Newbie in NY


 
M

MikeP-NY

New member
Hello All,
I grabbed my first Weber off the curb almost 20 years ago while walking my dog. Rolled it home a few blocks and got laughed at by my girlfriend. A quick cleaning and a few easily attainable parts later I had the last laugh. I left the grill with her and eventually restored 2 more to function that had being left for dead on the curb. The one I use at my house now is a 2 burner Genesis and I found the forum when I was looking for the discontinued rocker switch for it. Why did I need that?

Well last week when I brought my chicken out to grill which had been warming up, I found flames coming out of the control panel, so I shut the tank off and did the chicken in the cast iron pan. A later inspection revealed a hole in the rusty manifold, one partially and one completely melted control knob and a partially melted rocker switch assembly. I removed the manifold, hooked it up to the tank and pressurized it. I could smell propane and a little spit revealed the hole. I don't know how the leak ignited, but that must have been the source of the flames I saw.

Having recently replaced the bars, grill and catch pan, I wasn't ready to give up yet, so I found a manifold and some knobs on ebay for a fair price and then embarked on my odyssey of searching out a rocker assembly. As of this writing one of the users here has already offered to send me one, so joining here looks to have paid off quickly.

The manifold is installed and flame is only coming out where it is supposed to again. One of the things I've noticed is that the burner controls on this manifold don't turn as far as my originals did. Looking at the flames coming out of the burners it seems like they are at medium instead of low, but can't be sure. What I do know is that the knobs stop in the medium range as marked on the panel where the old controls would of course continue counter clockwise to "low". Not a big deal for me, but wondering if anybody here has comments on that.

Another thing I noticed is that parts for the 2 burner grills are in shorter supply out there at least on ebay. I'm guessing they aren't as common as the 3 burner units so parts are less common too. I'm glad I found the manifold I did in good condition. I put a few coats of paint on it before installation in hopes it would last as long as needed. Last note: the manifold I removed was square in shape where the one I installed was round. Another difference that might explain why the burner control travel was different between them. For $36 shipped I can't complain that the knobs don't turn as far. They spend most of their time on high and medium anyway.
Thanks for having me,
Mike
 
Welcome Mike, and good job tracking down parts and getting your grill running again! There were differences in the amount of rotation over the years in those manifolds so what you are describing is not a surprise. If it really bothers you, you can track down the corresponding control panel for that manifold that has the correct markings for L/M/H. Another sort of interesting fact is that because the two burner grills weren't as popular you can still find a lot of new, leftover parts that have long since dried up for the more popular three burner models.
 
My favorite part of the story is when you pressurized the rusty manifold to find the leak with the spit.
Don't throw out the old manifold - you could potentially patch it or steal the valves, etc. off of it for future repairs as the part supply dwindles.
Sound like you have a working grill in the meantime.
 
Thanks for the comments!
Steve: good info.
Scott: Thought about patching the old manifold with epoxy putty, but the thing is so rusty I'd expect another leak very soon if not when cleaning it up.

Interestingly the burner controls attach differently for each of the manifolds. The newer one looks like a pipe thread seal where the older ones bolt through the manifold and require gaskets.

(y)
 
MikeP-NY said:
Interestingly the burner controls attach differently for each of the manifolds. The newer one looks like a pipe thread seal where the older ones bolt through the manifold and require gaskets.
Click to expand...
Yep, two completely different designs. Your "new" manifold is actually older than your original.
 
Steve Hoch said:
I like pictures too, but this was actually a rare case where I knew exactly what he was talking about without any further explanation.
Click to expand...

Ok, so share the details... This is what confused me:

"Interestingly the burner controls attach differently for each of the manifolds. The newer one looks like a pipe thread seal where the older ones bolt through the manifold and require gaskets."

all of my "older" valves thread in to the manifold, older in this context is 2005 Silvers, Golds back through all the x000s and even the Genesis 3 and Genesis 2 thread in.

the "newer" one is 2011 to 2016 E3xx front controls.

un-confuse me please :)
 
He means the way the valves attach to the fuel rail. The older, round rails have valves that are threaded on. The newer, square rails sometimes have valves that are bolted on and have a gasket in-between to prevent leaks.
 
DanHoo said:
Now I get it. NEW style, replacement for an OLD grill.

I've never seen one like that until today.
Click to expand...
Yep, except in this case Mike went from the newer style like the one in the picture to the older style that we are used to seeing. It does make me wonder when Weber went to that design of manifold, but I don't have the energy to figure it out.
 
BTW it looks like my rocker switch assembly hook up is falling through here. Anybody have one? I need the base/frame as well as the rocker.Photo-1.jpeg
 
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I added a photo to my last post. It is a Genesis Silver A I believe. No idea what year it is. It has the rectangular rocker switch assembly. Of course if there is a substitute I would welcome that too.
 
All of those switches are almost impossible to find now. Hopefully someone else here has an extra one for you. I have an extra rocker, but no frame. If you post a picture of your control panel I may have an idea for you.
 
Does anyone know if that half rounded switch assembly would also fit properly in my panel? It seems they are discontinued also, but just incase I do find one of those, I'm wondering if it would fit.
Thanks,
Mike
 
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