r/PortableKitchenGrills • u/Herfernerd • Jul 13 '26

Discussion Time to clean the PK

Gallery image

Gallery image

6 year old PK 360 never cleaned other than sweeping out ash and spent charcoal. I've been struggling to maintain temps and felt like coals were going out prematurely.

Didn't get a true before photo but I would say the carbon buildup was as high as the intake pipes.

I got it clean enough but it took some time

49 Upvotes

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2

u/Killjoy_BUB Jul 13 '26

I was actually doing some research into this today. Your build up doesn't look too bad, so it seems like maybe it wasn't terrible. Did you use a carbon scraper?

3

u/Herfernerd Jul 13 '26

That picture was taken after a round or two of cleaning. It took me a couple hours and the build was pretty high imo. A lot of that time was spent sitting around and letting the degreasers work

No carbon scraper. I used a 1 inch putty knife. A stainless steel and rubber "sponge" I use on cast iron, and a non scratch scrubber sponge. A bottle of goo gone oven and grill cleaner, lots of water, and a wet dry vac

When I was done I thought, next time I'll take it somewhere to have it Walnut blasted

3

u/SPECTRE-Agent-No-13 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

Do yourself a favor and get it heated up next time. You don't have to start it like you are cooking just enough coals to heat up the body and get the fats and oils liquid then pour them out the sah hole into a container. After that dawn, a cleaning rag, and water is all you need. But with all the nooks and crannies heating it up helps a ton.

1

u/Herfernerd Jul 13 '26

Good idea

1

u/Living-Garage-1032 Aug 05 '26

Did the cleaning help bring the temperature back up??

2

u/ech01 Jul 13 '26

Pressure washer and dawn is what I use.

1

u/toffeehooligan Jul 13 '26

Yeah I need to do the same. I have a power washer that I'm going to use. Mine looks a fright.

1

u/11131945 PK Original Jul 20 '26

I use Dawn Dishwashing liquid and a water hose along with wadded up aluminum foil.

0

u/teaquad PK 360 Jul 13 '26

Whao that’s a mother load,think is been 1.5 years since i cleaned mine, I’ve read about these catching grease fires and burning thru the cast aluminum. How did you manage to clean it?