New Spirit 310 - Low Heat


 

Craig Smith

New member
After years of wanting one, I finally took the plunge and got a Weber, albeit a cheap one -- a previous model Spirit E-310. First time out was very disappointing though. Takes a long time to heat up -- hard to get over 300. Took about a half hour to get to 375. Had to keep it on high just to cook hot dogs; steaks took forever, couldn't get much of a sear. The manual implies it should get up to 500.

This was with a brand new full propane tank. I do live in Utah at 4500 ft elevation, which I imagine might impact it a little.
 
How old is it? Have you removed the grates & flavorizer bars and observed the flame pattern? Did you open the tank valve before the burner valves?
 
You might be vapor locking your OPD. The OPD is designed to cut off flow if it senses a large leak. If you have your burners turned on when you open the tank valve, the OPD will sense that as a leak and shut down flow. Even if you turn your burners up to high, the flow won't increase.

To remedy this situation.
1: Turn all burners off.
2: Turn propane tank off
3: disconnect hose from tank and wait a minute
4: reconnect the hose to the tank
5: Turn on the propane tank SLOWLY
6: Turn on the burner
7: push the ignition button.

It should light and you should have full heat range of cooking.

When done cooking, always turn the burners off first. Then turn off the propane tank. Then follow the steps 5-7 the next time you want to grill.

And yes, your grill should get up to at least 500 degrees.
 
Thanks to both of you. Sorry I wasn't clear, this is a brand new unit. Lowes had it left over from last year, got forgotten about in the back. I took off the grills and flavorizer bars to make sure it lit, but it was really bright outside and difficult to see the flame so I couldn't really tell what it looked like. I'll have to try it at night.

As a rule I always follow the proper order. But with this new grill I waited extra long after opening the tank valve before turning on the burners per the instructions I read. But with my old grill I think I do recall one time forgetting to turn on the tank first before turning on the burners, so that may have caused this. It seemed to suddenly stop working so well; I thought it was the regulator so bought a new one but it didn't help. But I think I bought this new tank after that to see if that solved it. I also tried my old tank on the Weber with the same result, although it is pretty low. Seems slim but maybe both tank valves are an issue. I think I have a pressure gauge around, I'll have to hook that up and see what it says. Is there some other way to make sure they are reset?
 
Just for giggles, disconnect the tank. Wait a couple minutes. Reconnect it and VERY slowly turn the valve on. Once it's open than try the burners. Sometimes those OPV protection devices can be pretty aggressive
 
YEah first time you gotta go slow. Also, always turn the burners off before turning off the tank. Though honestly I never bother turning off the tank. IMO waste of time
 
It's all good now, or rather great. Hit 425 within minutes, I didn't test to see how hot it would get after that. I opened the valve just a little bit and let it sit for a bit, then a little bit more, then very slowly the rest of the way.

I was always told I should turn the tank off, that it would leak a little over time. If that's not the case I'd rather just leave it on.

Thanks everyone!
 
I guess I have never had a grill leak if I left the tank on. But I had a tank leaking this spring. I had filled about 6 tanks this spring and every time I walked to a certain part of the garage I could smell propane. It took me a long time to figure out where it was coming from. (I should have just used the soapy water test). But, I just tried tightening them at first but it didn't help. I finally figured it out and just swapped that tank out with the one on my grill and when it ran empty, I did a tank exchange on it at Walmart. But the point is, the grill valves stopped the leak, where the tank valve wouldn't.
 

 

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