Newbie with an old Genesis--learning to refurb!


 
Cassondra

Cassondra

TVWBB Super Fan
Hello all, and thank you to those who welcomed me so kindly in the introductions.

I have already learned more than I knew, which is...how to find the model and year of my older grill. Apparently my grill is a 2012 E310.

This Weber was our first "big" purchase after we bought our old house (an 1849, falling-down farmhouse we vowed to restore. We are still working on the old house, and likely will be for the rest of our lives)

BUT...our Weber has fed us more nights than the indoor stove has. (Right now I will confess we have the kitchen torn apart and I don't HAVE an indoor range. Toaster oven, hotplate, microwave inside, Blackstone and the falling-apart Weber outside. When I say I have depended on the Weber, I mean that literally).

I took great care of our grill until life (elder care for my mom and health issues for my husband) got in the way, then the house, and everything associated with it, took second place.
Today I went looking for a used Weber, because I thought our old grill was too far gone. I hit on this forum in a search, and realized the "rusted out bottom" of our grill is not really the bottom of the grill, and can be replaced!

So here I am. I know nothing, but I love this grill, I'm decent with tools, and willing to buy whatever is needed (hopefully I CAN afford it) to fix my old friend. I owe it that, as it has so often fed us over these years. I can't even tell you how much of a tank this grill has been. For several years I've been lighting it with a grill lighter cuz the ignitor hasn't worked, and I've been using fish cooker thingies on top of the grates to keep metal pieces out of our food, but this grill just keeps on cooking when other grills would have long-since crashed and burned. It is kept outside on our deck, but there is no bad rust anywhere on it. I feel kind of ridiculous because I'm so attached to this grill.

So...here it is. Please forgive how dirty it is. 😢 It's been a rough few months, but I commit to make it better. Y'all will see that the back deck has been left for a later part of our restoration project. The neighbor's ducks don't care and regularly use the grill as a perch. (Not happy about this.)

dirty old Weber.jpg


Bottom of the box...I was shocked to realize everything is intact. I beat around on this trying to find weak spots, and I didn't find any. Even the grease drip pan is fine. It all needs a serious cleaning. I will have questions about how to do that. I don't know if I need new burners. These work. I just light them one-at-a-time with a grill lighter.

Bottom of box July 2022.jpg

Things that will need replaced for sure:
The bottom thingies.....Yeah..they're bad.

Bottom thingies.jpg

The "flavorizer bars"--they were "fine" until I took them out. (No they weren't fine, but they were intact, kinda.) Now one of them is kinda propped up to keep it together. 😱

flavor bars and grates.jpg

The grill grates...

I flipped them upside down a few years back, so I could get a bit more use out of them cuz they were getting metal flakes in the food. Now the bottom is just as bad, so I put a platter with holes, made for grilling fish, on top of them because they are toast. (you can see the fish thingy underneath the grates) I priced new cast iron, non-stick grates a couple of years back. The cost is part of why I thought I would have to ditch the Weber. Today I saw that some folks replace with stainless steel grates, so I am interested in options. The non-stick was nice, but not worth $300 to me. I will learn to adapt with other grates.

decrepit grates.jpg

So that's my Weber story. We also have a Weber charcoal kettle, which sears the best steak I've ever cooked. But the gas grill is fast and easy, and is my go-to tool for everyday cooking. I would like to do right by it, and I look forward to knowing all of you and learning from you about how to restore my old grill, and become a better grill cook.

Thank you in advance for all the help I know you will give.

😊
 
Cassondra, welcome to the board.
A good cleaning, a few hours of your time,
and about $250 will have your 310 good
to go for another 10 years.

Igniter, and all stainless steel flavorizers, heat
deflectors and cooking grates are available on
Amazon. If I were you, I would likely go ahead
and replace the burners as well. You can replace all of those
parts for $125 to $150.

The cabinet floor will require a call to Weber.
1 (800) 446-1071
Have your model and serial number ready as
well as when/where you bought it if you have
never registered it. It will likely run about $120.
 
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Welcome Cassondra! You got this! Please keep us updated on your progress and pics. If I can do it then anyone can. Just be careful, you might catch "Weberitis" after you've rehabbed that grill and, as far as I know, there is no known cure for it.
 
Looks like you are getting the advice you need. If you really want to bring the grill back to good condition and grilling performance, we will all help you. If money is an issue, I would do what Dave suggests and make the new floor my last investment. Even if it rusts out, as long as the legs are in decent shape, the grill doesn't need a good floor to keep grilling well.

There is tons of info in this forum and if you have questions as you go, just ask and you will get plenty of opinions and advice. There are several members who refurbish these older weber grills and resell them and know what it takes to get them back into service.

I definitely think the grates are in need of replacing. Solid rod stainless steel is the way to go. Those metal flakes on your CI grates are a series dental hazard.
 
Personally I think I would forego burners at this point opting to simply clean them. The ones in your photo showed pretty well other than dirty. Lots of elbow grease is called for on the rest BTW. I would limit $$$ to investing in good flavorizer bars and good grates. Someone had pointed out a link to some very nice 9mm stainless grates on Amazon. IMO flavorizer bars and grates are the most important part of your investment. The bars in that they help how your grill will actually perform and last long haul, the grates because they're what you actually "touch" or interact with daily. Bad grates can make a nice grill seem like junk and good ones can make a decent grill feel "great".
If during cleaning you find the burners are "compromised" i.e. split, rotted through, etc. Then make a burner investment.
 
