Weber gas grill spring cleaning

[billconner]

Just got the Weber cleaned up from winter. I think a year and a half ago I did it in the fall but didn't get to it this past fall. Removed all easily removable parts and scrubbed. Did a stainless clean and polish. Lit right up.

I moved to the "flavorizer bars" around The 3 above burners were quite clean before scrub. The 2 intermediate w/o burners under were pretty built up with crud - food droppings. Also outside of end ones had some build up. I hope by swapping around the build up burns off. Sure smelled good!

 

[dzahm]

love our weber- I did some replacement of the flav bars a few years ago- (went with the stainless this time) That thing cannot cook a bad steak- we absolutely love it-

Heres a trick for you- ever reheat pizza and the crust is soggy? Yep- throw that bad boy on the weber for a few minutes- - you get nice crust not soggy- and a slight smoky flavor from the grill- absolutely my best "trick" for that thing- Wife also makes ribs on it (takes about 3 hours- but they fall off the bone) I think its low- off- low (I can check if you like) but highly recommended if you need to run your cholesterol up or just love the pig!

 

[engineer2]

About every other year I drag my Weber out to the lawn and power wash it.
The frame is starting to rust out, the crossover burner is partially gone, and the ignitor cover is half rusted away, but it still works.
It's about due for a major overhaul.

I made a shallow wood chip tray out or some perforated aluminum. It sits on the flavorizer bars above the crossover tube. works real well for a little extra smokiness.

 

[dsimatt]

I really need to do a good cleaning on mine, way to many crappy johnsonville brats cooked on it.

 

[bbxlr8]

Check the burners and the lid also. I recently completely redid mine at the 10Y mark and they stood behind all of it via warranty. Like a new grill. The SS replacement flav. bars are the way to go

 

[billconner]

Do the SS flavor bars do anything more than last longer?

 

[gmcgeo]

This reminds me to do mine

 

[Showkey]

Me too on the grill clean …………….if spring ever gets here. 40* and very little sun shine

SS flavorizer bars are all about longer life.

This year replacing the “Grill GRATES“ ( which makes a flat top on one side) with this for a flat top.


vs this setup……….GRILL GRATES a are very good but really high maintenance to keep clean.

 

[jonshonda]

All that text and ZERO pics? Come on man!

 

[denis4x4]

I put the grills, burners and flavor bars in the sand blast cabinet a couple of times a year. I also use it to reheat leftovers as it does not dry out food like a microwave

 

[ive]

I was into buying nice bbq but they just wore out. Now I look at them as consumables. Anyone else think like this?

 

[rlitman]

I was into buying nice bbq but they just wore out. Now I look at them as consumables. Anyone else think like this?

Not me. The appliance market as a whole has been trying hard to make you think of their devices as disposable. I think that any device that's not worth servicing as rubbish. A good Weber has many easily purchased consumable parts, as well as a healthy parts aftermarket.

 

[couch67]

I have a Napoleon, solid grill. Its around 10 years old now, just ordered new burners which were finally starting to go.

Question for those who have SS bar grates - how do you get them clean? The tops are fine from regular scrubbing, but at the ends and bottom of the bars, its caked on pretty good.

 

[fitter30]

I have a Napoleon, solid grill. Its around 10 years old now, just ordered new burners which were finally starting to go.

Question for those who have SS bar grates - how do you get them clean? The tops are fine from regular scrubbing, but at the ends and bottom of the bars, its caked on pretty good.

Take a trash bag put grills in it pour ammonia in the bag get grills good and wet let soak over night all that should come off. Wash them. Works great for the oven

 

[dzahm]

Not sure about a napoleon- but the weber you just go Hi- Hi- Hi for about 10 mins and the temps will be > 550F so pretty much everything on mine is crispy or ash- A stiff brush then removes pretty easily-

 

[svhamelly]

Bought my first Weber in 1993... still using it, changed out flavor bars several times, got cast grates a while back, but the big thing is... at almost 30 years old... still have original burners/crossover bar!!!

 

[jbfsr]

About the same here, 1992. Same burners. Sparker works first time, every time. Good cover really helps.

