While it is always nice to use a Traeger outside when the sun is absolutely baking, we know that a bit of rain can put these plans to bed. Of course, you have already planned to grill, and you have your heart set on it. This means that you will start to look for other ways to grill. One option many people end up focusing on is using a Traeger in a garage. So, can you do this? Let’s explain.
Can You Use a Traeger In a Garage?
Yes and no.
While you should probably avoid using a Traeger in a garage if you can, you can take certain precautions to ensure that everything will go smoothly. Although many people do not take these precautions and may not want to go to the lengths required, we tend to recommend that people just avoid using the Traeger in the garage completely. It can be dangerous.
Let’s go into depth on why you shouldn’t use a Traeger in a garage and some of the things that you should think about if you opt to do so.
Why It Is Best To Avoid Using a Traeger In a Garage
There are plenty of reasons why you shouldn’t really be using a Traeger in the garage. Let’s go through them.
Risk Of Starting a Fire
For starters, the chances are pretty high that your car lives in the garage normally. Having a car in the garage can be a recipe for disaster. Gas could leak around the place. This means that when you light your Traeger grill, there is always the risk of a pretty large fire.
Even if you do not have gas floating around the place, lighting a flame inside a garage will pose a pretty big fire risk. You only need a loose spark to jump free, and you will have a pretty big disaster on your hands.
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Even putting aside the fire risk, there is the risk of death when you use a Traeger grill indoors. There is a reason why they have been designed for outdoor use only, and your product manual probably says several times that you should only ever be using the Traeger outdoors. This is all down to carbon monoxide poisoning.
We won’t get too scientific here, but it sucks oxygen from the surrounding area when a flame burns. As it sucks oxygen, carbon monoxide is produced. Carbon monoxide is deadly if you breathe it in. In fact, carbon monoxide is pretty much known as a silent killer. Very few people realize that they are dealing with carbon monoxide poisoning. In many cases, it can cause serious injury and brain damage. In other cases, it could cause death. There are probably countless stories out there of people that have opted to use an outdoor grill indoors and ended up dying. It is a story that you hear a lot about people who have gone camping.
Of course, there are ways around many of these issues. However, as we said a bit earlier on, it is always advised to just try and avoid using a Traeger grill indoors anyway. Even if you take all the precautions that you possibly can, there will always be a bit more risk than if you just used the grill outdoors. Trust us; it is a lot better to grill while it is raining (or wait for the rain to stop) than ending up dead because you opted to grill indoors and got carbon monoxide poisoning.
If You Do Use a Traeger In a Garage, Make Sure That You Do This
Once again, we really want to drum the point home that you should not grill indoors wherever possible. Although there are still going to be some people who will go against this advice, let’s just try and make the whole thing as safe as possible for you.
Don’t Put Anything To Close
Firstly, you will want to remove anything from the surrounding area. You do not want to put the Traeger grill anywhere close to something that runs the risk of going up in flames. Honestly, try to remove anything that will be within a few feet of where you are putting the Traeger grill.
Good Airflow
Dealing with the production of carbon monoxide is a bit easier. You won’t have to remove anything. The key to stopping the carbon monoxide from getting to overwhelming levels is to ensure that you have constant airflow into the garage. This means that whenever you are grilling in the garage, you need to ensure that the door is open all of the time. This means fully open. You need a ton of oxygen flowing into that room.
Put it By The Entrance
In an ideal world, you will try to ensure that the grill is placed close to the garage entrance. Basically, you want that grill as close to being outdoors as you can possibly manage without taking it outside of the garage.
Don’t Grill For Too Long
You may also want to avoid grilling for hours on end. We also encourage anybody that is around the grill to go outside and breathe in the air outside every so often. Not only does your Traeger grill need to have good oxygen flowing into it, but you are going to need to have good oxygen flowing into you too!
Finally, we encourage you to avoid having the flame up too high. Obviously, the higher the flame, the more likely something is to bounce off and cause havoc in your garage.
Better Solution: Use an Electric Grill
Of course, there are some people who are going to want to grill indoors no matter what. If this is the case, then you may want to look at using an electric grill. These grills do not use any kind of open flame. This means that they will not produce any carbon monoxide whatsoever. For many people, this is going to be the best solution.
It is also worth mentioning that electric grills are a lot safer to use in general. They have a tendency to not get as hot as some of the other grills out there on the market. This means that there is less risk of you ending up causing a fire.
Conclusion
While you can use a Traeger grill in a garage if you take a few precautions, it isn’t generally recommended, especially if you normally park a vehicle inside of the garage. If you absolutely must insist on using the grill in the garage, then make sure that you always have the garage door fully open. You should also try and move the grill as close as possible to the entrance of the garage. This should ensure proper airflow. Other than this, try to ensure that anything that could catch alight is not close to your grill. Last but not least, taking the chance on this is not safe. If you really want to grill inside the safest way, use an electric grill that is made for indoors.
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