question on late '90s Summit 450 LP restoration: what's the orange sealant on the lower aluminum sides for?


 
Jon, I was thinking that for the front panel, it would be best to make one single piece that goes from side to side. THen cut out the burner tube holes and bolt that onto the existing ceramic coated panel. Or do you think it would be best for a separate patch panel for each burner?
 
Bruce said:
Kevin, are those regular steel panels or stainless?
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Bruce - honestly, I'm not sure if it's stainless. It's just some scrap my neighbor had - it was old and had no surface rust (just a little rust on the edge), so I used it. I'm viewing this as just an experiment anyway, to see how long it will take for the original panel to completely fail.
 
Kevin: It looks to be galvanized steel to me. Probably even thicker than 18 gauge. It will last a long time. Not sure how long though. Not as long as stainless. It will probably take years to get a full assessment of how it works out for you. LOL.

Just a word of caution. If those plates are galvanized, it could pose a health risk. Heating them to temps you typically find inside of a BBQ grill will cause it to release toxic fumes.

Can you use galvanized metal as a BBQ?

Cooking With Galvanized Steel. Heating a galvanized metal surface releases zinc fumes. These fumes accumulate in the food but are also toxic to breathe. For this reason, utensils with galvanized surfaces should not be used in food cooking.
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Bruce said:
Kevin: It looks to be galvanized steel to me. Probably even thicker than 18 gauge. It will last a long time. Not sure how long though. Not as long as stainless. It will probably take years to get a full assessment of how it works out for you. LOL.

Just a word of caution. If those plates are galvanized, it could pose a health risk. Heating them to temps you typically find inside of a BBQ grill will cause it to release toxic fumes.

Can you use galvanized metal as a BBQ?

Cooking With Galvanized Steel. Heating a galvanized metal surface releases zinc fumes. These fumes accumulate in the food but are also toxic to breathe. For this reason, utensils with galvanized surfaces should not be used in food cooking.
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The entire lid liner is galvanized steel.
 
Bruce said:
Jon, I was thinking that for the front panel, it would be best to make one single piece that goes from side to side. THen cut out the burner tube holes and bolt that onto the existing ceramic coated panel. Or do you think it would be best for a separate patch panel for each burner?
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Bruce,
That is pretty much what I was thinking, although maybe a set of pieces for two burners. With that, it might be possible to also use them on a 6-burner 1st generation Summit (3 sets instead of 2). I wish I had a 6-burner front - or a tracing of one - to be sure that my idea would work. One thing I have thought about in getting a sheet metal shop to make these is that doing some volume might bring the per unit price down to something more realistic.

I know my sheet metal shop owner friend in Florida farmed out work like this to a place that did laser or super high pressure water cutting. He used them to make my 300 series stainless bottoms and backs. They were perfect! I wish I had more of them and that he hadn't sold his business.

You can see how the bottom and the back in this picture (both stainless) have the identical vents and cut-outs as the original (well, the openings for the door magnets were a hair too small and took a little work). Using this method, it should be possible to make stainless plates with the openings that perfectly align with those on the Summit porcelain plated fronts.

IMG_3813.jpeg
 
Yah, my son has a bit of experience with that water cutting system on stainless. It was at one of his old jobs. It sounded sweet, but the machinery is quite expensive.
The problem with fabbing those Summit panels is going to be volume. There just are not that many Summit grills out there and once that part goes bad and owners realize it, they probably just call it a day. They don't envy the task of taking the grill apart to put in a new panel, even if they could find one.
You could sell a few to rehabbers if you knew where to find them (TVWBB.com), but still, there would be minimal demand. Dave Santana can do Flavor bars and grates because they are simple and there is clearly a demand. But, to develop a system to create the Summit panels and then only do a dozen or so per year probably isn't going to motivate him too much. Besides, a guy would probably want to replace all the ceramic coated panels at once making it even more expensive.

I agree those E3xx panels are awesome, but the problem is that you still have the side panels to deal with. But that bottom panel is the biggy. I think the side panels are welded to the frame in just a couple places. I would think a guy could cut those out and have some new ones fabbed out of stainless that could be bolted to frame legs. But, then you still have the frame legs subjected to rusting.
 
The lid liner is NOT galvanized. Galvanized steel should NEVER be used inside a grill.
"Heating a galvanized metal surface releases zinc fumes. These fumes accumulate in the food but are also toxic to breathe. For this reason, utensils with galvanized surfaces should not be used in food cooking."
 
Bruce, that was definitely a compromise in favor
Bruce said:
I agree those E3xx panels are awesome, but the problem is that you still have the side panels to deal with. But that bottom panel is the biggy. I think the side panels are welded to the frame in just a couple places. I would think a guy could cut those out and have some new ones fabbed out of stainless that could be bolted to frame legs. But, then you still have the frame legs subjected to rusting.
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Yeah, Bruce, I had to set some realistic limit on what I did. The ultimate would definitely be replacement side pieces, including the frame bars, all in stainless. But then you would have one EXPENSIVE grill. I do think most of the rust problems start with the bottom and that the rust then works its way up the back and sides. This fix - and some thorough rust proofing of the frame legs and panel bottoms - would at least buy you many years beyond the OEM cheap steel. I just wish I had the availability of making more of these parts🙁.
 
LMichaels said:
The lid liner is NOT galvanized. Galvanized steel should NEVER be used inside a grill.
"Heating a galvanized metal surface releases zinc fumes. These fumes accumulate in the food but are also toxic to breathe. For this reason, utensils with galvanized surfaces should not be used in food cooking."
Click to expand...
I just received a new lid for my Summit Platinum, it most certainly is galvanized. Weber also states that it is galvanized.
 
Bill Pudim said:
I just received a new lid for my Summit Platinum, it most certainly is galvanized. Weber also states that it is galvanized.
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Galvanized metal from EVERY known food authority is known to be UNSAFE in high heat environments or food contact. Would sure like to see in writing from Weber this piece is made of that unsafe material. And if Weber is using something like that in such an irresponsible manner than even more reason they don't deserve the business! This is not just food contact but the presence of high heat which cause "offgassing" of zinc in the presence of food. Plus if it was my lid I would rip that thing outta there before using it.
 
Thank you all for the feedback. You are experts, and I am not... I will now get a stainless piece to replace the galvanized piece. Thank you for the help!
 
I think what Weber IIRC is "Aluminized" steel which is a TOTALLY different and safe procedure as opposed to galvanized I seem to recall that in their literature. Many people confuse the 2. They are definitely not the same though they're used to achieve the same result
 
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