I’ve been smoking meat with a couple of different kinds of pellet smoker grills for five-plus years now. I’m blessed to have a covered back patio area to store my smokers. But the way our roof is designed, there is a section where they aren’t covered and the smokers are exposed to the elements. That may be your situation too.
Can you leave your pellet smoker grill outside? The short answer is yes, but let’s throw in some common sense too. Most smoker grills are metal and metal if it gets wet and stays wet for a while will tend to rust. For this and other reasons, I invested in durable covers for my smokers. Anything covered is likely to be dryer and cleaner if it’s stored outside.
Should I Leave A Pellet Smoker Outside?
Storing a pellet smoker grill outside just makes sense for me. That’s where I smoke and grill – outside in the back yard. But as I mentioned earlier, I also use grill covers and cover it after every use. You might have other options available to you, like a space in your garage or shed. If you have that going for you, great! Use it.
If you’ve spent $500 or more on a good smoker grill, then spending another $50 on a good quality cover shouldn’t be an issue because you’re protecting your investment. And I strongly recommend getting a quality grill cover not just the cheapest thing you find that will rip and tear if you look at it wrong.
Why You Should Not Leave Your Pellet Smoker Outside
The cold periods are more harmful to your cooking grills than the hot season, but that does not make the latter any less tasking on the grill.
During the cold period, or if you live in a humid climate, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is leaving pellets in the hopper. They tend to attract moisture from the surrounding air which causes them to swell and become useless.
Besides ruining the pellets and costing you money used in buying them, this also makes it possible for the pellets to ruin the inside of their hopper with the moisture they are retaining. Likewise, it might become difficult to get the pellets out of the hopper.
That, and we have not talked about what the moisture does to the hopper itself.
Even if your cooker is promised to be leak-proof, there are some crevices and gaps which might not be visible to you. It is easy for running moisture to get into these parts and cause rust in your unit. We don’t need to underline the economic importance of rust here, so I will leave that be.
That said, you must be wondering what the hotter periods could do to your pellet grill too. Quite a bit, if you ask me.
Sometimes, the paint or finish on your pellet grill was not made with inferior materials. They have just been consistently impacted by the UV rays which got them deteriorated.
Likewise, unwanted guests (think bees and wasps, among others) are very active during the warm periods. This makes it possible for them to set up camp in your warm pellet grill when you have not been looking at it for a while.
Bees aren’t the only unwanted guest you might encounter. We live in an area where stray cats roam through backyards and they like to mark their territory. Let me just say that it’s eaiser to hose down a grill cover than to clean the legs on my grill.
Since you would not want to get that shine off your grill soon, neither will you want to open it just to be greedy a family of bees, how about you don’t leave it outside at all?
Proper Handling & Storage Of A Pellet Smoker Grill In Any Weather
Whether hot or cold, summer or winter, you can still leave the grill outside and not have to worry about any adverse effects as such if you keep it covered when not in use.
Pellet Grills Left In Direct Sun Or Extreme Heat
I should probably lead with the fact that there might not be a better time to get out there and get the grill working than this. Grilling in the warm weather is usually fun, and you get to spend time outdoors too.
Between the cook-outs, though, your pellet smoker should also be well protected. That is where a patio cover comes into the mix to keep the sun away from your cooker. Recall the UV rays we talked about up there? That’s what the patio covers are for.
Likewise, you should get a cover with bungee cords (for fastening under the frame) so that your pellet grill doesn’t become home for those unwanted guests too.
Besides these, you don’t have too much to worry about in the summertime.
Pellet Smoker Grills Outside – Get A Cover
The bottom line for me is to keep your smoker grill covered when you’re not using it. Even if you have a covered area, high winds can force dust, dirt or rain onto and inside of your grill and you don’t want that. A good quality cover will give you years of extra protection. There are several different kinds of covers available on Amazon.com.
