Cleaning SS grates


 
Tony UK turned me on to the “Billy bar” same principal as the notched bar stock more or less. I don’t have the metalworking skills or equipment to make one, it was something like $20, not from Amazon nor brick and mortar but from the manufacturer. Got here in a few days. Easy enough for me.
 
Lmichaels your comment "i am sorry short of the Billy bar i don't see any other viable way to truly clean them" has me puzzled. Have you tried the Billy bar? The tool itself is really no different than the chargon in functionality. Just a long piece of steel with a wood handle.

I tried the billy bar first. I'm sure it works on certain grates but the more notched V shape really doesn't fit hefty round grates like the rcplanebuyer and Bbqparts type at all. I ended up giving it away.
 
Greg M said:
Lmichaels your comment "i am sorry short of the Billy bar i don't see any other viable way to truly clean them" has me puzzled. Have you tried the Billy bar? The tool itself is really no different than the chargon in functionality. Just a long piece of steel with a wood handle.

I tried the billy bar first. I'm sure it works on certain grates but the more notched V shape really doesn't fit hefty round grates like the rcplanebuyer and Bbqparts type at all. I ended up giving it away.
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Greg: Thanks for the review of the billy bar. I was considering that until you posted about the notch being a "V" instead of rounded and not good for RCP grates.
 
Bruce said:
Greg: Thanks for the review of the billy bar. I was considering that until you posted about the notch being a "V" instead of rounded and not good for RCP grates.
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Sure. I tried several before settling on that chargon tool.
 
Something else crossed my tiny little mind over the last week..... gonna add a little reinforcing to the back of this thing when I make it and turn it into a grate lifter as well.
 
I received my Chargon a week ago but didn't get around to trying it out until last night.
Yah, it is a simple tool and priced much higher than it "should" be, but it is worth the $20 I paid for it. It cleaned my RCP grates up much better than any brush or other tool I have used. I don't know if it would work as well for smaller diameter rod grates, but for RCP 9mm bars, it works soooo well.

That being said, it is a very simple tool that could easily be fabricated at home. Years ago, there is no way I would have paid $20 for it and I would have gotten a hold of a piece of 1" flat SS stock and made my own. But, as I get along in age and ambition, I am very happy to pay the $20 for a tool that do such a good job and last MUCH longer than a brush.
 
If you REALLY want to clean them just brush them and hit them with a wet towel when they're screaming hot. It just blasts off the remaining gunk
 
I appreciate the bump of this thread, Bruce.

I was just thinking to myself the other day that I would like to get one of these Chargons for my new rod grates and was trying to remember where I had seen them mentioned on here.
 
Bruce thank you for the follow up review of the chargon. Amazing how something that simple works that well isn't it? I agree 20 bucks is a little pricey for what it is. Yet considering it's a lifetime tool it should actually save $$ over the long haul.

Just FYI that it works just as well on my bbqparts 7mm grates as it does on my larger diameter rcplanebuyer grates.
 
I'm getting one regardless, but I'm interested to see how it works on cast iron grates, as the cast iron grates on my Silver A are in really great shape and don't need to be replaced, just cleaned up a bit from the last month of use by me.
 
Ryan unfortunately the chargon is only for round grates. It wouldn't work well on cast iron at all. The shape doesn't match. They state that in the product description.

The Martin grill gadget might work well? It has a multi shape cleaning head.
 
I got one of those multi grate tools with one of my grills. It didn't work too well for my SS rod grates....Not nearly as good as the Chargon. The multi tool would be good to get rid of really badly gunked up grates, but won't ultimately clean them nearly as the Chargon. I haven't tried it on cast iron grates however. I wonder if it has a slot that would work well on Q grills?
 
Greg M said:
Ryan unfortunately the chargon is only for round grates. It wouldn't work well on cast iron at all. The shape doesn't match. They state that in the product description.

The Martin grill gadget might work well? It has a multi shape cleaning head.
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I know the shape doesn't match, but I still want to try it.

Obviously a "V" shaped tool would probably work better for cast iron grates.
 
Probably going to start a run on them at amazon and they will jump up in price like other grill parts have done in the past. ;)

The good thing is that a guy only needs one of them and it should last for many years and I already have mine.
 
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