Dear Pat,
Thank you too for weighing in on the Q300! I have passed Phil and your recommendations on to her, and I think she is now looking around to get a good price on a Q300 / 320. On Long Island they are hard to find, except of course by mail order.
As for the burner orifice, yes, if you wish I can make some photos. But I'll start with a description. If you still have questions, I'll supplement with pix or answers. My description is for a Q200. I will also describe an improvisation you can use if you don't have micro drills or tip cleaners.
1. Remove the burner tube and Regulator / Valve assembly.
2. Attached to the valve assembly there is a small hex headed brass gas orifice that inserts into the burner tube. The dimensions of this orifice, along with the regulated pressure and the control valve setting, determines the amount of gas flow and heat. Unscrew this orifice, preferably with a hex wrench or socket since brass is a soft material.
2. Note that a small change in the size of the orifice makes a significant difference. Also, enlarging the orifice gives you more heat at the high end, but unfortunately it also slightly raises the temp at the low end. Go slowly when enlarging the orifice - you can always open it up a little more! If you do, however, open it a little too much, the sky won't fall, but it adds a bit of hassle. As far as I know, the orifice alone is not available as a separate replacement part from Weber. It may, however, be available from a local gas appliance repair shop. There are other workarounds as well should this occur. But go slow and avoid the hassle.
2. Using an appropriately sized micro drill bit, gas welders tip cleaner, or improvised drill, open the orifice a small amount.
To make it easy to control hold the orifice without too much pressure in a small vise, or put it, back side out, into the chuck of an electric drill. The jaws will properly hold the hex shape.
Keep the tool aligned so that it goes straight in and out of the orifice hole. If using a drill, let it turn slowly as you feed in the micro drill from the back side the orifice.
3. Be sure there is no debris in the orifice, and reassemble. It is all a lot simpler than it sounds!
If you need to improvise a drill it is easy to do so since the orifice is made of a soft material. Choose a small sewing needle such that the shaft just fits into the orifice. Crush the shaft slightly with a Vise Grip type tool so that the needle no longer slides through. If holding the orifice in a drill chuck, clamp the eye of the needle in the vise grip and use it as a reamer to open the orifice hole slightly with drill turning slowly. Again, work from the back side of the orifice. Or put the needle into a holder of some sort and ream by hand.
I do not recall what size I opened up to. I think I did it a little at a time two or three times.
To get my Q to go a little lower in temp, I sometimes set the control to the point between "Start" and "Off" where the flame is just barely on without any flickering - it's just a wee bit lower that way then if I turn the grill to it's setting. Or I prop the lid open an extra fraction of a inch with a bit of crumpled foil where the lip of the clamshell lid meets the bottom. I was doing these things from time to time before I opened the orifice though...
Hope that helps - let me know.
By the way, since you have both a Q like mine and a lot of kettles, I'm wondering when you might prefer a charcoal kettle. A classic answer might be ribs, but neither ribs nor beef is on my menu. Are there some other things that work so much better in the kettle that you would find it worth the effort if you did not have a Performer? I tried the kettle for the first time this past weekend on a pizza. It was edible, but more work and not near as good as on the Q or in the oven.
Harry