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Had a fire in my FE100 last weekend. A big one. Had over 75 pounds of brisket flats cooking and every one of them burnt to a crisp. This was after cooking 80 pounds of pork butts for 14 hours. What did I do wrong? Simple...wasn't paying attention and did not replace the foil sheet on my drip pan, and the grease "chute" was clogged preventing drippings from going to the drip pan beneath the cooker.
Not exactly the best situtaion, as the grease (I think), got hotter and hotter and poof --- flames. Flames were shooting out the smoke stack and trying it's best to come out the edge of the door. I unplugged the cooker, opened the door and said...Wow...among other things.
I happened to have some dirt nearby so I grabbed a bucket and tossed it on the burning meat. Then I sat in my lawn chair staring at the charred remains and thanking my lucky stars for things could have been worse.
I left my FE outdoors all this week with the door open to "air out" the burn smell. Saturday, I cleaned the interior with oven cleaner inside and out. Replaced the door seal. The grill racks are warped and will be ordering new ones.
After spending 8 hours cleaning the cooker, I took a deep breath to crank it up and hope for the best. Lo and behold....it worked like a charm. I had no meat in the cooker, but it ran clean and great for 6 hours. The interior of the cooker is spotless...
I remember Candy Sue telling me that she cleans her FE cosntantly (after every cook?) --- I used to clean it every 3-4 months...now I think it'll be more often.
I will vouch for its sturdiness. After all, this same machine fell 20 feet from our warehouse rack to a concrete floor --- and worked. If I can figure out how to post a picture, I'll show the FE after the fire.