Genesis 4/5 Restore

[Bruce]

OK, I figured I would do a build thread on the Genesis 4/5 that I just picked up....even though I won't really get into it much until next spring. This is a kind of a Unicorn type restore, so I thought it would be worth a build thread. I still haven't decided how deep I will get into the restore as it will likely wind up being a flip.

A little back ground on the grill:
It evidently started out life as a 1989 Genesis 4. But the original owner purchased the side burner and glass doors to make it a Genesis 5. I think he did that through the store he bought the grill from at the time of purchase. I have the original owners manual as well as the original sales receipt for the grill.
Included with the grill was TWO ceramic serving trays and a spare side table since it was replaced with the side burner. It also came with a rotisserie and cover that I think was original but still in pretty good condition. The grill, on initial inspection, looks to be in about as good of condition as a 35 year old grill that was actually used could be. I was lucky to get the grill since it was a good two hours after it was listed that I inquired about it. I was kind of shocked that it was still available and I set up a time to go pick it up the next morning a little over 100 miles one way. Well I got there (Beloit, WI) and it was a nice elderly couple selling it. They already had a new Genesis 4 burner on the deck. It seemed the guy was a bit sad to see the old gal go. We wheeled it off his deck and around to the driveway to load on my trailer. I started stripping loose parts off it for transportation like the side tables, ceramic tables, rotisserie, etc..... The guy was all into helping me load it and while I was putting the shelves and other parts in a bin in my truck, I hear a "Crash". Well, he was trying to pull the bottom slat shelves out of the cabinet and knocked one of the glass doors out of frame onto the driveway. I was devastated but didn't show it. The wife offered to refund the $50 I paid for the grill, but I said, no, I still want the grill and will find a replacement realizing they are not readily available these days. So, I got it loaded up and everything tied down and had an uneventful drive back home with the grill. It is now stored in my garage waiting for my attention next spring when the 2025 rehab season begins again up here in Wisconsin. I plan to get to it fairly early when I open things up in the spring. I have already found a couple sources for a replacement glass door via fellow TVWBB forum members and am confident I have that already covered. Aside from that, I think the grill is pretty much complete and in good enough shape that I won't need to scrounge outside my garage for any further replacement parts. The lone exception is the Flame Check which is known for not being operable and working replacements not being available. The PO told me that when he called Weber about fixing it, they told him they don't make them any more and he should just put a ROCK on the flame check button when using the grill. The PO even supplied me with the "Flame Check Rock" which he seemed really proud of. One of the Ceramic serving trays had one of the wood handles falling off of it....that might be something I will work on over the winter, but I will mostly leave it until next spring. Oh, and it is NG, so I have to decide if I want to convert it via a manifold swap or leave it as NG. The flame check will be the only snag in doing a conversion to LP but I think that can be dealt with.

So here are the BEFORE photos. The first ones are from the FB MP listing and the others were taken after I got it home and is partially taken apart.



And here are the photos I took after I got it home.

 

[Bruce]

These are the photos I took after I got it home.

 

[Josh Dekubber]

Bruce I'm very much looking forward to the continuation of this thread in the spring or whenever you continue your work on it. I'm kind of in the same boat with my first year Genesis 2 and maybe we'll be working on them at the same time posting progress. Anyways fantastic find you've got there. I'll be excited to see you work your magic!

 

[DanHoo]

That's a great piece of history. Looking forward to the restoration.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Yep, I’ll lay in a stockpile of popcorn for this one!

 

[Dave in KC]

LOL @ the famous rock.

 

[Joe Anshien]

These grills are touch of mid century beauty. If you find my Genesis 5 rebuild thread I documented a way to bypass the switch while leaving it in place. Just no need for the rock;-)

 

[Bruce]

Thanks Joe, from what I understand, you can simply remove the guts from inside the valve. If I wind up converting it over to LP, I will have to do more work to keep the flame check button since I don't have an LP manifold with the flame check. I have a couple ideas in that case.

 

[Cody Bratton]

Will be eagerly awaiting the spring with you! Such a solid starting point. Looks like they cared for that grill very well!

