Newbie Question: Does this grill need to be replaced?


 
J

John-Paul Wood

New member
I'm a grilling newbie and newbie doesn't really even capture my ignorance when it comes to grills themselves so please be gentle. :) I've had this Weber Grill for probably about 10 years. It has seen little use, but been exposed to the elements with a cover over it for many years. It fires up perfectly and the burning tubes (if that's what their called) look good to me.

The rest is a bit of a mess and I just tried to clean it and this was the best I got. I recognize that replacing the grates would probably be a good idea. The flavor bars are rusted, but still provide coverage. And finally it is probably the inside of the grill that concerns me the most. As you can see, the coating has peeled away in a number of different places.

Ultimately, my question is, should this grill be replaced entirely or can I get away with just replacing the grates or should I also replace the flavor bars? Burning rust into my food doesn't seem like a good thing to do, but then again I'm sure it happens more commonly than I realize. What about the coating inside the grill? Is that imperative? Could I be exposing myself to any potential health issues by using this grill with rust and the coating peeled away in parts? Any guidance is appreciated.


2020-05-08 14_24_14-Window.jpg
 
I don't know what you mean by the coating being pulled away. Don't know what the pile of stuff is in the lower left of the photo but honestly it looks like it's hardly ever been used
 
Sorry, I'm referring to the coating inside the grill itself. It appears to be some kind of black coating that has pealed away over time. Compare the highlighted images below with the image above and you'll see the areas where it is exposing bare metal. Is that normal and safe?


2020-05-08 14_24_14-Window2.jpg
 
John-Paul:
It looks like you just have built-up gunk in the cookbox which just needs to be scraped out. If it flaky stuff on the inside of the lid, you just need to use a plastic putty knife to get that off so it doesn't fall on you food while cooking. The flavor bars are fine as long as you don't have holes in them other than the ones created when manufactured. You don't coat the inside of the cookbox. There is no coating in the cookbox, just bare aluminum. That is just residual from cooking. Simple green makes a pretty good casual grill cleaner or if you want to go bigtime Sams Club has a pretty good cleaner. Do a search on the forum for oven cleaner. You can get new grates in several choices of materials. Stainless Steel, Cast Iron, etc. Big thing is to get the correct ones for your model grill since they have different dimensions. Good luck. Noted you didn't show the drip pan or grates you have.
 
That grill looks pretty good for a ten year old. As Dan mentioned, that is not anything peeling away - just buildup from cooking/use (I'm at a loss for it's proper term). You could try blasting off with a power washer, or hit it with some Easy-Off oven cleaner.

The burners look pretty good from the pic, and from what I can tell the Flavorizer bars do too. Not sure about the grate. Having said all that, it may be a good time to replace parts if you're so inclined, since you already have the grill apart.
 
Yup, that's just built up gunk...nothing to worry about as far as health issues. There are numerous ways to take them out (scraper, sandblaster, soak in oven/grill cleaner then power wash, angle grinder with cup brush) but it'll just come back after a few cooks. It looks like you still have a nice grill. I'd recommend SS grates and flavorizer bars though for easier clean up and longevity.
 
The black stuff on the inside of the grill is just from cooking on it. It is not a factory coating. You could scrape it with a plastic putty knife and then use a shop vac to clean it up but nothing to worry about. The flavor bars look fine to me. Mine on the Genesis look worse.
 
Thanks so much for the guidance! It is exciting that I don't need to buy a new grill.

To answer Dan's questions, the drip pan looks fine. I took it off just to clean it and get a better shot for the picture. The grates are another story. It looks like I made them worse by cleaning them. The water allowed them to rust pretty good. I'm assuming you don't want rust on the grates...correct? I pretty much knew I would need to get new grates anyway and will probably opt for stainless steel this time.

2020-05-08 16_58_53-Window.jpg
 
All of the stated options for you I agree with 100 % .The grates could be cleaned and resealed I would guess but as was mentioned above a good set of stainless steel grates would be the best low maintenance and last till the grill is toast. On ebay rcplanner makes some very good ones. He also makes great flavorizer bars. You have one of Webers very good series of grills enjoy.
 
Or contact him through Craigslist I am unsure of the actual area in CA he lists in. You will save about 10% over FleaBay. Like me he prices about 10% less because EBay charges 10% to sell there. His stuff is a little more expensive than the Chineseum junk but well worth every penny. His grates are VERY heavy, spaced well so food doesn't fall through, and made of only the best stainless steel. Same with his bars. Very heavy well made. Both items will outlive you and the grill.
 
Looks to me like the only thing you need is a new set of grates, totally agree on the rcplanebuyer quality! Spend the money one time and you will have them the rest of your life!
Just basic cleaning is all you should have to do and you’re back in business.
 
I have zero experience with this generation of Genesis, but perhaps some of the other members could weigh in as to what John-Paul should be checking for frame spots that may be an issue for rust, etc.
 
