Tony F
New member
I recently made the leap from no-name, you get what you pay for grills that disintegrate after a few years to my first Weber, a Q200. Though pretty humble by many standards, it has done exactly what it should do for my first two cooks, work as expected. I picked it up on Craig's List this past weekend for $75 with collapsable stand, 20lb tank converter and cover. I spent a little time scrubbing the grate, cleaning the ignitor and burner tube, and researching what may be needed for maintenance or additional accessories.
So far it seems that the grate requires seasoning with each cook, something I can live with. For enamel coated cast iron, it seems a touch shy of enamel coating and pretty heavy on cast iron. The start up is a bit finicky, but my understanding from searching this forum is that the 20lb conversion is prone to this unless you upgrade, bypassing the original regulator. This may be in my future, still undecided. I also miss having a thermometer. I may retrofit one down the road.
I did have a question about the burner and lighting sequence. After slowly opening the 20lb tank, waiting for a minute, then turning the regulator to high/start, I click the ignitor a few times and then the burner lights at the left end of the grill. The tube then becomes lit on the portion closest to the front of the grill, but it seems to take a minute for the remainder of the burner tube toward the back of the grill to light. I removed the tube and gave it a good cleaning, freeing up some of the holes that had clogged over time, but it still seems prone to this. Just curious if it is normal for the back half of the burner to take that much longer.
Aside from that, it cooks fabulously and I am very happy with the purchase, especially considering the parts availability and support available. I've done two rib eyes and some dogs thus far. The steaks came out awesome.
So far it seems that the grate requires seasoning with each cook, something I can live with. For enamel coated cast iron, it seems a touch shy of enamel coating and pretty heavy on cast iron. The start up is a bit finicky, but my understanding from searching this forum is that the 20lb conversion is prone to this unless you upgrade, bypassing the original regulator. This may be in my future, still undecided. I also miss having a thermometer. I may retrofit one down the road.
I did have a question about the burner and lighting sequence. After slowly opening the 20lb tank, waiting for a minute, then turning the regulator to high/start, I click the ignitor a few times and then the burner lights at the left end of the grill. The tube then becomes lit on the portion closest to the front of the grill, but it seems to take a minute for the remainder of the burner tube toward the back of the grill to light. I removed the tube and gave it a good cleaning, freeing up some of the holes that had clogged over time, but it still seems prone to this. Just curious if it is normal for the back half of the burner to take that much longer.
Aside from that, it cooks fabulously and I am very happy with the purchase, especially considering the parts availability and support available. I've done two rib eyes and some dogs thus far. The steaks came out awesome.
