Afterburner-IR Infrared burners for Genesis Grill?


 
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Peter_Warren

New member
Just curious if any has tried the Afterburner-IR drop in infrared burners for searing? I have the Genesis model with the "searing station" but just haven't found that it gets hot enough when compared to a good IR burner. At first I was looking at a stand alone IR searing station but would prefer a solution for my Weber. Another option I've been considering at is replacing one of the side shelves with a "drop in" searing station. There's a good deal on Amazon for a NG version but I need the propane version.

I think either solution would void my warranty so that's another thing to consider before making any modifications to the grill.

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Weber isn't going to come out and inspect the grill and I have never heard of them requiring you send back a bad part. The only thing they usually require for a warranty claim is a photo of the problem part and you can remove the sear station or just make sure it isn't included in the photo.
 
Peter_Warren said:
Just curious if any has tried the Afterburner-IR drop in infrared burners for searing?
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Hi Guys,

I'm not too regular around here, nor a sophisticated forum user, so hope it's OK to revive this older post rather start anew, but I too am wondering if anyone around here has a history or opinion regarding these. If they work as claimed, seems it should a great device for both high and low temperature control at a fairly reasonable price. Not concerned with warranty issues in my case.

Appreciate any input!
 
Definitely looks interesting. It looks like they make ones for both Genesis 300 series grills as well as the Genesis II. It would be really nice if they added the 1000 and/or the Silver/Gold/Platinum.
 
Victor, no problem digging up an old thread if it pertains to your desired subject matter. Bunch of friendly guys on this forum and I hope to see you posting more in the future. This forum stuff isn't nearly as complicated in all the Facebook crap either. The hardest part is posting pictures, but that is fine once you learn the process.
 
Thanks Bruce, and speaking of pictures, think I owe you and Jon some from my Summit project late last year. You guys were a big help with it. Will try to get that done this week.

For Jon, evidently they do make 'em for the early models: https://www.afterburnerir.com/products/weber-compatible/genesis/. Looks like they confused the issue by using the wrong Genesis model pictures, but the Weber part number appears correct. Can't really tell if they are replacing each of the 3 burners seperately or with only 1 though. Their "How" page shows a couple pics, but is very vague as to exactly what the mod consists of. (Step 2, says to remove crossover tubes.) Most confusing is Step 5, which says to use a hand-held lighter for ignition. That wouldn't seem to make much sense, especially for the later N/S models.

Guess I'll try to call them this week to get more info. I'm a big fan of reverse-searing, which this should help with on the Summit.
 
Victor,

Let us know what you find out. I took the pre-2011 to mean the first generation of 300 series grills from, I believe, 2007-2010 which had the long "E-W" side to side burners. Then there was the 2011-16 which had the short front to back burners. The last Silver/Gold/Platinum was in 2006.

Also look forward to seeing what you did with your Summit. I know I rant a lot about those, but I still enjoy seeing a grill nicely restored!
 
Hey Jon,

The tip-off is they list it as a replacement for a Weber 7506 part no. which, if I understand correctly, is for Genesis 1000-5500 and Gold/Platinum (prior to 2002 model year). If anyone knows for sure, it would be you though, huh?

Regarding the Summit, it was actually mods to a new one that you guys helped me out with back in early November. From what I've read here (particularly your posts), the big knock on the Summit is corrosion/rust problems. Fortunately, I'm a 100 miles inland in far NorCal where we have virtually no issues in that regard and I keep it under cover, so took the leap because it was the best setup for most of what I do. Plus, since they now have a 10 year warranty, I can replace the forward porcelain cookbox portion LMichaels warned me about for free if that becomes an problem.

(BTW, as an "outsider", it cracks me up to read you two going at it over Grill Grates. Fun stuff...)

Interestingly, my Weber path has been a red-top 2000, followed by an S-330, now the S-470 and was expecting the Summit would have at least the quality level of the 330 (if not better), but must admit that's not the case. Truth be told, I'm a little disappointed in that regard (some things are "chinsy" about it), though it does do a good job.

Will let you know what I find out about the Afterburner product. Think I should suggest he become a board sponsor/advertiser?
 
