cousin's OTG melted


 
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Cory Musser

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My cousin has a 22.5 OTG that's approximately 2-3 yrs. old. A couple weekends ago we cooked in a rib cookoff and this was one of the grills we used for glazing the ribs. Anyway, when he got the grill home the next day he discovered that the metal that holds the ash catcher on had melted in several places! We had a chimney of lump sitting in it while it got going but I do that all the time in my silver and nothing ever happens. He called Weber customer service and asked them about it and they told him that he could purchase the replacement parts. It seems to me that this could be a quality issue and should be replaced by Weber. He called them twice and got the same answer both times. Now he's put off and says he won't buy a Weber again. Are we wrong or right in this situation?
 
You were not using it as it was intended to be used for. No warranty.
Weber is know to be more than generous when it comes to replacing parts for free being under warranty or not. You will NOT get this kind of service from any other grill manufacturing company. Granted, you will pay more up front but as the old saying goes, "you get what you pay for."
 
I use lump all the time in my grills, hope this doesn't happen to me. Sure would be disappointing. How big a fire did you have raging in that thing?
 
I don't quite understand what you guys were doing that would have put that much heat downward toward the ash catcher, and I assume you are talking about the little metal tabs on the ash catcher ring that fit into the slots cut into the top of the legs.

Like many others, I use lump about 85% of the time and have never had an issue with excessive heat. Was the chimney of lump sitting directly on the bottom of the grill or on the charcoal grate?

As far as Weber's response, I suspect that if they had seen this very often, they would treat its as a manufacturing issue, replace the parts and then include a warning or modify the design.

If your friend is now disappointed with Weber, which is a litmus test by which all other customer service is measured, wait until he tries to get service from any one of the large number of grill manufacturers who specialize in "throw away" grills that are POS to begin with.

Tell him that if he is unhappy with Weber, he can send the OTG to me - I'll gladly pay the cost of the replacement parts to have another grill that I can pass on to my sons-in-law 20+ years from now.

Pat
 
Like I said we just had a chimney of lump set on the charcoal grate, letting it heat up to caramelize our sauce. Nothing out of the ordinary I don't think. I hope he is just upset and will get over the whole "I'll never buy another Weber again" stage. He tends to get upset pretty easy about stuff like that and I know he's used it since. I've had nothing but excellent c.s. from Weber but I think they're wrong in this situation. Thanks for the responses.
 
I do it that way all the time with lump and never had any issues like that. Do you recall if your cuz had his bottom vents opened or closed during the lite-up?

Tim
 
I too start my fires on the charcoal grate without issue, but I had a grease fire in the ash catcher that seemed hot enough to do some damage to parts that are not designed for that kind of heat exposure.

Gary
 
Originally posted by Robert Black:
You were not using it as it was intended to be used for. No warranty.
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How so Robert? If I understand correctly Cory had the chimney sitting on the charcoal grate, same place where lit charcoal typically sits, how is that 'not using as intended' just because the lit chimney was sitting on it? If this is the case, I'm curious 'where Weber suggests you set the chimney while it's lighting'?

I'm just curious, I'm not debating, just trying to understand the rationale??
 
Originally posted by Cory Musser:
the metal that holds the ash catcher on had melted
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Can you be more specific. Is it the aluminum tabs that stick in the 3 leg holes that melted?
Irregardless, aluminum melting point is 1220 degrees ferinheight. The only way this could have melted was the charcoal was on the bottom of the OTG, not on the charcoal grate. Even then, heat from the charcoal would have to pass through the carbon steel bottom bowl of the OTG and melted the aluminum tabs and you would have had to be blowing air (oxygen) on the charcoal to (stoke) to coals to get to this kind of temperature. I would have to think the bottom of the OTG would have to have been glowing.

By doing the above, getting the aluminum tabs to melt, you were using the OTG as a furnace, not a cooking grill.
 
