I was running my burner on high after my evening cook to burn off BBQ sauce. I was surprised to look out and see a fire going on under the closed lid! I turned off the gas and got the fire out, but not after the heat or smoke permanently discolored the off-white lid of my Q.

I took a close look and feel the low slope of the grill body is partly to blame. Grease falls thru the grate and lands on the rounded bottom, but the slope is such that it doesn't give gravity enough chance to pull the hot grease down to the grease pan. It collects, then builds up a thin layer. This is what appeared to ignite. I'm not happy that my attractive little grill is now burnt up looking. I've never had this happen with other grills, then again never had a grill where the grate is so close to the underside, and most other grills were shaped different.

I don't want to have to clean under there frequently, never had to do that with other grill except for the drip pan.

Thoughts?

Thoughts/

Yep.

It is not the fact that the slope is wrong, it's the fact that you have not been carrying out the recommended maintenance. What happens is that there is a build up of carbon from fat etc that has burnt from the intense heat and this traps more fat which burns and carbonizes and continues to go. It gets to a point that it catches alight and you blame every thing apart from the person who's fault it is. It takes 2 minutes to scrape the bottom with a plastic scraper and replace the drip pan.
My thoughts are you need to adopt a better cleaning regime.
The lid should clean up with some warm soapy water You can warm up the lid a little which may help.

Cheers

Phil

yep, i clean the body with a plastic spatula after every several cooks. amazing how much junk can accumulate. only takes minutes to do.

I'm right with you Phil. I give mine a scraping and scrubbing about once a month. Takes all of 15 minutes, never had a grease fire.