning, check the burner tubes and clean them out with a narrow bottle brush or pipe cleaner.

Some other tips for safe cooking:

• Trim fat off your meat
• Use a lower heat setting
• Pay attention to the flames on your burners—uneven or yellow flames may indicate a blockage

Keep Your Distance

The heat thrown off by a gas grill is hot enough to set nearby objects on fire, melt your siding or even catch your house on fire. And remember that a flare-up or grease fire can send flames shooting out three or more feet from the grill.

So no matter the weather—and it’s tempting to move the grill to a porch or closer to your home if it’s raining—keep your grill away from structures (such as deck railings) and objects (such as branches). Check your grill manufacturer for the guidelines for your model. Place your gas grill on a level, sturdy and non-combustible surface that has been cleared of leaves and other debris.

Keep Watch

In spite of the social role that cooking out plays in gatherings of family and friends, you need to maintain vigilance when you are operating a gas grill. The heat of the grill can easily burn a child, adult or animal that contacts the side of it. And a flare-up or grease fire, if not stopped quickly, can turn into a major fire disaster.

Stay at or near your gas grill whenever it is turned on so that you can quickly react to a fire emergency—or stop one from happening.

When you have suffered a fire or other disaster at your home or business, call SERVPRO of Glastonbury/Wethersfield today at 860.633.8791

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After a fire, the team at SERVPRO of Glastonbury/Wethersfield uses specialized fire restoration training and experience to quickly clean up and restore your home to pre-fire condition.

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When you have suffered a fire or other disaster at your home or business, call SERVPRO of Glastonbury/Wethersfield today at 860.633.8791