Genesis E-320, not impressed so far!


 
S

steveD

TVWBB Fan
As I documented elsewhere on here I recently purchased a used Genesis E-320 with side burner & front controls. I'm cooking chicken wings over "indirect" heat. I have 1 burner full-on, with the other 2 about the middle mark and it s struggling to get above 400 degrees. And it took a good 15-20 minuted to get hot too...

This thing just seems underpowered for the large cooking surface.

I did previously cook some burgers and steaks over high direct heat and it performed admirably.
 
I have a S330, and I peg the thermometer easily. If I had to guess, you might have spider webs in your manifold or you have air in your propane bottle. When you bottle is "empty" open up the bleeder screw on the neck of your bottle and let it bleed out. If it's been awhile, this could take a couple hours. Then fill your tank and see how she runs
 
ChuckO said:
I have a S330, and I peg the thermometer easily. If I had to guess, you might have spider webs in your manifold or you have air in your propane bottle. When you bottle is "empty" open up the bleeder screw on the neck of your bottle and let it bleed out. If it's been awhile, this could take a couple hours. Then fill your tank and see how she runs
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I finished one tank off last night and started a new one. At first I was attributing it to the first tank being nearly empty when I first put it on the grill, but the 'new' tank is almost completely full. I will try bleeding out the empty tank to see if much/any air escapes but I doubt this is the issue since I've had the same problem with 2 tanks now. I did run a wire brush over all of the burners when I got the grill, and everything lights really quickly with the ignitor. To check the manifold, I'm assuming I have to disassemble it?
 
I have an older E320 E/W burners and mine will get to 550 in about six or seven minuets. Might be a bad regulator, that will cause that exact problem.
 
I suspect (although I haven't confirmed) that if I turn all of the burners on full blast it will heat up rather well and likely peg the thermometer. My issue is with trying to heat the grill for indirect cooking, which it just doesn't seem to have the power to do. My old grill, which was older and cheap, seemed more capable in this regard.
 
steveD said:
I suspect (although I haven't confirmed) that if I turn all of the burners on full blast it will heat up rather well and likely peg the thermometer. My issue is with trying to heat the grill for indirect cooking, which it just doesn't seem to have the power to do. My old grill, which was older and cheap, seemed more capable in this regard.
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My older Genesis is the same way, plenty hot with all burners running but incapable of producing sufficient heat via the indirect method doing just what you describe
 
After checking the venturis / inlets on the burners and the regulator -

Maybe you need to pre-heat with all burners lit, then once it is up to temp, turn the others down and go.
(I usually want to start-out hot to burn-off the crud on the grates ennyhoo...)
 
If you all read the directions included with your grills you'll see "pre-heat your grill" as the first one. Pre-heat is done with ALL burners on high for at least 10 minutes or so. Once grill is pre-heated and stable you set it up for indirect. Let the temps stabilize with lid DOWN and than you begin cooking. The process done right takes about 20 to 30 minutes BEFORE you put food on the grill. BTW to the OP indirect cooking means no heat directly under the food. IOW you keep the outside burners on to maintain whatever temps you want in the grill i.e. 350 and the food is in the center of the grill. On a 2 burner grill you use one side or the other opposite the burner that is on. Reading the posts here simply show a lack of understanding how the grill actually works and not reading the manual. Time and patience grasshopper(s)
 
I get how it is supposed to work, but I was cooking a large pack of chicken wings that wouldn't fit just over the center burner. And even after I had the grill up to temp, I had to keep all 3 burners on (far left on 100%, remaining two on 50%) to maintain just above 400 degrees. And even that was lower than the 450-500 I really wanted, but I just didn't want to turn the burners directly under my food any higher since I was trying to cook over indirect heat.
 
My 330 (very close to the 320) is 4yrs old, on occasion the burners do not produce sufficient heat, tapping the regulator with the grill brush handle fixes the problem (my grill brush has a heavy wood handle).
I bought a new regulator but have been to lazy to install it.
Before getting the WSM I BBQed briskets, ribs, and pork butts pretty regularly using indirect heat from one end burner.

I don't know if you have a regulator problem or not, but if there are no spider webs, dirt dauber nests, or other obstructions the regulator is the next place to go.
That are not all that expensive and are available from Weber, Amazon, maybe the local big box store.
 
450 to 500 is too hot for wings IMO. They need lower temps over longer time to render the gelatin and make them tender and moist. Higher heat simply dries them out
 
In about 17 minutes it reached a temp of 525*+. Maybe this grill is, ust too big to stay hot with 1 burner... still a bit disappointing but part of learning the limitations of a new grill I suppose. I still plan to confirm the manifold and burners are free of spider webs/dirt.
 
The whole point of using only one burner is to NOT stay very hot. If I use only one burner on my Summit it stays in the range of only 220. Same on my Wolf only less because it is much larger and 6 burners. Seems your expectations are just against the grain of the idea of how the grill(s) are supposed to work.
 
Sounds like the regulator tripped and throttled the gas. Weber regulators are very touchy. It should take a full 10 seconds or so to open full, so take your time.
 
Agree with moderating temps. When I had the EP330. I could smoke chicken wings by running only the sear burner. Get everything up on hi to start out, pegging 600 or so, and then turn them all off but the sear burner, put a stick of apple over that and wings on both sides. Go an hour or so, and then finish off with direct heat.
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When you were switching tanks did you turn the burners off? If you didn't then you might have tripped the flow limiting device. See http://www.edyoungs.com/edyoungs/troubleshoot_tank.htm

I ran into this tonight by accident. My usual shutdown when I'm done cooking is I shut off the tank first, then wait for the gas in the line to burn off then turn the individual burner knobs to off. I must have forgot to shut off the burner knobs last time, so when I opened the tank valve this time the FLD tripped and while I was able to light the grill it wasn't over 300 degrees after 10 minutes.
 
If you think you need to shut the tank off than shut the burners off FIRST than the tank. Otherwise you risk tripping the valve ANY time you turn the grill on. IMO there is no danger in just leaving the tank on anyway and there certainly is no danger with the small amount of gas left in the hose to turn things off the proper way
 
LMichaels said:
If you think you need to shut the tank off than shut the burners off FIRST than the tank. Otherwise you risk tripping the valve ANY time you turn the grill on. IMO there is no danger in just leaving the tank on anyway and there certainly is no danger with the small amount of gas left in the hose to turn things off the proper way
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From what I've read, it depends on whether you use a cover or not. Seems that the knobs can get turned very easily when putting the cover on. If your tank is open, gas will leak out.
 
Either way if you feel the need to shut the tank the proper order is shut the burners THEN shut the tank. If you do the opposite whenever you turn the tank back on you have the risk of tripping the OPD device and causing low heat output. Me I don't shut the tank or the gas (depending on which LP or NG grill I am using). My theory on it is I don't shut the gas meter to my home when I am done using my kitchen range.............................
 
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