I come to you heartbroken and defeated


 
D

DanR

New member
My first post was supposed to start with the story of how I'd stumbled across these forums in the course of researching and purchasing my new Weber, how helpful it was, and how much I'm enjoying it. And those things are true. But unfortunately I've got another issue I need help with.

I purchased the Genesis EP-330 and assembled it over Memorial Day weekend. I'd used it a handful of times, and so far so great. But last week we got hit with some storms that included severe wind, and my baby was blown over, landing right on its front side. Because of the wind and rain, I only had enough time to disconnect the propane tank, so we had to let it sit for about 30 minutes before we were able to prop it back up.

Upon inspection, the grill looked to be in decent shape. The control knobs took the brunt of the fall. One is barely usable but all three will need to be replaced. It appears that the metal portion of each knob (the part that connects to the manifold) was bent upward slightly, though at least visually it didn't appear to be that serious.

Unfortunately, when I put everything back together and turned it on, it isn't working properly. If the burners turn on at all, they don't heat like they previously did. It struggles to get to 200 degree.s I don't see anything that is wrong or any loose connections, though I haven't closely inspected the burner tubes or other interior parts.

Before I sink a lot more time into this, is there anything in particular I should be looking for or anything to check? Any advice is appreciated.
 
Dan,

Welcome to the forum and sorry it had to be this way.

Before anyone gives advice, pics will help to get a better idea of what damage it suffered and what route to take
 
It sounds like your LP regulator is in bypass mode. Just turn the bottle off, then wait 20-30 seconds. Open bottle completely, wait up to a minute, open lid, turn first burner to high and then ignite. After lit, turn the next burner to high so it lights, then do the same for the others. Close lid and it should heat to 500-600 in 10-15 minutes. If that doesn't work, then the regulator may have gotten damaged and will likely need to be replaced either under warranty or purchase one.
 
If the brass valve stems are bent (the metal part the knobs connect to) it's possible that the valves are bent and binding up inside the manifold.
Unfortunately, Weber doesn't normally cover storm damage.
 
Rick Body said:
Dan,

Welcome to the forum and sorry it had to be this way.

Before anyone gives advice, pics will help to get a better idea of what damage it suffered and what route to take
Click to expand...

I thought about that, but visually there's almost no damage to speak of. Regardless, I grabbed a couple of snapshots this morning. In the foreground of the first image you can see how the metal knob is angled upward higher than the other knobs. It's less obvious in the second image. I'll take a deeper look inside the lid tonight. I'll check out the bypass idea as well.

2014-06-23+06.51.05.jpg

2014-06-23+06.52.24.jpg

2014-06-23+06.52.53.jpg
 
Last edited:
Dave Weaver said:
If the brass valve stems are bent (the metal part the knobs connect to) it's possible that the valves are bent and binding up inside the manifold.
Unfortunately, Weber doesn't normally cover storm damage.
Click to expand...

Thanks Dave. The brass valve stems do move pretty freely, even though the one is slightly bent. Do you think if they were binding up inside the manifold they would be able to move?
 
If the bypass reset doesn’t work take the FBs out so you can see the burners. Light them and see if the burners associated with the bent knobs go on fully if not that would indicate to me the manifold is damaged. Also make sure the burner tubes didn't get popped out of the manifold part way.
If it is the control valves the bad news is Weber only sells complete manifolds and not any separate parts for them.
 
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I only had about 45 minutes of free time tonight but I wanted to try the bypass reset. I wasn't familiar with that but it seemed like a logical place to start. In doing that, there was immediate improvement, but I'm not convinced my problems are solved.

I took out the grates and flavorizer bars so I could get a good look. Then, per Weber's instructions, I left all the burners off, turned the gas on high, let it go for about 20-30 seconds, then fired up one burner on high, then turned the rest one-by-one on high. The difference was immediately apparent, it heated up quickly and much hotter than in my first tries after the crash when I couldn't get to 200. But even after 10-15 minutes it topped out around 420 - and that was with the sear burner on. As I recall from the first time I fired it up immediately after assembly, with that sear burner going I think it hit 600-700 in no time and it wasn't anywhere close to that tonight.

I should add that the brass valve stems appear to be okay. A couple are slightly bent but they pop in and out like they're supposed to in order to turn the gas on/off. There could well be something wrong there but if so, it doesn't seem obvious to me.

I did notice something that could be a clue, and it may be hard to see in the pictures so I'll describe it. The first picture below is each burner on high with gas turned all the way on. The gas coming out of the burners is strong but perhaps only a half inch high. Then I turned off every burner but one and the gas output probably doubled to an inch or so high out of that burner tube. Is that typical? Because while I had never paid much attention before, I always got the sense there was much more gas/heat coming from each burner tube when everything was on high. So maybe somehow there isn't enough gas getting to each burner when they're all on.

Further thoughts and comments are welcome. I'm a little unsure of what to try next. But I feel like I'm making progress and I'm very thankful for the help.

