What the drip tray and heat deflector do

Burnt-on crust under the rack is the usual sign you've met the drip tray. Underneath it sits another plate, and people often mix the two up.

Names differ. Camp Chef says heat deflector plate and Traeger says heat baffle. Your manual's names and diagram are the ones to follow.

What sits where

Camp Chef gives a clear order. Going down from the bottom rack, the drip tray comes first and the deflector plate comes after it.¹ The plate itself is directly above the burn cup and below the drip tray.¹

Traeger's cleaning steps treat them as two separate parts. The first step inside the grill is to remove the drip tray and the heat baffle.²

So the tray is the part that meets the drips first, and the plate is the layer between the tray and the fire.

What the pages I've read don't say

Neither maker's cleaning page explains why the plate is there. I won't guess. Your manual will say what it's for and which way up it goes.

If the manual shows a part sitting on brackets or tabs, put it back that way every time. Take a photo of the layout before you pull anything out. It's a cheap way to avoid a part that's refitted wrong.

Scraping is the job that comes up most. Camp Chef's advice for the plate is a good scrape wherever there's visible burnt-on grease.¹ A cold grill matters for that job. Traeger says the grill must be cold before you clean ash from around the fire pot.²

Traeger also points out that each of its grill models has a drip tray made for that grill's shape, size and features.² A tray from another model isn't a swap you should assume will work. The parts list in your support guide tells you which tray fits.

If grease keeps building on the tray

Check these, in order.

1. When did you last clean it? Camp Chef says to scrape any visible burnt-on grease off the plate.¹ The same goes for the tray.
2. Is the grill cool and unplugged? Camp Chef's cleaning steps open with that warning.¹ Traeger says the grill must be cold when you clean ash near the fire pot.²
3. Is the tray the right one, in the right place? See the point above about model-specific trays.
4. Is grease reaching the bucket? The path from tray to bucket is on the grease path page.

Why bother

Traeger lists spilled grease among the possible causes of a grill fire.³ It also lists a grill that didn't ignite properly, usually because of poor maintenance.³ Both are things you can check yourself.

How fires start is on the fire causes page. Whether to line the tray with foil is covered in a page on tray foil.

For setup, follow the manual for your model. If you've lost it, makers such as Camp Chef say you can find a copy on your grill's product page.¹