Thank you again for all the guidance here! Super helpful. I especially liked reading through the stainless steel grate reviews. I can tell from other's expert opinions that rcplanebuyer's stuff is like a Mercedes. However, for the novice griller like me, there is some sticker shock that comes along with that. If my math is right, I would probably have to pay $300+ for stainless steel grates and 5 flavorizer bars from him. However, after looking through the stainless steel grate reviews, I noticed that QuilMetal made a quality product, not top-end, but still good and probably better than Weber's own product. It looks like I can get those grates and flavorizer bars for $100, delivered. I think I might give those a try and get this baby fired up again! Thanks again for all the help!
 
I have also read on here and other sites that Awazon has good quality grates and Flavor bars. Hope this gives you another option.
 
One thing I can tell you from experience. I don't know if Dave's grates and bars would set you back that much. I think his grates are only about $125 for that type grill. IMO poor equipment will keep a novice a novice. Example: I am a guitar player. When I first started out I thought it best to buy something cheap to "learn" on. I found by experience that the cheap instrument hampered me so badly I hated playing it and struggled badly. One day a friend let me try a "good" instrument. Suddenly music came from my fingers rather than pain. I bought a Martin and never looked back. Yeah it set me back a lot but it was worth every penny.
Same will hold true on grilling. The thing you interact with most is the grates and indirectly the flavor bars. The better those 2 things are the more you will enjoy grilling, not having food fall through thin wide spaced grates, the better heat dissipation of top notch favor bars as well. Honestly buy quality once and that's the best
As for rust issues the one biggie is anywhere aluminum touches steel. A big example is the side frame rail (left side as you look at the grill). Otherwise nothing really bad. If kept on a wood deck they fare much better. As close proximity to concrete is deadly to steel
 
LMichaels said:
One thing I can tell you from experience. I don't know if Dave's grates and bars would set you back that much. I think his grates are only about $125 for that type grill. IMO poor equipment will keep a novice a novice. Example: I am a guitar player. When I first started out I thought it best to buy something cheap to "learn" on. I found by experience that the cheap instrument hampered me so badly I hated playing it and struggled badly. One day a friend let me try a "good" instrument. Suddenly music came from my fingers rather than pain. I bought a Martin and never looked back. Yeah it set me back a lot but it was worth every penny.
Same will hold true on grilling. The thing you interact with most is the grates and indirectly the flavor bars. The better those 2 things are the more you will enjoy grilling, not having food fall through thin wide spaced grates, the better heat dissipation of top notch favor bars as well. Honestly buy quality once and that's the best
As for rust issues the one biggie is anywhere aluminum touches steel. A big example is the side frame rail (left side as you look at the grill). Otherwise nothing really bad. If kept on a wood deck they fare much better. As close proximity to concrete is deadly to steel
Click to expand...

Thanks. It felt a bit like the DaVinci Code trying to track him down since no one offers a simple e-mail address for him. :) After some searches and based on his story, I think this is probably him: https://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/for/d/weber-flavor-bars-and-grates/7119534975.html

I've inquired and I'll see just how much they might be. Thanks again.
 
Larry, your instrument analogy is something that strikes close to home for me! I used to sell instruments, people bought things from our shop because we did GOOD set up work on everything that went out the door. Most people bought (were sold) what they found out to be a better use of money. I had one guy literally ask what the “Best guitar for his daughter to learn on?” I told him that the Martin D-18 we had in stock would be a forever guitar. Then we talked more with the girl and we stepped back to a very nice “student” Alvarez in the same kind of design. Her dad and I chatted quite a bit about the tactics of dropping from a $1500 instrument to a well set up $250 guitar. He will spend a lot more than the 1500 by the time he’s done buying her guitars was what I told him, he laughed and said “Yep, probably but, I want her to make the jump if she likes it.” Two years later I sold the guy a D-28! (~$2500 IIRC) she learned a lot and he said she’d earned it!

Still thinking about getting that guitar of yours a neck reset?
 
LMichaels said:
One thing I can tell you from experience. I don't know if Dave's grates and bars would set you back that much. I think his grates are only about $125 for that type grill. IMO poor equipment will keep a novice a novice. Example: I am a guitar player. When I first started out I thought it best to buy something cheap to "learn" on. I found by experience that the cheap instrument hampered me so badly I hated playing it and struggled badly. One day a friend let me try a "good" instrument. Suddenly music came from my fingers rather than pain. I bought a Martin and never looked back. Yeah it set me back a lot but it was worth every penny.
Same will hold true on grilling. The thing you interact with most is the grates and indirectly the flavor bars. The better those 2 things are the more you will enjoy grilling, not having food fall through thin wide spaced grates, the better heat dissipation of top notch favor bars as well. Honestly buy quality once and that's the best
As for rust issues the one biggie is anywhere aluminum touches steel. A big example is the side frame rail (left side as you look at the grill). Otherwise nothing really bad. If kept on a wood deck they fare much better. As close proximity to concrete is deadly to steel
Click to expand...

Thanks for pushing me to contact David. You were right and the set of flavor bars and grates weren’t quite as expensive as I thought. It will be nice to have such top quality components in the grill. Now I just probably need to figure out how best to maintain everything so that things don’t get as bad as they got before. I hope to take much better care of this grill now. Thanks again everyone for all the help.
 
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