My TEC Patio II Restoration

[Marty in Toronto]

I picked up a used propane TEC Patio II infra-red grill on Facebook Market Place for $150 CAD including an almost empty 20 lb propane tank, a couple of weeks ago and I just finished cleaning it up.





The only thing wrong with it was the stainless steel screens over the infra-red burners were at the end of their lifespan.

I'll be damned if I am going to pay $129 ea. for a piece of stainless steel screening molded to fit around the top of the infra-red burners.

I ended up ordering a sheet of stainless steel screening on Amazon for $20 CAD and cutting it into 4 pieces.

I put one piece for each of the two burners below the OEM screen and one piece for each of the two burners above the OEM screen and MacGyvered some non coated coat hanger wire to clip around the burner frame to hold everything into place.


Other than that, all the old girl needed was a thorough cleaning.

Tonight is the first run with rib steaks.

 

[Bob H.]

Looks nice, Enjoy!

 

[Bill Pudim]

More pics please, I’ve never seen a TEC Grill.

 

[Richard in NS]

Website.

TEC Grills: Gas Grills, 100% Infrared, Made in America

The world’s only 100% infrared gas grill -- made in America, TEC offers complete lines of freestanding, built-in, and portable grills. Sear, roast, and smoke: our grills do everything—better.

www.tecgrills.com

 

[Steve Hoch]

My mother in law has one of those on her deck that runs on NG. It appears to be well made but I hate the way it cooks. It cooks too hot even on low with that infared set up. If you leave the lid up and cook everything on the upper rack, you may have a chance.

 

[Bruce]

Interesting grill and interesting fix to the problem. I have never heard of those grills before.
Some additional pictures or even videos of the grill in action would be interesting to see.

 

[Jon Tofte]

I did a flip of one of those about 4 years ago, after first trying it out for fun. Mine had grates that were made from bent stainless. It seemed that you were actually supposed to put them in with the open end up so that they would channel grease. The rest hit and got incinerated on that mercilessly hot glass plate that protects the infrared burner. Doing it that way gave odd looking”double” sear marks.



It was interesting and definitely an ultra high heat searing machine, but I wasn’t overly impressed myself. It was one of my very few highly successful flips, though.

 

[Jay D in Jersey]

I picked up a used propane TEC Patio II infra-red grill on Facebook Market Place for $150 CAD including an almost empty 20 lb propane tank, a couple of weeks ago and I just finished cleaning it up.

View attachment 54362

View attachment 54366

The only thing wrong with it was the stainless steel screens over the infra-red burners were at the end of their lifespan.

I'll be damned if I am going to pay $129 ea. for a piece of stainless steel screening molded to fit around the top of the infra-red burners.

I ended up ordering a sheet of stainless steel screening on Amazon for $20 CAD and cutting it into 4 pieces.

I put one piece for each of the two burners below the OEM screen and one piece for each of the two burners above the OEM screen and MacGyvered some non coated coat hanger wire to clip around the burner frame to hold everything into place.
View attachment 54365

Other than that, all the old girl needed was a thorough cleaning.

Tonight is the first run with rib steaks.

Excellent find and work, Sir. While some Webers are great grills, there are better, truly North American made grills out there...you have one.

 

[Marty in Toronto]

More pics please, I’ve never seen a TEC Grill.

 

[Jon Tofte]

That is interesting. My TEC had special glass panels over the infrared to protect them.

As a side note, this is the company that got in litigation with Rec Tec, the pellet grill company, who had to change their name to Recteq because of a settlement that they reached.

 

[Bruce]

I thought I recognized that name from somewhere. I remember the thread that talked about the name infringement issue.

 

[LMichaels]

That is interesting. My TEC had special glass panels over the infrared to protect them.

As a side note, this is the company that got in litigation with Rec Tec, the pellet grill company, who had to change their name to Recteq because of a settlement that they reached.

Jon the original had simple wire screens. The glass panels were a later innovation in an effort to try and get the burners to last longer and cut down on all the popping and stuff from drippings hitting them

 

[Marty in Toronto]

Update - I have been using this grill for a few weeks now and all I can say is WOW - the infra-red burners are so hot and so fast I can cook frozen burgers in as little as 8 minutes and they come out juicy.
Would I buy this grill at the original price of $3,500 CAD. No
Would I buy this grill used for $150 - yup - in fact I did - I picked up a second one for parts (&/or to use) that was in similar condition (also for $150 CAD) - the second one is Natural Gas, came with the optional second side shelf and was in decent condition - only issues were the grease tray had a rust hole that I covered with aluminum foil and the logo was falling off (I fixed that by drilling 2 holes and affixing it with tiny brass bolts), the cooking grates have seen better days - but are still quite useable. I had to do the same fix with coat hanger wire to secure the burner screens - the screens themselves were in better condition than the green BBQ. The original owner replaced the lighter with a push button version - it works but I would have preferred the OEM rotary igniter (but for $150 CAD - I can't complain).
The photos are from the seller's FBM listing.