2011 Genesis EP-330 not getting real hot


 
R

Ross in Michigan

New member
Hi all,

My parents have what I believe is an ep-330 from somewhere around 2011. 3 front knobs+sear station, side burner. I was still living at home when they bought it new locally around that time. I've cooked on it many times. I was just over there last night and cooked some chicken on it for the first time in a while (been using charcoal over there for the past year). It was probably last summer when I last cooked on it and I remember it getting a lot hotter in times past. I thought about it when I got home and I remember several years ago when it could get to 600 without much trouble. I let it preheat for about 15 minutes and it was barely much over 400 with the 3 main burners on high. It was plenty hot to cook on, but when I rolled the knobs back to medium and turned one off for chicken time, it dropped to about 325 within a minute or two and was still falling. I don't recall it having trouble maintaining a moderate temp like this before. I though 2 burners on and 1 off was enough for 325. Also, the center burner has a bad hot spot toward the front, so that might be going as well. I hate to say it, but compared to my 2000 silver b, this thing sucks and I don't remember it being this bad 5 years ago. There is zero chance this grill could get a steak seared right now.

Dad mentioned getting a new regulator a few years ago. Otherwise, everything is original. Also, the knobs are getting pretty loose these days where you can barely feel the detent/push-in points.

I figured if it was something as simple as safety mode/bad regulator, I figured it wouldn't get past 250-300. I'd like to look at it next time I am out there, so I'm looking for ideas to check.

Thoughts?

Underpowered regulator?

Spiders/nests in the manifold or venturis?

I've read other people say that the later models simply don't get as hot as the oldies. Normal operation/ I'm just imagining problems?
 
I would start with a good cleaning. Everything. Then run it. Only judge parts after it's been thoroughly cleaned
 
Clean the inside out and clean up the burners especially. Any reason your Dad put a new manifold on it? They typically don't wear out.
 
He only replaced the regulator. It was from a weber dealer in town. I don't know if it was a genuine weber part or not or... if it was actually the correct one, to be fair. The local weber dealer is more of a propane guy who has some grills inside the front door of the building. For all I know, he gave my dad the wrong part by accident or assumed that a different part number would still work if the connections fit.

I'll be out there next weekend so I can take a better look and possibly do some cleaning.
 
Ross, I have the same grill only SS. If it hasn’t been used in a year or so the holes in the burner tubes could be partially rusted closed. This happens to mine over the winter when not in use. Check how the flame looks. Also the spider screens, burner tubes and the regulator could all be issues. Mine easily gets to 600 F in 15 minutes. The detents are barely noticeable on these grills and come that way from the factory. Just pulling the cover on/off can turn a knob on so always turn the tank off. Ask me how I know. Lucky I didn’t blow the house up when the air exchanger sucked propane into the basement from outside. Smelled it first.
 
Thanks for the info, Richard. It's funny you mention the knobs because my parents said the same thing about the cover turning the knobs on. They keep the tank shut off when not in use. They said that it has caused the regulator to go into safety mode before and the grill was barely above 250. It was getting hotter than that. That was one reason why I was thinking wrong regulator rather than bad regulator. Definitely nowhere near 600. It's been years since I can recall seeing that.
 
I assume that everbody has seen Chris's write up and video on gas valve cleaning, and knows the detent spring that I am talking about...but if not, you can find it HERE. Here'a picture from that link:

IMG_9041.jpg

The spring shown above was broken on the front burner valve of my Silver C, which meant that you could turn the knob easily without having to push the knob down. I shortened a spring from a retractable pen and restoted that important function, but your spring may be different.
 
Ed Pinnell said:
I assume that everbody has seen Chris's write up and video on gas valve cleaning, and knows the detent spring that I am talking about...but if not, you can find it HERE. Here'a picture from that link:

View attachment 9574

The spring shown above was broken on the front burner valve of my Silver C, which meant that you could turn the knob easily without having to push the knob down. I shortened a spring from a retractable pen and restoted that important function, but your spring may be different.
Click to expand...

Ed, mine was like that when I bought it new. I even went back to the store and tried a couple of ones on display and they were the same. This was the first year of the front mounted knobs so they could have under powered the springs. Not sure if it was the same in following years.
 
Quick followup- I was over there yesterday and pulled the burner tubes. I scrubbed them good with a wire brush and sent a ramrod stick down the inside. I was surprised at how much rust came out of the inside from scraping with the stick. Many of the ports noticeably opened up. They were definitely starting to rust closed. Also, the spider screens were pretty dirty but cleaned up quickly. They looked like they had some spiderweb starting to gather on them. Not full nests, but enough that you could see some obstruction. The igniters now spark more consistently given that the surface of the tubes is cleaner.

Mission accomplished. The grill now gets to 600 in about 10 minutes.
 
Glad to hear that. A lot of people just junk grills in that condition and buy new ones.
 
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