At issue with IR burners especially in a grill not designed to take advantage of them is the heat they produce is more like a laser than a light bulb. So in a product like a Genesis you're kinda "stuck" with that as the fire box and overall design is made to take advantage of radiant heat. IR has it's place i.e. the rotisserie burner application on grills that don't have E/W burners. Or a singular searing burner. It seems this Afterburner company tries to offset the "laser" aspect of IR by putting ceramic diffusers on top. So in the end what is the advantage there? The ceramics counteract what the purpose of an IR burner is.
 
LMichaels said:
The ceramics counteract what the purpose of an IR burner is.
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Very good point. Hadn't thought of that. Here's what the "shpeel" is on their website: "AfterBurner’s proprietary designs, incorporating suspended briquettes that serve as a damper to allow the appropriate level of heat at the grill surface, eliminate scorching and provides for a complete range of cooking power". Well, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on that for now, but seeing is believing.

Who around here should I ask him to give an eval unit to for a review?
 
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If that one really will fit a Genesis Silver/Gold/Platinum I for sure would be willing to do a review. I did one for Qlimetal and found it to be a fun exercise and hopefully informative for others.

I see what Larry is saying - even if this CPA doesn't understand the mechanics or physics of it - it would pretty much come down to whether this burner would meaningfully amp up the searing aspect without making an excessive amount of heat. From my limited schooling in Larry's "Gas College" it occurs to me that you could probably also achieve that result by just slightly increasing the diameter of the orifice for one of the burners. However, that would have to be undertaken with great care. I do believe that Weber and other responsible manufacturers purposely "tune down" their grills to reduce the risk of overheating. I am sure there is room for some added heat - especially short-term searing - but there are risks and overdoing this could be dangerous.
 
Good question, Jay. I also sent an email to the company asking if they could tell me how 11,600 BTUs (lower than my SE-410 average per burner) is superior to what I have now. One month and no reply. I wasn’t being a smart ***... I really want to know. I haven’t heard of anyone with real-world experience with them.
 
With IR burners you cannot compare BTU to BTU with a regular tented burner on your Genesis. BTU is only a measure of how much gas is consumed not necessarily how much heat is made. Case in point. Not quite 2 years ago I had a complete new HVAC installed in our house. I went "all the way" with this one absolute top of the line all the way. 98.5% furnace and highest SEER AC system with variable compressor and so on. The system that was removed was a 125K BTU system and it was replaced with a 75K BTU system. Yet even during the coldest days of the last polar vortex with actual temps at -30 F and wind chill exceeding -60 it never had to output more than 65%. Yet the 125K furnace had a rough time with temps even milder
Same with that burner. I do see some folks making claims of thousands of degrees output but that's BS. However you can see out put close to 850 to 950 at the grate. Though they're good for only one thing. Highly directional very high output
 
I need something to blacken my poblanos and jalapenos for green chili. Before the Weber (Gen 1100), I prepped them using the conventional side burner that my previous grill had, though it was really inadequate for the job. Maybe it could be used to boil water or heat a skillet. Before that grill I had an MHP hybrid that had three front-to-back burners, one of which was an infrared. That thing definitely would have done the job. It was actually too hot for the kind of cooking I was doing and I ended up not using it. It lasted about five years. MHP replacement parts are muy $$. Bye-bye MHP grill.

Standalone searing stations are also expensive. Maybe someone could figure out how to mount a Blaze IR burner in a Weber side burner (nudge, wink, hint).
 
Hot metal > hot air when it comes to searing.

So a hot griddle, a cast iron pan or a couple of flipped over GrillGrates panels will make your grill sear like crazy with IR energy.
 
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I’m not an engineer, so I don’t know how these burners convert gas to heat and if this burner does it in a different (more efficient) way and is able to produce more heat. But at the end of the day, a BTU is a unit of heat, not of gas consumption. Not trying to be argumentative, just confused...
 
It depends where you're using it. If you look at the label of your grill it gives a BTU rating of gas consumption for each burner and a total. IR burners are VERY different animals than a regular old gas burner. Because they literally produce "light waves" in the IR range which is more efficient at heating an object than radiant heating like the regular gas burners. So an 18K btu IR burner will heat something MUCH hotter and faster. I honestly don't know why BTUs are used to measure consumption as well as heat units. But they are. Personally I would much rather see burners rated at CU FT but it's not how it's done. They're rated at BTUs even though it's very ambiguous and has absolutely no way of telling you how "hot" a given burner will run. Witness the difference we're discussing
 
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