Another Warranty Question

Hi Folks,

I have a chance to buy a Summit. It's about 5 or so years old: 4 burner, knobs in the front facing up, thermoset side tables, side burner. If I buy it (asking $90), it will immediately need new flavorizer bars, burner tubes, and an igniter, at a minimum. In your experience, are any of these items covered under a warranty for a grill that's at least 5 years old? Does Weber have a problem covering warranty items for a second owner? Any other known issues with this generation of Summit grills?

BTW, it looks like it is a Summit Silver B, after looking at some of the other posts in this forum.

Thanks,
John

John, first, good luck on your purchase. I recently started to rehab a genesis silver A I rescued from the curb. I found out (through lots of help from this site) the grill was a 2003 model. It also needed new burners and flavorizer bars. I think the igniter will be ok. I called Weber CS and told them the type of grill I had (and that the burners were rusted out) read them the serial # and they told me the burners were still under warranty and a new set would be shipped to me! AWESOME!! It looks like Burners are covered for 10 yrs, Igniters for 3 yrs, and flavorizer bars for only 1 yr. That being said, igniters are relativley cheap, and I just ordered a set of SS flavorizer bars (off e bay) for $23.00 (to the door). Looks to me like if you pay $90.00 for the grill, for about $60.00 +/- you would be up and running.
Hope this helps, and again good luck,
Tim

John, Weber will not know that you are the second owner unless you tell them or the prior owner registered it. I believe the warranty follows the grill and not the owner. Just call customer service and tell them your issues. They will look up the grill and determine how old it is and what is under warranty. I believe the tag where the serial number located has the production month and year. You can also go online to the Weber website and look up the manuals/schematics for all of the Summits, they will have a diagram of how to build it. Find the one that looks like yours and you'll have a better idea of how old it is. Based on the limited description I would venture to say it is less then 10 years old. Are the knobs facing the sky or facing you. The current model faces you, the prior model has the nobs facing up to the sky. Even if it not covered under warranty I would buy it, its a Summit, its a great price.

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. The grill is definitely not the current generation Summit: the 4 knobs on the front are pointing skyward. The main issue with this grill is that the Flavorizer bars are completely shot. The owner says the flames are yellow, which could simply mean that the burner tubes need a good cleaning, spider screen, etc. Also, the igniter has no "pop" to it. From what I understand, these are unlike my Genesis 1000 igniter. Do these Summits have a battery in the igniter? Did I read that correctly? It could be the battery is missing, or could be something worse. But, these igniters are not expensive. Finally, he had no propane, so I couldn't fire it up.

He has lowered the price to $75, and is now including a Weber cover. I may jump on it.

Any more suggestions are welcomed and appreciated!

John

I'd go for it. The burners will be covered under warranty. You ll have to buy the flavorizor bars and igniter. That grill is worth a lot more then what you'll end up putting into it. Do you have any pictures?

No, unfortunately I didn't take any pix when I went to see it. If you keep the lid closed, and not pay attention to the insides, it looks like it is in really good shape, which is to say it looks good on the outside. Reminds me, and I really thought they were not...are the cooking grates on these older Summits stainless, PCI, or other? I lifted the grates, and they didn't seem to be stainless, but that could be from age.

Thanks,
John

John -

If I were you, and if I had a good way to haul this baby home, I would jump on it!

Even if you have to shove a couple hundred bucks into it - you'll end-up with a much better grill than you could buy brand-spankin'-new for the same amount of moolah.

Even if the burners are not under warranty, they're not what I would call really expensive (unless around 2-300 bucks is a difficult issue.. I'm not "rich", but we all have budget issues to contend with). Look at it this way - spending around $300 on a used Weber will probably last you around ten or more years if you take decent care of it. The new gas grills for that kind of dough will probably only last around five or less and will probably start to "nickle and dime you" even before that.
(Buy quality and only cry once!)
Regardless of what the grate material is - as long as they're sound - you can always upgrade them later.

Flavorizer Bars are relatively cheap - from what I've heard, I would get the thick stainless ones from the Internet guy ("rcplanebuyer", I think?). That way, you only need to spend the money once.

Even old Summits were around a thousand bucks new, and my less-expensive Spirit-700 cooks really good - so, the Summit should be even better.

Hi Ron,

I am hoping the burner tubes just need a good cleaning. The seller says that the flames are yellow, so it may only need a good cleaning. And I wish rcplanebuyer sold the bars for the Summits. He does sell good ones, and has great feedback, but the only ones I see are the ones for the Genesis grills. The ones he sells for my Genesis 1000 for example, are the 13 separate stainless angle pieces. This Summit comes in just a set of 2, with the angles all connected together with a piece across the angles, if that makes sense. I see them on the Weber site, for about $109.

Thanks,
John

John, rcplanebuyer can sell you SS grates for your grill. Just email him for a price.
Not cheap, but worth it.
AJ

I would bet that if you E-mailed him with the measurements, he could PROBABLY make-up a set to fit your Genesis.

I believe that he welds these up himself - he may be able to make them in a "custom" size for you. Measure the flavorizer bars & E-mail him the measurements to confirm if you have any doubts. He may say "no", but sometimes, it pays to ask...

Hi,

I think I am going to bring the Summit home tonight and add it to the fleet! $75 w/Weber cover, and some work (and some $$) refreshing it, it should be good as new! Or so I hope. I will try to take some photos.

Thanks,
John