Help Rehabbing Kettle on Performer


 
Randy G

Randy G

TVWBB Fan
My father in law was nice enough to give me his old performer. The catch is that there is a silver dollar size hole in the lower bowl of the kettle. Short of replacing the whole thing, any suggestions on how to fix / save the original bowl?
Thanks!
 
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Congrats on that Performer. I love mine. Will probably use it tomorrow to do a whole chicken for my father in law.
Where is the hole exactly. Can you post a picture of the hole and its location?
 
Thanks for the replies!

Bob - Great point. Will snap a pic and post it up so it's easier to diagnose the problem. I feel like if there was a jail for people who abuse these grills my father in law would go! Its criminal what he allowed happened to such an awesome grill.
 
What is the exact size of the hole and is it about perfectly round? Depending on the size you could use an electrical blank plug and maybe some high temp silicon for good measure. Picture and more details could help.
 
If there is one hole, then there are probably several other areas that are very thin and will be perforated before too long.
If you don't want to spring for a new bowl, snag a $20 kettle from Craigslist and drill some holes to mount the burner tube (assuming it has the propane ignition).
 
The problem with just grabbing a kettle is you will still need the brackets to mount the kettle to the Performer frame and those are welded to the kettle. Good idea but a problem to execute. If the hole was drilled, there should not be any weak spots. Still need more info from Randy to figure this out. I am assuming of course that the brackets on the Performer have always been permanently attached like my five year old model.
 
If its less than 10yrs old the bowl us still under warranty. Could you be that lucky?? If it's never been registered with weber you can register it online and get it replaced free.


Drink a little drink, Smoke a little smoke :wsm:
 
As Scott said, if it is less than 10 years old it should still be under warranty. What is the date code on the top damper. With that we can determine the age. Weber is great about warranty situations. If it is still under warranty, you could wind up with a new top and bottom bowl. That would be great.
 
Pic 4-5 show worse than I expected. That is more than a fender washer can handle, and larger than a silver dollar sized hole.
You can do it with sheet metal, just sandwich it between the inner and outer sections.

Tim
 
Bob Ivey said:
The problem with just grabbing a kettle is you will still need the brackets to mount the kettle to the Performer frame and those are welded to the kettle. Good idea but a problem to execute. If the hole was drilled, there should not be any weak spots. Still need more info from Randy to figure this out. I am assuming of course that the brackets on the Performer have always been permanently attached like my five year old model.
Click to expand...

D'oh! Thanks for catching that Bob, I forgot all about the brackets. They would have to be transferred, which isn't easy.

Check the two letter date code on the damper wheel to see if it is still under warranty. Is your father in law the original owner? Has he ever registered the grill? Can you read the serial number on the back? If not, do you have the original owner's manual that came with it that would have the serial number?
Seeing that yours is dark green, it was probably made somewhere around 2007, so you may be in luck.
 
DU is 2002 model year, so at this point it's out of warranty. :( If you don't want to spring for a new bowl or lid then I'd follow Craigslist for a used performer or platinum and drill hole in it. I just got a 2007 performer off of CL for $40 so good deals are to be found with a little patience.
http://rockford.craigslist.org/grd/4834846599.html I'm picking this up on Thursday and using it for a project SS Performer (DA) I have that's basically in the same shape as yours. The lid is in really nice shape but the bowl has multiple rust thru spots. I've been patiently waiting for the right performer on CL and FINALLY think I've found it.




Drink a little drink, Smoke a little smoke :wsm:
 
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Scott, congrats on that Performer. I love mine. Doing beer can chicken on it tonight for my father-in-law. Randy, Scott is on the mark. Look for a Performer on craigslist. Might take a little time but it would be well worth it.
 
Thank you all for the help. I'm going to take my cue from my que'...Take it slow! Going to wait and see if I can pick up a performer or at least the parts of one off CL. Appreciate all the input.
 
Ouch!!! Intrigued to see if the brilliance of this forum can help you revive and restore this Performer.
 
Here is some things to consider or research further

IMO the bowl needs immediate repair but unless the lid handle is coming loose the lid appears still usable. Some paint work on the rust spots might help.

I see people posting about using products like JB weld for metal repair, i don't know if it would work in this situation but there are much more experienced people who would know if you research it.

If you haven't already, i would post and check out:
http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/member-sales-trades/

I often see people posting lids and bowls that are left over from projects and there are some people over there, that have done some amazing restorations.

I would also check CL like some of the prior posters said. If you have gas assist, you will need to find a gas assist performer bowl so it has the burner holes and the cart brackets. if yours doesn't have the gas assist, any performer bowl, or older single table style One Touch Platimum bowl should fit.


If this project is a task of special sentimental value and you are willing to spend money you can purchase the bowl and lid from Weber directly. Tell the CS rep your story, maybe they can help you out in some other fashion (discount, parts from a return) who knows.

Good Luck, keep us posted.
 
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