 

[svhamelly]

About the same here, 1992. Same burners. Sparker works first time, every time. Good cover really helps.

Oh yes, I'm on my 3rd cover... always covered when not in use!!!

 

[engineer2]

Do the SS flavor bars do anything more than last longer?

The original ones rusted out in 2-3 years. The stainless ones look rusty, but are still as thick as when I got them 17 years ago.

 

[billconner]

I figured when the enameled steel ones have holes, I'll replace with stainless.

 

[rlitman]

The original ones rusted out in 2-3 years. The stainless ones look rusty, but are still as thick as when I got them 17 years ago.

My factory stainless ones rusted out in about 15 years. I replaced them with 300 series heavier gauge stainless ones from rcplanebuyer on ebay back in 2013, and they're still in perfect shape, though I just upgraded grills this year.

I think the biggest issue is how you treat your grill. My setup uses natural gas, and we routinely run it on high until parts glow to clean it out. That is probably what did my first set in, since Weber uses cheaper grade stainless and they're pretty thin. Burners last me maybe 10 years doing this, but I've bought replacement burner sets for under $25, so I'm fine with that.

 

[engineer2]

One of the first things I did was pipe the patio for natural gas. Been to too many cookouts where they ran low on propane.

 

[theoldwizard1]

The original ones rusted out in 2-3 years. The stainless ones look rusty, but are still as thick as when I got them 17 years ago.

Some of the aftermarket ones use thinner SS !

 

[theoldwizard1]

I did a good cleaning on my SS Weber last spring. I scrapped all of the loose crud down the hole and it the pan. Filled 3 or 4 of them. S d oven cleaner on the fire box with little improvement. Flavor bars have a couple more years. One of the valves was bummed up. Disassembled and cleaned with brake cleaner. Wie brush n a drill made cleaning the SS grates easy.

The one trick I learned was get a large disposable aluminum pan. The bigger the better. Fill half way with water and light all burners. Close the lid. Check occasionally until it is boiling and then let boil for at least 15 minutes. Carefully remove the pan an hose down the interior with a garden hose. It won't be "like new" but it will be steam cleaned !

 

[engineer2]

I had relatives who would crank the burners up until the whole thing was on fire. I thought the fire department would come.
I like the boiling water pan idea better.

 

[PoorUB]

I have a Napoleon, solid grill. Its around 10 years old now, just ordered new burners which were finally starting to go.

Question for those who have SS bar grates - how do you get them clean? The tops are fine from regular scrubbing, but at the ends and bottom of the bars, its caked on pretty good.

I never clean mine, but I do "burn it off" quite often. I will admit I might pressure wash my grill in the spring, but I don't detail it and polish the wheels. Other than a blast of water in the spring the flaorizer bars and grills on my Weber have never been cleaned. If 800F temps are not good enough after a good burn off, I guess I should be dead by now. My Weber is probably 25 years old and looks like it!

 

[Alchase]

I crank my Weber Genesis up to high and wait until 600+ degrees before I start cooking. I have found almost everything tastes better cooked at high temps. Unless you are doing low-an-slow then it should be in the smoker.
I use Grill Grates on top of the original Stainless Steel grates.
I also have a cast iron plate that covers about 1/3 the grill space on top of the grill grates. Something’s just need the browning touch of cast iron,
I bought this Grill in 2017, I have not needed to tear it down for a cleaning yet. I do keep a close eye on the grease catcher. But it seems cooking at high temps does not allow a lot of grease to make it into the catcher. I grill an average of 4 night a week.

 

[rlitman]

...The one trick I learned was get a large disposable aluminum pan. The bigger the better. Fill half way with water and light all burners. Close the lid. Check occasionally until it is boiling and then let boil for at least 15 minutes. Carefully remove the pan an hose down the interior with a garden hose. It won't be "like new" but it will be steam cleaned !

That trick works even better in a microwave oven.

I had relatives who would crank the burners up until the whole thing was on fire. I thought the fire department would come...