Cory,
Are there any pictures of the damaged parts that can be submitted as evidence to Weber?
Also they might clear up the confusion of what exactly was damaged.
I've had some prety intence fires in my grill without damage and it's 26 years old.
 
i would think if the fire was hot enough to melt parts of the grill that it would have burned through the chimney first. Ive had my OTG so hot that you couldnt touch the handles for one second with out a oven mit. No melted parts here.....
 
Cory, Just out of curiosity…what brand name of lump was he using? But regardless of the brand used, this really shouldn’t have happened. I think Weber should send you the part, and your cousin should pay shipping and handling. My 2 cents.
 
i've been holding off on this but i think the whole story has not been told. that is a huge amount of temp to melt that and i just don't see it happening like that. weber is correct.
 
I have a OTG and I always place the lit chimney on the charcoal until fire is spewing out of both ends. I have done this hundreds of time, and I have never melted anything on the grill.

I think that something wasn't right if that happened to his grill.
 
I am of the frame of mind that if nothing but charcoal was used and nothing else (i.e. accelerants) in this grill it should not melt under any circumstance no matter what the application of the charcaol is.

I would think it would be a liability issue for Weber if it was in fact true that the grill would melt in anyway using charcoal, possible fire or personal injury.

On that I would like to note that Weber customer service is the best I have ever dealt with in any line of products. So I am wondering if as to the details here.

Joe
 
The brand of lump used in this grill was from GFS(which I assume is made by Royal Oak). It was lit on a propane burner and then put in the kettle. No accelerants. Like I said in my initial post, we used it that day and the next day he called me and told me what happened. It's not my grill and I agree that this shouldn't have happened. I kind of take offense to the people that are basically calling me a liar. What would I gain by coming here and lying about the situation? I'm just trying to get some opinions from people I consider knowledgeable about Weber products and customer service so I know what advice to give my cousin to keep him a loyal Weber customer. I appreciate the responses by the ones that actually tried to help me and will ignore the accusatory ones. Thank you.
 
Originally posted by Cory Musser:
I kind of take offense to the people that are basically calling me a liar.
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Went back and read all the messages three times. No one has accused you of lying. Maybe your cousin, but not you.

I'm not a Weber officianoto BUT do have a degree in Industrial Engineering and have worked at manufacturing facilities that have heat treatment facilities and understand the temperatures it takes to melt steel and aluminum, the metals used in manufacturing the Weber grill. That being said, I can assure you and your cousin that no metal part (steel or aluminum) melted IF used as Weber intended the grill to be used, not as a blast furnace. Hence, warranty is void.

Now, if you or he call Weber back and describe the problem in a different way that would not void any warranty, I'm 99% sure Weber will give you any benefit of any doubt and furnish replacement part(s). I say this because they have sent me parts for FREE for my Performer that I purchased used off craigslist that was out of warranty.
 
I don't want to get into an argument on here because I respect the forum that Chris generously provides for us. The post I am referring to is the one that says "I don't think the whole story has been told" To me that sounds like someone is saying I'm not telling the whole truth. I'm only telling what I was told and what I have seen. I am not the kind of person that tries to something that I'm not deserving of. But if I was what good would it do me to post my frustrations here? This site can not provide me with any type of compensation, just good advice. That's all I'm looking for. Thank you again to all that have had input for me.
 
thats me. i didn't write that thinking someone is lieing or such. i think something is just missing. most likely something was not noticed during the melt down. we know it melted cuz you said so. that is not in question. we all hope that the answer is found. that way we don't repeat it and if there is a fault in the design then we can point this out to weber. please understand our ?? cuz this has never occured as far as many of us know. stick around cuz we are all actually a bunch of sweet guys and if ya leave you will be missed. that being said i will apologize and try to word things better next time.
 
Hey George, I appreciate you apologizing. I know sometimes things you type don't come across as they were intended. I'm not leaving. I love this site too much to go anywhere. Just about everything I've learned about grilling and smoking came from this site and the knowledgeable and friendly people that frequent it.
 
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