Cleaning 1998 Burner Tubes

[Josh Dekubber]

My preference is the bench grinder wire wheel, but it is not as powerful as an angle grinder. I have SO MANY of these that I need to restore!

Oh I bet bench grinder works fantastically

 

[Josh Dekubber]

But, those were already clean aahahaa

Yeah you got me there LOL

 

[John-NY]

Here’s my angle grinder injury from yesterday morning. 2nd degree burn from trying to cut-off wheel my dog’s plastic bone chew toy. It shot back a glob of molten plastic onto my hand.

Yes, the gloves were right next to me.
Yes I should have used a hacksaw.

After 30 seconds:



After 12 hours:



After 36 hours:

 

[Josh Dekubber]

Amazing that these clean up so well. These came out of the 1998 1300 I just grabbed. Dual burner center tube.

Those do look really good. They look like they have about 100% life left in them.

 

[Josh Dekubber]

Here’s my angle grinder injury from yesterday morning. 2nd degree burn from trying to cut-off wheel my dog’s plastic bone chew toy. It shot back a glob of molten plastic onto my hand.

Yes, the gloves were right next to me.
Yes I should have used a hacksaw.

After 30 seconds:

View attachment 96216

After 12 hours:

View attachment 96217

After 36 hours:
View attachment 96218

Be careful those sidewinders are dangerous

 

[Steve Hoch]

This is where that tube will fail, along where it is pinched/welded at the end or around the first inch of the tube itself. The rest of it does look good though.

 

[John-NY]

This is where that tube will fail, along where it is pinched/welded at the end or around the first inch of the tube itself. The rest of it does look good though.
View attachment 96219

I just so happen to have an example of that lol

Although it doesn’t really seem to affect the flames much

 

[Steve Hoch]

I just so happen to have an example of that lol

Although it doesn’t really seem to affect the flames much

View attachment 96221

Unfortunately, that's a perfect example.

 

[John-NY]

Unfortunately, that's a perfect example.

Here is the little flame spewing from that crack

 

[Josh Dekubber]

Yep yep
And sadly the middle one is the only one I don't want to go bad

Glad to have several more

 

[Steve Hoch]

View attachment 96225
Yep yep
And sadly the middle one is the only one I don't want to go bad

Glad to have several more

Most of those that still survive are on their last leg at this point. I just threw away several that still looked good at first glance.

 

[Ed P]

Here is the little flame spewing from that crack

View attachment 96223

Yeah, but you gotta be real careful about that. If that hole should open up a bit more, you have what amounts to a blowtorch flame directed at the side of your cookbox. Too much of that will melt a hole in the aluminum. Better to replace the burner now than scrap a cookbox.

Looking at your picture, you might be there already. Good luck!

 

[Steve Hoch]

Yeah, but you gotta be real careful about that. If that hole should open up a bit more, you have what amounts to a blowtorch flame directed at the side of your cookbox. Too much of that will melt a hole in the aluminum. Better to replace the burner now than scrap a cookbox.

Looking at your picture, you might be there already. Good luck!

I've seen a couple cook boxes that were degraded in that area, no doubt from a bad burner tube. It is time to replace those, but who are we to judge?

 

[Josh Dekubber]

Sounds like a very good reason to keep an eye on your burners and replace them when needed. I hadn't thought about the potential damage to the Cook box. Thank you for pointing that out.

 

[Ed P]

If you happen to have an IR gun (or a thermal imager!), walk around your grill sometime when it's been running for a while. The end with the crossover tube runs hotter because of the lit crossover tube...makes sense, right? You really don't want any more heat on that end from a blown out burner tube.

 

[Steve Hoch]

Yeah, but you gotta be real careful about that. If that hole should open up a bit more, you have what amounts to a blowtorch flame directed at the side of your cookbox. Too much of that will melt a hole in the aluminum. Better to replace the burner now than scrap a cookbox.

Looking at your picture, you might be there already. Good luck!

I've seen a couple cook boxes that were degraded in that area, no doubt from a bad burner tube. It is time to replace those, but who are we to judge

Sounds like a very good reason to keep an eye on your burners and replace them when needed. I hadn't thought about the potential damage to the Cook box. Thank you for pointing that out.

I've seen a lot of cook box damage on these old grills unfortunately. It's almost always a result of neglect on the part of the original owner. As good as these grills were made, they can't withstand the abuse of clueless owners forever.