Cassondra Murray said:
I'm hoping so! First...the cleaning. I have to go through some of the refurb threads to learn what to use. Gotta buckle down and study. *grin*
Click to expand...
I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to register the grill, and take advantage of the 10-Year warranty on that model grill.
After all, the warranty is a massive benefit to purchasing a Weber in the first place.

1) Create an account here:
https://www.weber.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-US-Site/en_US/Login-Show

1657975701836.png

2) Click on 'Register New Grill'

1657975338595.png


3) Find your grill's Serial Number:

https://www.weber.com/US/en/help/schematics/serialnumbers.aspx

I think yours is this though:

1657975553237.png

1657976344035.png

4) Enter your info. Be sure to enter the year as within 9 years to ensure you don't get slapped with the 10 year limit.

1657975440220.png


5) Call Weber Customer Support

1-800-446-1071, 7 days a week, 7am-8pm CT

6) Dial the buttons which correspond to submitting a Warranty Claim.

Wait on the line to speak with a representative. Provide the information for the parts you need replaced, i.e. - Grates, Flavorizer Bars, Heat Deflectors, Burners, Warming Rack, including the rusted floor, etc.
They'll email you while on the phone and you can email them back pictures of your damaged parts.
They'll send you replacements.

If any parts are denied that you really think should not be denied, just call back another time and speak to someone else.

Optionally, use the Weber Schematics lookup to help reference specific parts you need replaced while on the phone:

https://www.weber.com/US/en/help/schematics/

1657976492185.png


Enjoy your "new" grill.
 
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Use a razor scraper on the drip pan if it is porcelain coated steel (I have an older grill that’s what I use on mine) then steel wool if you want it perfect.

Steel wool and or a brass brush for the burner tubes. You can use water just dry them out good before reuse. Pay special attention to cleaning the holes where the flames come out, brush perpendicular to the rods. Get the holes really perfect.

Yes replace those flavorizers.

I highly recommend solid stainless rod grates. The coated cast iron flakes. The solid stainless rod grates are indestructible and do not rust. Look into the CharGon grate cleaner for those. I think you can get quilmetal 9mm grates for that grill, a little bit of money but your cooks will be ten times better than where you ended up now with fish screens :)

A good cleaning and attention to detail, new grates and flavorizers bars and you will be amazed! Above all, have fun! I do not envy the project you have around the grill, our house is newer at 1928 but it’s still closing in on a hundred years old so I feel your pain!
 
LMichaels said:
Personally I think I would forego burners at this point opting to simply clean them.
Click to expand...

I agree

With a 2012 purchase date, the burners on the E310 are( likely) still covered under warranty, assumingthe 2012 E310 warranty is the same as my 2016 E330.

items still covered:
Stainless Steel Burner Tubes ( 10 Year(s) ) , No burn through or rust through
Lid Assembly ( 10 Year(s) ) , No burn through or rust through
Cookbox ( 10 Year(s) ) , No burn through or rust through, 2 years on paint (excludes fading or discoloration)


items no longer covered:
Porcelain-enameled cast iron cooking grates ( 5 Year(s) ) , No burn through or rust through
Porcelain-Enameled Flavorizer Bars ( 2 Year(s) ) , No burn through or rust through
All Remaining Parts ( 2 Year(s) )
 
@Cassondra Murray can you post a pic of the inside of the cart, from the front with the doors open?

And a closeup also a pic of the lower corners where the doors pivot on the hinge.

The 300 series are grills are notorious for rusting inside. It would be interesting to see yours as part of the overall rehab.
 
Dave in KC said:
Cassondra, welcome to the board.
A good cleaning, a few hours of your time,
and about $250 will have your 310 good
to go for another 10 years.

Igniter, and all stainless steel flavorizers, heat
deflectors and cooking grates are available on
Amazon. If I were you, I would likely go ahead
and replace the burners as well. You can replace all of those
parts for $125 to $150.

The cabinet floor will require a call to Weber.
1 (800) 446-1071
Have your model and serial number ready as
well as when/where you bought it if you have
never registered it. It will likely run about $120
Click to expand...

Okay thank you. I'm reading through responses. I also need to look at the threads posted for me in the introductions. I expect there is advice on degreasers and tools to use for cleaning it up/methods, etc. Don't want to damage the surfaces!
 
Sam Bee said:
Welcome Cassondra! You got this! Please keep us updated on your progress and pics. If I can do it then anyone can. Just be careful, you might catch "Weberitis" after you've rehabbed that grill and, as far as I know, there is no known cure for it.
Click to expand...
You know, I may already have a mild case of it. Thus my reluctance to get rid of my OLD grill. My Weberitis may be a special case though, where I like the old ones. It fits for me honestly, I like old things. (old house, built in 1849, old pickup trucks --don't own any of those--even the home restoration projects I've run have been houses pre-1950. I don't like working on anything newer.) Maybe I have a disease. :unsure:
 
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