A film of stuff stuck to the grates isn't going to start a fire. Fires in a Weber are from grease infused carbon foam leftover drippings BENEATH the flavorizers on the catch pan. Eventually the radiant heat from above will take this area above the auto-ignition temperature. Just pull this catch pan out (the grease cup hardly works), and scrape down the sides while it is cool. Keep this relatively clean and you will never have a fire in the grill. And it doesn't need to be squeaky clean, just keep the buildup under 1/16" thick.

 

[finn]

I was pleasantly surprised to find upon our return from the southwest winter hideaway to our northern lakeside home, that my son or daughter in law scrubbed the Weber during their winter stay at the house.

One less spring chore to check off the to-do list.

 

[theoldwizard1]

I had relatives who would crank the burners up until the whole thing was on fire.

That is my typical preheat method ! Start all burners, close the lid, wait until the temp is well very 500°F, then a quick run over the grates with a grill brush. If you a paranoid about bristles left behind, use a wet towel and tongs.

 

[yeldogt]

I was into buying nice bbq but they just wore out. Now I look at them as consumables. Anyone else think like this?

For stand alone grill -- the better Weber Porcelain unit is a good way to go in the sub 1k range. IMO the Saber is a better grill vs the full Weber SS.

Some of the big Box grills look great -- but they just don't perform well

 

[rlitman]

Hat is my typical preheat method ! Start all burners, close the lid, wait until the temp is well very 500°F, then a quick run over the grates with a grill brush. If you a paranoid about bristles left behind, use a wet towel and tongs.

I do the same, though I've stopped using brushes with bristles. I have one of those brushes with the looped wires, and its meh. The one that does the best job on my grates I made myself. It uses the handle from an old stainless brush where the bristles were shot. To it, I welded a "spring" that I hand bent and stretched so that the coils mesh with my grate. I then took the stainless braid sleeve from an old dishwasher supply line and slipped it over the spring before welding the ends of the spring to the handle.

 

[oldmachinenut]

My Daughter got me one of these, they are amazing.

Scraper Brush

Grill Rescue is the world's best and safest grill brush. NO HARMFUL WIRE BRISTLES! Grill Rescue uses steam to clean your grill. Not aggravated forceful brushing.

grillrescue.com

 

[58Yeoman]

My Daughter got me one of these, they are amazing.

Scraper Brush

Grill Rescue is the world's best and safest grill brush. NO HARMFUL WIRE BRISTLES! Grill Rescue uses steam to clean your grill. Not aggravated forceful brushing.

grillrescue.com

Does the mini bikini come with it, and is it needed to be able to get the grille clean? Though, I wouldn't look good in it anyway, so I guess I'll continue to use the wire brush.

 

[billconner]

I had to look a second time.

 

[510ebl]

My Genesis 310 is about 7 years old, so out of warranty for many parts. I called Weber today to see if they would cover anything.

Knobs - yes
Burners - yes
Cast iron grates - no, but a supervisor approved a set for me
Flavorizors - no, but I can buy at a discount
Heat shields - no, but I can buy at a discount

I figured if they were covering the grates, I’d buy the other items which were not covered. The flavorizors and heat shields were discounted, so it came to under $100 for everything including shipping and tax.

I’m a happy Weber customer. The grill is holding up very well considering I am at (near) the shore and do very little upkeep. It will get a thorough cleaning an a new cover this year.

 

[MEDTECH]

My factory stainless ones rusted out in about 15 years. I replaced them with 300 series heavier gauge stainless ones from rcplanebuyer on ebay back in 2013, and they're still in perfect shape, though I just upgraded grills this year.

I think the biggest issue is how you treat your grill. My setup uses natural gas, and we routinely run it on high until parts glow to clean it out. That is probably what did my first set in, since Weber uses cheaper grade stainless and they're pretty thin. Burners last me maybe 10 years doing this, but I've bought replacement burner sets for under $25, so I'm fine with that.

Bought mine from the eBay seller you mentioned after reading your post. It was timely today as I was cleaning it and replacing the NG hose after squirrels massacred it. Bars were 5 years old (original) and badly corroded. Thanks for the rec