After having several $250 "Home Depot specials" rust out quickly I decided that it was Weber or bust from here on out. I couldn't bring myself to drop the $ on a new one so have been waiting on the right Genesis to come across on craigslist. Last week I was over at a friends house and noticed his Weber was pulled off the patio and was stuck in the corner of his yard. His wife had bought him a new pit for fathers day and he was planning on rolling the Weber out to the trash. After finding tvwbb the next day and doing some reading, I called him and told him I would come pick it up. I had visions of bringing it back to new conditions and getting a $800 grill for $200ish. Reality sunk in when I went to pick it up and saw pretty severe rust on the bottom base/frame. I revised my plans to to include some repairs and spend as little money as possible to get a servicable grill.
Per the serial number it is an '09 EP-320. I didn't get good before pictures but imagine a 5 year old grill that had been used heavily and never cleaned. The catch pan and drip tray were both full of nasty gunk, the grates and flavorizer bars were covered in drippings, and there was a fair amount of rust all over. The right, front leg was rusted off and the bottom support for the door missing. I managed to hammer the wheel back into the leg. After hosing it off this is what the outside looked like:
I did some serious scrapping of the inside of the firebox, scrubbed grates, bars, drip tray, etc. The stainless grates are still in good shape. The flavorizer bars are decent with one rusting through on the end. Still very servicable for now. The burners brushed fairly clean and burn even but the left end of the center burner has some rust damage. Called Weber and they are sending another set of burners under warranty. I got lazy and decided not to take the burners out and cleaned in place. This was about halfway through cleaning the burners:
Bought some aluminum angle stock and used that to reinforce the bottom tray and support the right door. Went over all the exterior stainless with a lot of bar keepers friend and gave the whole thing a good washing. Pretty happy with how it turned out:
It looks good on the patio, should cook as good as a new one, and even after ordering a new thermometer and bezel I'll still only have about $50 in it. Ignitor doesn't work but I can live with using a long butane lighter. It should last until the base just gives out from rust as long as I don't go crazy trying to roll it around. Haven't decided whether to install the new burners when they show up, might save them in case I find a used 310/320/330 I want to buy and keep long term. If I end up using it for a while I'll probably have to replace the flavorizer bars and will get the ones from rcplanebuyer. Haven't done any heavy duty cooking yet, just some hot dogs on Saturday and some chicken breasts, wings, and kabobs last night. Looking forward to some burgers and steaks this week.
Glad I found tvwbb. I've already learned a ton about grill maintenance and cleaning. Now time to actually improve my cooking technique!
Per the serial number it is an '09 EP-320. I didn't get good before pictures but imagine a 5 year old grill that had been used heavily and never cleaned. The catch pan and drip tray were both full of nasty gunk, the grates and flavorizer bars were covered in drippings, and there was a fair amount of rust all over. The right, front leg was rusted off and the bottom support for the door missing. I managed to hammer the wheel back into the leg. After hosing it off this is what the outside looked like:
I did some serious scrapping of the inside of the firebox, scrubbed grates, bars, drip tray, etc. The stainless grates are still in good shape. The flavorizer bars are decent with one rusting through on the end. Still very servicable for now. The burners brushed fairly clean and burn even but the left end of the center burner has some rust damage. Called Weber and they are sending another set of burners under warranty. I got lazy and decided not to take the burners out and cleaned in place. This was about halfway through cleaning the burners:
Bought some aluminum angle stock and used that to reinforce the bottom tray and support the right door. Went over all the exterior stainless with a lot of bar keepers friend and gave the whole thing a good washing. Pretty happy with how it turned out:
It looks good on the patio, should cook as good as a new one, and even after ordering a new thermometer and bezel I'll still only have about $50 in it. Ignitor doesn't work but I can live with using a long butane lighter. It should last until the base just gives out from rust as long as I don't go crazy trying to roll it around. Haven't decided whether to install the new burners when they show up, might save them in case I find a used 310/320/330 I want to buy and keep long term. If I end up using it for a while I'll probably have to replace the flavorizer bars and will get the ones from rcplanebuyer. Haven't done any heavy duty cooking yet, just some hot dogs on Saturday and some chicken breasts, wings, and kabobs last night. Looking forward to some burgers and steaks this week.
Glad I found tvwbb. I've already learned a ton about grill maintenance and cleaning. Now time to actually improve my cooking technique!
