Bought a used WSM: questions about its condition

Hi.

Bought a used WSM 14 for about half of brand new price. Seller reckoned he'd had it for six months and done 7 or 8 cooks on it. Already have a Kamado Joe but wanted to add something more portable.

I took it completely apart to give it a good spring clean (yes, I know cleaning a barbecue is not the done thing but it's a good way of getting to know the new toy) and found a few more signs of use than I'd expected. Barbecues need signs of use - a well-used barbecue is a useful barbecue - but there are some potential rust issues that I'd love a second opinion on as I don't know what "normal" wear and tear is when it comes to a WSM. My gut feeling is that this was perhaps a wee bit older than advertised, not treated with a huge degree of love, and stored outside with no protection. That's not a problem for me, I just want to know what I should do now to best maintain it.

Appreciate any help you could provide.

1. This is where one of the legs meets the lower bowl. That patch seems to be enamel worn off, and there are tiny bits of surface rust.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B2TaE9omdIzuB554cE5zjiZTuFrSDpqU/view?usp=sharing

2. Underside of the water bowl. The surface of the water bowl is fine.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zz0hx8hyxoPxiGGGAmyOKKuD6eNXYrf9/view?usp=sharing

3. The charcoal ring.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TDEbAxwtb-o5q4VyJUgyJQbbDsK5JJKu/view?usp=sharing

Lastly, there are various small chips around the lip of the lower bowl that are showing the beginnings of rust.

Yes, that grill's showing some signs of "lack of tender loving care".

The spot where the leg meets the bowl is unusual, I suspect the leg screw was overtightened, fracturing the porcelain enamel. I would mask the area around it and spray it with some black high-temp BBQ paint. While you're at it, I'd spray those few spots on the edge of the charcoal bowl, too, removing the rust first as best you can.

The underside of the water bowl just looks like baked-on grease/smoke residue. If it were mine, I would spray it with oven cleaner and scrub with a non-scratch scrubber of some sort to remove residue.

The charcoal ring is typical, the high heat from the charcoal will crack the porcelain finish. Don't worry about the ring, it's going to do whatever it's going to do...mine is 20+ years and I'll keep using it until it falls apart.

That little grill has a lot of life left in it, it can't be more than 5 years old as these came out in Fall 2013.

Chris Allingham said:

Yes, that grill's showing some signs of "lack of tender loving care".

The spot where the leg meets the bowl is unusual, I suspect the leg screw was overtightened, fracturing the porcelain enamel. I would mask the area around it and spray it with some black high-temp BBQ paint. While you're at it, I'd spray those few spots on the edge of the charcoal bowl, too, removing the rust first as best you can.

The underside of the water bowl just looks like baked-on grease/smoke residue. If it were mine, I would spray it with oven cleaner and scrub with a non-scratch scrubber of some sort to remove residue.

The charcoal ring is typical, the high heat from the charcoal will crack the porcelain finish. Don't worry about the ring, it's going to do whatever it's going to do...mine is 20+ years and I'll keep using it until it falls apart.

That little grill has a lot of life left in it, it can't be more than 5 years old as these came out in Fall 2013.

Click to expand...

Chris, thanks for the reply. So, nothing that I should overly worry about. Excellent. Will source some high temp BBQ paint and go from there.

Andy, welcome to the forum. As you found out there are good folks on here willing to help. Enjoy the (New to you) WSM. It's a great cooker.