Stainless flavorizer bars - how long of life


 
R

Reed.Munson

New member
Hello TVWBB friends,
I'm preparing to order a set of stainless steel flavorizer bars for my Genesis 1000 grill - the old bars are pretty badly rusted out --

Does anyone have an idea of how many years I could expect to get out of stainless flavorizer bars?

Thanks!
Reed
 
I would bet good money that the ones in my Genny are original to the grill. They're 14 years old, and have survived probably multiple grease fires bad enough to melt through the bottom of my cook box in a few spots. They're still in pretty good shape.
 
They last a really long time, at least the Weber OEM ones did. I have a couple sets that are over 15 and 20 years old. The porcelain coated ones only used to last for about 5 or 6 years in my experience which is why I stopped bothering with them. I just can't tell you if the newer weber offerings or aftermarket stainless will be as long lasting. I somehow doubt it, but it's still a tremendous upgrade over porcelain and definitely worth the extra cost.
 
I bought my grill in 1993 and within a few years the “porcelain coated” flavorizer bars and grill grates were shot.

Maybe they were covered under warranty? Never bothered to look into that- just went and bought the readily available Weber branded stainless steel upgrades.

I just replaced the flavorizer bars a few months ago but they weren’t terrible.

The stainless steel grill grates are still going strong.

Purely anecdotal I know, and maybe those parts I bought so long ago were made in the good old USA- not sure about now or if it even matters from a quality standpoint.

I’ll just stop there- stay on topic and all that…
 
The Weber stainless bars last 10 to 15 years based on the old grills I get with stainless bars.

The Weber stainless bars seem to wear out due to heat cycles in my opinion. They get brittle and flake and scale.

The porcelain probably 5 to 8 years before rot holes do them in.
 
The newer ones are likely 430 series and not likely to be really long lived like the older OEM ones which were very heavy gauge and 304 series steel. So those are pretty much the life of the grill
 
Keep away from the 22 guage bars to thin, bunch of sellers have 20 which is better. I came across this brand and by the way I doubt anyone until you move up in price are doing 304 stainless anymore. They seem to be a bit new but if I did the math their bars are 19 guage which seems to be a fair price they should last a long time. I agree with Larry the 304 would last longer but of course the price would be a lot higher.

 
I personally haven't seen any 22 gauge bars. But I would never consider them if I did. I would not even consider 20 gauge even for a flip. 18 would be OK but 16 is what you really want. I have picked up a couple rehab grills with 20 gauge bars in them and they were warped. They might last a while, but I would rather invest the extra money in thicker ones.
I think an outfit called RIVERS EDGE on Amazon makes 16 gauge bars out of stainless. If you want for sure 304 Stainless made in the USA bars, you can contact Dave Santana and ask him for a quote. You can reach him through his craigslist adds. Even if the add is not for a Genesis 1000, he does make them.

And now I cannot find one of his adds on CL. That is odd. He stopped doing SS grates due to supply problems, but he was still doing flavorizer bars up to a week or so ago.


Anyway, here is the Rivers Edge Flavorizer bars for a Genesis 1000. They are 430 Stainless but made in Missouri.

Amazon.com : RiversEdge Products Stainless Flavorizer Bars, Set of 13, 16 Gauge, 7538, 15.88" 23.38" : Grill Flavorizer Bars : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Amazon.com : RiversEdge Products Stainless Flavorizer Bars, Set of 13, 16 Gauge, 7538, 15.88" 23.38" : Grill Flavorizer Bars : Patio, Lawn & Garden
www.amazon.com
 
I forgot about those Bruce brain fart. That is a good price for those. RC still has his bars on ebay now 100 bucks they used to be 75 I think but what has not gone up. https://www.ebay.com/itm/131583420354?hash=item1ea2fba7c2:g:SxoAAOSwgc1avCKN

If you wished to buy the original Weber Stainless bars this vendor, I and others have bought from them have found in their warehouse the 9814 bars lying around somewhere in the warehouse, the boxes were shot but they repacked them and guarantee they are originals $99 bucks think they charge 10 for shipping but not bought stuff from them for a lot of years. They also have their own for 5 bucks less no details for 304 or guage but you could call them.


If this was a forever grill not sure you could go wrong with RC's it depends on the money the riveredge are 430 and RC's are 304 most likely the last set you will ever need.
 
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BBQParts.com is a good outfit IMO. I bought a bunch of clearance Broilmaster parts from them a few years ago and they were quality parts and good prices.
 
Let’s say only 2-3 FB’s rot out, would placing the remaining goods ones underneath or on top of the replacement bars prolong life of the new bars. In other words, do two thin 430’s make a thick 304, like two wrongs make a….???
 
I haven't tried that, but I would say NO. Gunk and moisture will collect between them and rot them out that much faster.
 
Bruce said:
I haven't tried that, but I would say NO. Gunk and moisture will collect between them and rot them out that much faster.
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I would agree with Bruce there. What I have done is to switch them around to try and make sure a good flavorizer bar is at least covering the outside burners until I got a replacement set.
 
Right, if you have three good ones, put them over the burners and use the two shot ones in the gaps between burners.
 
Loc said:
Let’s say only 2-3 FB’s rot out, would placing the remaining goods ones underneath or on top of the replacement bars prolong life of the new bars. In other words, do two thin 430’s make a thick 304, like two wrongs make a….???
Click to expand...
Not sure why you would do something like that. Buy a good set of stainless bars and be done with it not trying to offend you but as it is a 1000 takes longer to heat up than a Silver C with 5 bars which also gets hotter if your going to dump more bars on top it will take even longer to heat up. By the way there is nothing wrong with 430 they will last a very long time that is probably the norm going forward 304 is more money you have to decide whether to spend it or not.

Edit: By the way I don't think Weber designed those grills to double up on bars.
 
Loc said:
Let’s say only 2-3 FB’s rot out, would placing the remaining goods ones underneath or on top of the replacement bars prolong life of the new bars. In other words, do two thin 430’s make a thick 304, like two wrongs make a….???
Click to expand...
I’m a cheapskate and use free bars from free grills on my wife’s grill that we use constantly. I double them up if they start looking worn.

The doubled up bars don’t affect performance from what I can tell.
 
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It’s like musical chairs
Brian B Atlanta said:
Not sure why you would do something like that. Buy a good set of stainless bars and be done with it not trying to offend you but as it is a 1000 takes longer to heat up than a Silver C with 5 bars which also gets hotter if your going to dump more bars on top it will take even longer to heat up. By the way there is nothing wrong with 430 they will last a very long time that is probably the norm going forward 304 is more money you have to decide whether to spend it or not.

Edit: By the way I don't think Weber designed those grills to double up on bars.
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No offense taken my man. I’m just reading the Grillgrates thread
https://tvwbb.com/threads/dead-horse-beating-ahead-tell-me-about-your-grillgrates.92699/
and if grates on top of grates is the new thang now, I thought why not stack FB’s to get into the trend. I have have a mess of old bars that are not quite dead and not quite alive, like zombies.
 
I like the ideal of doubling up the bars.

My older Summit SS bars are crazy expensive. I would love to get as much life out of them as I could.

Might be worth a try.
 
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