The flame check has always been very intriguing to me. Very curious as to how it works.

 

[Bruce]

Rick, that is just a photo of the Flame check button.

 

[Rick W]

I am currently in the final stages of a Genesis 5 restoration. Luckily, no glass was damaged during the process

Rick, that is just a photo of the Flame check button.

sorry about that, trying to figure out how to copy the link

 

[Rick W]

Post in thread 'I am restoring this Genesis 5 ....'

Apr 25, 2021

If ya think about it 1, why would you ever turn off the front burner? If you want to "smoke" something you need the front burner on as it is the natural progression/flow of heat and smoke in a Genesis (at least a good ol' REAL Genesis), and 2, it is a great safety device. I really wish more grills had them. Or something like it. I have spent many hours trying to actually figure out a way to ADD something like this to an existing grill

Sorry as the article stated and I agree it was a solution in search of a problem. I have had these things go bad on every patio heater I have...

• Joe Anshien

• 

try this one

 

[Bruce]

Will be eagerly awaiting the spring with you! Such a solid starting point. Looks like they cared for that grill very well!

The flame check has always been very intriguing to me. Very curious as to how it works.

Cody, the flame check is just a basic thermocouple system. Lots of gas systems use them, even today. They are a safety system that is designed to shut down gas flow to an appliance if the burners ever go out. I think most home furnaces use them. Torpedo heaters and other high output devices use them. Basically, it is just a temp sensor that is positioned in the heat zone on an appliance so that as long as the appliance is producing heat and heating up the sensor, it remains OPEN which allows gas flow. If the flame (heat) is removed from the sensor, the thermocouple cuts off flow to the appliance. The Flame Check "BUTTON" is used to bypass (hold open) the themocouple until the sensor on it heats up enough to allow continuous gas flow. Once the sensor heats up, you can release the Flame check button and as long as the sensor remains heated, the valve allowing gas flow remains open.

The problem is that the thermocouple sensor on these grills go bad and then will no longer open when heated and require you to manually hold open the valve via the flame check button. The flame check button rock is the easy work around.

 

[LMichaels]

I believe you can replace the thermocouple bulbs. May have to mod something slightly.

 

[Rick W]

I am currently in the final stages of restoring a Genesis 5. I think that there are three choices when it comes to dealing with the Flame check.
1. Disable it as Joe describes in his post, keeping the original look of the grill, but with no real function of the button, it is essentially a decoration.
2. Remove the flame check altogether from the manifold and create a standard Genesis grill. You would have to get an appropriate sized SS hole plug (not hard to source from McMaster Carr), paint it black and get rid of the hole on the control panel.
3. Replace the thermocouple (what I did) to restore the functioning Flame check feature. Not hard to find, I sourced one off of Amazon for around $11. Replace the old one and it magically works.

 

[Cody Bratton]

One of those “safety” features that turn into a headache feature. It makes sense on indoor home appliances with a pilot, but maybe a little too advanced for an outdoor grill.

It would be cool if it could be made into something that prevents me from leaving a burner going all night

 

[Rick W]

It is also interesting that this Genesis 4 came with the glass door bushings already in the front frame. It's as if Weber did this to allow the purchaser to upgrade to the glass doors after purchase. Does anyone know it they sold the glass doors separately?

 

[LMichaels]

Cody it makes sense on an outdoor appliance as well. Especially so on grills with no XOver burner. One burner goes out, then you have gas still leaking into the appliance, with open flame and boom. I am literally surprised the gummint hasn't weighed in on this and mandated it.

 

[Bruce]

Cody, they do make timers that you can install which will shut down the gas after a preset time.

Rick: Weber seems to have done that with a lot of its older weber models. For instance, many of the Silver B frames cam with the catch for a right side swing table even if the grill didn't come from the factory with a right side table. It allows them to produce one part of the grills that fits and functions on several different models instead of needing to have a different part for every model.

 

[Cody Bratton]

You make a great point Larry. I never thought of it that way. I used to think crossover ignition was somewhat wasteful, but in essence it’s pretty brilliant.