Free Silver B: Most Baked on Grime Award Winner???


 
B

BrandonHudson

TVWBB Fan
A neighbor gave away this 06 Silver A yesterday because the rear valve is sticking. Of course I was there in an instant to collect. He had installed new tubes and stainless flavorizers last year, but claims that it has the original porcelain cast iron bars and I believe him. They are beautiful and I was able to get them to nearly new condition with some effort.

I have never seen this level of buildup on a grill before. An hour long burn-off didn't even make a dent. I'm at a loss of how to get back to bare metal without spending hours heat cycling and scraping.

The owner said they used it almost daily from new and it is the "best grill he ever owned." I'm not sure how you even cook on this. It billows smoke constantly.

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20 minutes with my paint scraper and grill brush and I'm FINALLY seeing some metal.
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Paint scraper, it goes quicker than you think. Plus its rewarding lol. Then i take a shop vac and get all the ash out
 
I found a fork in the drip pan of one I rescued. You do have plenty of work to do if you want it to shine! Some people use some kind of magic mystery Dawn stuff that apparently works really well, but my opinion and experience are that it takes a day or two of getting completely dirty until it is either cleaned up or you move your expectations to exactly meet the condition you get it to :)
 
BobbyG said:
Paint scraper, it goes quicker than you think. Plus its rewarding lol. Then i take a shop vac and get all the ash out
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I've done 3 rounds of paint scraper already and it is just taking so much time. This stuff is in layers, and once you get to the bottom it has a slick layer that is "seasoned" on the aluminium. I've never seen anything like it.
 
BrandonHudson said:
I've done 3 rounds of paint scraper already and it is just taking so much time. This stuff is in layers, and once you get to the bottom it has a slick layer that is "seasoned" on the aluminium. I've never seen anything like it.
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Ive also never encountered this lol
 
For the inside/outside of the lid (i.e. the porcelain) a razor blade scraper will get you back to close to new. Then SG + 0000 steel wool will get you the last bit back to brand new. One of the most satisfying tasks you will ever do.

For the fire box, just make a dent in the thickness of the gunk and move on. If it doesn't come off with a paint scraper and pressure wash, live with it.

Even if you get it down to bare metal (search on here for angle grinder, cup brush, sand blast) it will re-gunk almost immediately.
 
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Just scrape out what you can. I don't know if are using a "paint scraper" or a putty knife. I use a putty knife. I don't think a paint scraper would work very well. It isn't designed to scrape thick layers, just a few coats of paint really. Use the putty knife to get most of it. If it is really that bad, just grab a sharp wood chisel and get after it. Don't try to take it down to bare aluminum. Three cooks later and it will be gunked up anyway.
Same with the lid, don't worry about the carbon inside the lid. It will just form back after a few cooks anyway. Just remove the loose stuff and call it a day. Cleaning your grill any further than that will not help with performance. Clean up the burners, flavorizer bars and cooking grates good.

Put a new valve in to replace the defective one and get to grilling. If you can't find a single valve, look for another curb find grill from a Silver B and canabalize the whole manifold.
 
Rebuilt the valves over the weekend. Grill previously capped out at around 300. Now comfortably reaches 500+. 30 minute cook and most of the crud burned off or significantly loosened so that I could work with it.

The previous owner used regular spray paint all over the underside of the grill and on the firebox and lid. It is a total mess, but I was able to get a lot of it off and will respray with some high temp.

Still not totally happy with the result, but at this point I think I've got it to a point that most folks wouldn't notice. Good polish and wash and I think it'll be ready for a new home.


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Any paint on the ceramic part of the lid should be easily removed with paint thinner. You can also take a single edge razor blade to it and get most off that way. THen some paint thinner and #0000 steel wool will remove the rest. Keep in mind the stuff on the inside of the lid is not paint. It is burned on carbon. Again, razor blade followed by #0000 Steel wool and simple green.
 
Bruce said:
Keep in mind the stuff on the inside of the lid is not paint. It is burned on carbon.
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I would say that for this grill in particular, since they did paint the outside of the lid, it is possible that there is paint inside as well, if one were inclined to paint the porcelain finish of the outside of the lid, why wouldn't they paint the inside? Especially if they were under the impression that it WAS chipping paint during this grill's first go-round with a lid painter? I would not be surprised if there was paint on the inside too is all I'm saying.
 
Good possibility. If so, then I would definitely strip it before eating anything cooked on it. There is a real health risk there.
 
Yes, I would strip it all the way down, inside and out actually. I'd just operate on the premise that there is paint in there if the outside is painted. Just my opinion that's all!
 
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Thanks y'all. You've given me the strength to carry on. This one is starting to show glimmers of being a star.

Hopefully my high temp burn helped with the lid. I did a liberal application of mean green and am letting it simmer over night. Gonna try the razor.
 
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