24FnBxrGJZv8CsIePqVJppZTFaBpwXRyT4tF7JcNnd8=w980-h551-no

2014-06-23+20.58.38.jpg
 
The flames appear normal but IMO if you have bent valve(s) I would be concerned about the safety of using the grill. You could be losing gas in places you should not and have a possibly explosive build up. It's not cheap but I would buy a whole new manifold for it from Weber. Make sure all mounting hardware is good and mounting locations are correct. Frankly I would not use that grill until I did this
 
One thing I thought of you may wanna try.

When the grill tipped over, I am assuming the tank fell over to by the dent in the door. Years ago I had an old gas smoker. It was a piece of junk and there were many times when I couldn't get it to heat up as hot as the last time. It took me a while to figure out the regulator had gone bad. This happened several times.

When you turn the tank on, you should always turn it on all the way, but if the regulator got damaged, it may be keeping the gas flow down. I don't know how to test this but I don't think a new regulator is to expensive. Thinking about it more this very well could be your problem.

Hopefully you get if figure out cuz that is one pretty grill. And now it will have a story and some character, not that that makes you feel better right now:(
 
Eureka! I'm so excited...I think I got it working. I really hadn't ever heard of the bypass mode problem, because that hadn't ever happened to me. So I followed the instructions I read here which were the same as what Weber recommended on its web site. Then today I saw something online, verified by another FAQ on Weber's site, that described what appeared to be the same bypass recovery process except they emphasized to turn the gas back on very slowly.

So tonight I tried it the same way I did last night, turning on the gas at regular speed. I got the same result as last night...it took probably 10 minutes to get to 400 and couldn't go higher. I shut it down, left the lid open, then came back 15 minutes later and tried again. This time I turned the gas on very slowly, then turned on one burner, ignited it, and repeated the process for the remaining three burners.

It was clear immediately that this time was different. There was more gas getting through each burner than there had been before. I closed the lid and it heated up to 400 in perhaps 30 seconds and rocketed up to 700 a few minutes later. This replicates what happened the first time I turned the grill on after assembly so naturally I'm ecstatic.

So first of all, thanks to all of you who responded. You gave me lots to think about and it was your ideas and suggestions that kept me researching for possible solutions. Assuming I can continue to duplicate these results tomorrow night and beyond, do you think any further action is necessary? Should I inspect for leaks? Is there a way to check that the manifold is operating properly? Or is it safe to assume it's working properly and no further action is necessary?
 
That's great that it's working again properly.

Now let's see some pics of the genesis in action.
 
DanR said:
Eureka! I'm so excited...I think I got it working. I really hadn't ever heard of the bypass mode problem, because that hadn't ever happened to me. So I followed the instructions I read here which were the same as what Weber recommended on its web site. Then today I saw something online, verified by another FAQ on Weber's site, that described what appeared to be the same bypass recovery process except they emphasized to turn the gas back on very slowly.

So tonight I tried it the same way I did last night, turning on the gas at regular speed. I got the same result as last night...it took probably 10 minutes to get to 400 and couldn't go higher. I shut it down, left the lid open, then came back 15 minutes later and tried again. This time I turned the gas on very slowly, then turned on one burner, ignited it, and repeated the process for the remaining three burners.

It was clear immediately that this time was different. There was more gas getting through each burner than there had been before. I closed the lid and it heated up to 400 in perhaps 30 seconds and rocketed up to 700 a few minutes later. This replicates what happened the first time I turned the grill on after assembly so naturally I'm ecstatic.

So first of all, thanks to all of you who responded. You gave me lots to think about and it was your ideas and suggestions that kept me researching for possible solutions. Assuming I can continue to duplicate these results tomorrow night and beyond, do you think any further action is necessary? Should I inspect for leaks? Is there a way to check that the manifold is operating properly? Or is it safe to assume it's working properly and no further action is necessary?
Click to expand...

Dish soap and water mixture. Paint it on with a brush to any area you might think could have a leak. It will start to bubble.
 
That is exactly the problem I was having with mine. This was after my grill caught on fire. We had all new parts but couldn't get the temp. to go above 200. I just tried the regulater reset and oh my goodness it worked. It shot up to 400 in no time at all! My husband will be cooking me a steak tonight!

The other issue I have been having is that the knobs don't pop back up after being pushed down. Any ideas about a fix for that?

Thanks,
Missy
 
Okay, maybe I spoke too soon. I just went out to show my husband how I had fixed the grill and the temp barely moved. So I tried to reset it again and still nothing. any ideas?
 
But it is a brand new regulator, the old one burned when the grill caught fire. Do I need to get this from Weber or can I just get it at Home Depot or Lowes?
 
MWindom said:
But it is a brand new regulator, the old one burned when the grill caught fire. Do I need to get this from Weber or can I just get it at Home Depot or Lowes?
Click to expand...

I'm FAR from an expert but if you have a new regulator, it seems unlikely to me that the regulator is the problem. What you mentioned in an earlier post about the knobs not popping back up sure seems like it could be a problem though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top