How to Clean Pit Boss Pellet Grill in 2025 (FAST and Easy!)
Keeping the Pit Boss pellet grill clean is essential for optimal performance and great longevity. Even a dirty Pit Boss pellet grill may hamper the cooking with uneven temperature control and flare-ups.
But don’t panic; cleaning this pellet grill is straightforward. You don’t need to take a day off from your job for deep cleaning.
Here I’m providing a simple and competent solution of how to clean pit boss pellet grill with my step-by-step guide. Following this manner of cleaning will keep the Pit Boss pellet grill intake after several years.
So let’s jump in and see what magic can keep your grill in tip-top shape!
Preparation for the Cleaning
Cleaning the pellet smoker requires a few pre-cleaning things to be done. Whenever someone asks how to clean my Pit Boss pellet grill, I always tell them to have regular cleaning and deep cleaning. Regular cleaning is just whipping them away with a soft cloth inside and outside of the Pit Boss grill.
On the other hand, you should do deep cleaning after every 4-5 family cooks. So here, I am talking about the deep cleaning process.
Precautions Before Cleaning
- First and most, remove the pellets from the pellet hopper.
- Burn down the remaining in the auger. Otherwise, wet pellets will jam the auger pipe.
- Now turn off the pellet grill and unplug it.
- Give it time to cool down.
- Get a pair of gloves, if you don’t clean the Pit Boss grill for a long time.
Essential Cleaning Tools and Elements
For deep cleaning and after a long time cleaning of Pit Boss pellet grill, I suggest you have some must needed equipment for effective cleaning. Let’s know about them.
Scraper: A scarper can scrape off the grease and debris on the heat deflector, drip tray etc.
Grill Brush: It can remove the food residue and hard grease from grill grates.
Shop Vac: It is a regular way to suck the dry ash off and debris from the grill and store them without trouble.
Paper Towel/ Microfiber Fabric: Both of them are soft enough to clean the exterior and interior without scratching.
Mild Detergent: It’s a degreaser. Get a degreaser or cleaning solution that can soften the toughest strains, food particles, and grease.
Disposable Gloves: Gloves are common. They are disposable because they are not to protect your hand from heat but derbies and detergents.
Effective Method to Clean Pit Boss Pellet Grill
So far, I’ve told you about the tools and precautions, but no more wasting time. Let’s go to the point.
Interior Cleaning
| Brushing the Cooking Grates | Open the lid of the Pit Boss pellet grill. Now start bruising the greasy grill grates using a welding brush or wire brush. Some of you may ask how to clean pit boss pellet grill grates with brushes. It’s nothing complex, just continue bruising the grates, the greasy grime will get off soon. Tips: Soaking the cooking grates in soapy water or mild degreaser for a night will let you clean the grease so easily. |
| Scratching the Deflector plate | Once you take off the grates, get to see the greasy and oily heat deflecting plate. Get the plastic scraper or any steel made scraper to scrape down the drip pan. The Hard greasy dirt will get off from the heat deflector, Get them in a pile, then scoop and throw away. After scratching the dirty grease off, take the heat deflector out and wipe it with a terry towel. Tips: Also you can wrap the heat deflector with an Aluminum foil, because heat deflector gets so dirty with cooking oil, spices and other dirt. |
| Cleaning The Ashes | Now remove the heat deflector and use a shop vac to suck all the ashes and debris from the fire pot. Use a putty knife to scrape out any greasy build up residue in the barrel. Use the shop vac again to vacuum all the dirt. Tips: Don’t Use water or anything wet in the burn pot, any hint of water may make the pellets wet and messy. Wipe the greasy surface with a paper towel and take out all the grease. |
| Cleaning the Grease Chute | No matter how often to clean Pit Boss pellet grill, you must clean the greasy chute where all the grease is stored. The chute is small in size most of the time that’s why it’s hard to scrape inside. Tips: I prefer to wash the chute keeping the grill warm but not hot. It’s easy to spoon out the soft greasy viscous substances from chute. |
| Wipe the Temperature Probe | For avoiding temperature fluctuations use damp cloth rinsed with water and vinegar. Wipe the temperature probe until it looks clean. Tips: without cleaning the temperature probe may cause you to get the wrong temperature dial in the display. Which has a huge effect on cooking. |
Exterior Cleaning
Once the interior cleaning is done, most people ask how to clean the outside of a pit boss pellet grill. You put back the heat deflector in place and the grill grate. For the Traeger grill, you will have two drip trays on two different layers. Put them in place and shut the lid down. Now use a soft fabric to wipe all the dust from the exterior body pellet grill.
Tip: I suggest a dry wipe is enough for exterior cleaning. But using soapy water spray may get inside the hopper.
How to Clean Auger on Pit Boss Pellet Grill
Here is the step by step process of cleaning the auger of a Pit Boss pellet grill:
| Unplug the Grill | Any cleaning process of a pellet grill starts with turning it off and unplugging. |
| Take Off the Hopper | ● The first step starts unscrewing the 8 Phillips head screws. Just use a Phillips head screwdriver or drill them out. ● Now get out of the bottom and remove the 2 Phillip head screws from the control board. ● And then push back the control board back into the hopper ● Now unscrew the screws that hold the hopper in place front and back. Then unattach the hopper. Tips: The hopper is connected to the burner with a power cord. So, the steel made frame will come out but the connection will be there. SO keep the hopper on a bucket or stool. |
| Removing Auger Bolt | ● To remove the motor from the auger, you must unscrew an Allen head screw from the nut. ● Now remove the single screw that holds the auger in place. Tips: Use a pipe wrench to turn the auger counter clockwise. The auger will come out quite easily. |
| Rubbing with Sandpaper | ● Firstly use a soft fabric to clean the ash and derbies from the auger. ● Use sandpaper to scrape out the hard dirt and ash from the auger Tips: Don’t forget to keep the hopper clean of pellets before removing out the auger. |
| Reassemble | This process is the opposite of what you have done to disassemble everything. Put the auger in and start to screw the things accordingly and finally place the hopper and control board in place. Tips: Always empty the ashtray at the bottom. Any issues with auger and auger motor most of the time are related to dirty ashtray. |
For more details you can check this article: Why my Pit Boss Auger not turning?
FAQs
1. How often should you clean the pit box pellet grill?
There are various types of cleaning. But after every cook, I suggest you give a light clean. For deep cleaning, several cooks are enough.
2. How do you clean the inside of a pellet grill?
How to clean a pit boss pro series pellet grill inside l is the same as all pellet grills in the market. Clean the drip tray and heat deflector where most of the food particles stay. Then wipe out the grease and oily places with a paper towel, and finally shop vac the pellet dust from the interior and fire pot.
3. How do you clean pellet grills after each use?
After every use, I just brush the grill grates with a wire brush and clean out the thick greasy dirt from the grill grates. This is what I do after every short cook.
Final Verdict
Hopefully you have understood how to clean a pit boss pellet grill and know what’s the difference between a dirty pellet grill and a clean pellet grill. Dirty greasy pellet grills affect the taste of the food and also trigger fire. So no way to negotiate with a dirty pellet grill and must clean it after every several cooking.
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