Is this grill worth it?


 

Jon Tofte

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
It's getting a little dead around here, since our northern friends are in forced hibernation. So, I will toss out things now and then just to have something new.

I don't know a lot about Ducane grills. My limited understanding is that they originally made solid, old-style cast aluminum grills a good bit like Broilmaster. Usually seen for sale at specialty stores and places like propane gas dealers. More recently I heard that Weber bought them out and that their quality declined.

Here's a stainless grill with rear infrared. Looks like pretty thick stainless bar grates, although picture isn't very clear. I guess any rotisserie that may have existed is not included. But, for 50 bucks, I don't know if it isn't a pretty good deal. It seems to be solid and only be dirty, but of course the internals may tell another story:

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You even get a well used but not totally shot Weber cover:

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https://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/for/d/ducane-weber-grill/6765343785.html
 
Yah, if you have the time and money to take a chance, it might be a worth while project. But, if you can't find the parts new on line, it is going to be hard to find them used.

If it was me, I wouldn't bother unless I was out of Weber's or other project grills to work on. Those grates look like some quality SS rod grates. I wonder if they would fit a Weber? If so, it might be worth it just for them.
 
I will parrot the parts issue first like everyone else.
The only thing I really see (actually don't see) is any demand
or popularity of these grills. When they are posted here locally
they never seem to sell. Even at reasonable prices. Also, just
doing a quick fb and google search, I do not see any fan pages,
collector clubs, or discussion boards.
 
It was always an obscure brand. Never had the recognition of even BroilMaster let alone Weber and such. When Weber bought the company they (Ducane) had 2 lines of grills. A run of the mill grill with a mix of painted steel, porcelain and some cast iron. Like any of the current crop of big box grills they cooked just fine and lasted about 5 years. Main difference is that Weber backed them up with a very credible warranty.
They also made a line of pretty high end all 300 series stainless grills with nice features and performance. Rear IR burners, solid rod grates, decent to very good overall quality and performance and again backed by the magical Weber warranty. For some reason Weber dumped the name and support like a bad penny. IMO it would have been a very good way to sell a upper mid to high quality product at reasonable prices. Not sure what happened. My one sister and BIL have one of the low end versions with 4 burners and I have cooked on it. The performance is VERY good but I truly suspect it's endurance quality will be quite lacking.
Honestly I don't view any of them as good flipping candidates and I am sure re parts they are fully orphaned by now
Bottom line unless you just want it for yourself as a backup I would not buy one
 
Informative discussion. I am not really interested except that the grates and rear infrared did catch my eye. Also, the stainless can't be too low grade, because our South Florida environment would have done it in by now. It looks pretty decent to me. I already have more than enough projects, though, and Webers are more fun (and practical) to restore and easier to find buyers for.

It is kind of sad that this brand was given a merciless death spiral by Weber, however clever their "try before you buy" concept on outsourcing. Shout out to David for linking the very interesting story and to all of you for your insights.

Like I said, it is getting kind of quiet here with the winter months slowing down you northerners, so I plan to continue posting interesting or unusual gas grill things I see just to give us something new to banter about.
 
I just did a search for DUCANE on FB marketplace and several Ducanes popped up in the area. I guess there are more around than I thought.

This one looks similar to the one you posted.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/180937106189138/

Bruce,
Yeah I think it is the same model. That listing confirms a couple things: First the stainless on this model must be somewhat decent since it held up in Florida heat and humidity as well as northern winters outside. Second, there mustn’t be much of a market for these based on them sitting there at such low prices.

Only question left is would potential buyers respond way differently to one that was well restored and all shined up? No easy answer to that, but I don’t have time or room to experiment on such a long shot. Interesting, though. Would love to get a free one to really check it out.
 

 

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