Harder to Clean and Maintain??


 
Richard Garcia

Richard Garcia

TVWBB All-Star
I have never owned a Gas Grill but thinking I may purchase one in the near future. For many Years I have been grilling/smoking on my WSM 18" Classic", Weber Mastertouch, Weber Smoky Joe, and now on my Weber Performer Deluxe and they all have been very easy to maintain and clean.

Question, maintenance and clean-up of Weber Gas Grills more difficult than the Weber Charcoal Grills?
 
Probably easier. With charcoal you are always having to clean up the burned coals. With gas grills, the grease and juices from the stuff you are cooking drip down on to flavor bars and most of that evaporates and burns away. Every now and then you want to take the bars off and clean them just by scrubbing with a brush. If you use it a lot you'll need to clean out the firebox, but you really don't need to do that more than once a year. And that's just knocking off any big chunks of build up.

There are more "moving" parts on a gas grill, meaning more things to break, but if you go with an older Genesis the parts are very easy to replace and don't cost much at all.
 
Whatever you choose, stay away from the Stainless Steel hoods/doors unless they are 304 or higher grade SS. They are hard to keep clean and will rust. Other than that there are just different things to clean on each. No charcoal/dust on a gasser and not grease drip tray on a charcoal. Personally I hate cleaning both, but as LMichaels said “depends on your point of view”.
 
Richard in NS said:
Whatever you choose, stay away from the Stainless Steel hoods/doors unless they are 304 or higher grade SS. They are hard to keep clean and will rust. Other than that there are just different things to clean on each. No charcoal/dust on a gasser and not grease drip tray on a charcoal. Personally I hate cleaning both, but as LMichaels said “depends on your point of view”.
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That's a good point. The gassers with SS lid and SS doors are a pain to clean. If you get a colored one, then those parts of the grill are cleaned just like a kettle.
 
Gasser MUCH easier.

Turn it on, wait 10 minutes, cook, turn it off. Only tricky part is remembering to go back outside after dinner to put the cover on the grill after it has cooled. No waiting for the coals to die out. No ashes. No bags of charcoal to handle. Perfect for Tuesday night.

Scrape the grates before you cook the next time. Empty the grease tray now and then. Get the propane tank refilled when empty (or don't if you have NG hooked up).

In 20 years, I've replaced my burners once and maybe the igniter once. Original SS flav bars still going strong. Original SS grates still good, though I bought PCCI replacements just because I liked them.

Each spring I do an optional deep clean -- which is basically scraping out the inside with a putty knife or giving the insides a pressure wash blast.

The SS parts are a pain since they are prone to hairline scratching when cleaning. The porcelain (same as your kettles) is pretty bomb proof.
 
Actually I love my Wolf because of how easy it is to make look good. A quick wipe down with some ammonia based cleaner like Windex and she shines like a babies bottom
 
Larry, your Wolf has top drawer 304 stainless finish, and I think that really helps in keeping it looking nice. Some of the early Weber stainless hoods were 304 - though not as nice - and the newer ones I believe are only 430. They can get ugly pretty fast and need more elbow grease and stronger cleaner, I think, than the method you are able to use on your beautiful Wolf.
 
Oh yeah I know I am lucky having that 300 series SS. But other than at certain times of the day when the sun hits it just right and the glare blinds me I do love that it's so easy to wipe down
 
Depends on your individual situation, obviously.

But if you are looking for a one arrow quiver to conserve space, most folks would say gasser (if you want to grill more) or pellet grill (if you want to smoke more) because of the easy operation and cleanup. Or a Performer (great grill, OK smoker), but less convenience features. Basically, pick one grill that is a cart/grill station that is good at the thing you do the most.

If you are looking to keep two grills in the quiver, I'm not sure gasser+Performer is the ideal combo. Because you basically have two larger footprint carts that both work best as grills. Seems somewhat duplicative to me (as you can see from my collection showed below). The explanation to the better half is what -- I need a week-night cart grill plus a weekend cart grill?
 
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Then you could go with the Smokefire and have what is as closed to a combo as possible.
 
Thanx to all for the great input and recommendations; looking at purchasing the small WeberQ 1200 for some quick grilling. However, last January I decided to buy the WeberQ at a local Costa Rican Authorized Dealership but instead walked-out with the excellent Weber Performer Deluxe.
 
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