Weber Summit Charcoal - Obscure Details and Assembly


 

Mike Mc

TVWBB Member
A little back story...
I have lurked here for many years and enjoyed reading all of the posts (thank you fellow BBQ Geeks). I have learned quite a few things as well. In 2009 – 2012 my wife and I captained a KCBS team. Our best finishes came off the WSM using a Rocks Stoker, even when we had access to a Southern Pride. But I digress…

A year ago we moved to Atlanta, Ga. from Savannah, Ga. In the process we had to downsize square footage considerably. My patio is now a paltry 20x10. I have a WSM and Performer. Been cooking on them for many years. I am a big Weber fan. They make a well made product at a reasonable price. My experience with their customer service has been exceptional. But… they take up a lot of space. So along comes this Weber marketing email about “Grill of a Lifetime”. It peaked my interest of course. Once it was revealed to be smoke/grill it really had my interest. Could I really combine both devices in to one? Well yesterday we drove down the road to the local ACE and checked it out. It was huge when comparing to our performer. Fit and finish were good. I liked the size a lot. And I noticed an extra plugged hole near the gas tube where my 5CFM blower would fit nicely. I practically tore it apart while my wife talked with the rep. But in the end I couldn’t justify the price. After shopping a little while longer I found my wife and said I was ready to go. She said “Happy Anniversary” and handed me the receipt for the new beast. Lots of sappy comments could go here. I will skip them.

We drove around back to pick up the new beast. Things did not go well. It was on a pallet. Not a box sitting on a pallet. It is all attached to a long nonstandard sized pallet and the box drops over it and attaches to said pallet. After asking one of the stock room workers for a tape measure we determined that it would fit – on its side. So with enthusiasm the three young men lifted and starter shoving the pallet in the SUV (2015 Toyota Highlander for size reference). Things went well until they had a foot or so left to go then it stopped suddenly with a sickening ripping and crunching sound. The headliner drops down an inch or so going forward. It now has a small rip where the pallet met the headliner. Not good. I immediately said to take it out. After a little discussion I asked if they could deliver and they said yes, for $40. But then my wife said “Why don’t we just unpack it here and load it up”. She was right. Once unpacked it easily fit and we didn’t have to dispose of the pallet and 25 pounds of cardboard.

So, its untested. Is it a smoker or a grill? Will it be good at both? Time will tell. What do we nickname it? The ‘Groker’? The ‘Smill’? I kid, I kid.

So from this point I will address the “Obscure Details” I mentioned in the thread subject line. Little things I discovered while assembling. Good and bad (mostly good) and large pictures. My goal is to help those that might not have them available near you and you have the same mental disorder I have for detail. There is no way I would have ordered this thing without hands on.

Assembly was very ‘Performer-esque’. Straight forward and easy. A 7/16 socket will speed things up considerably and get in to the channel support bracket easier than the supplied tool. All of the parts fit extremely well. Very high quality piece of kit. Stainless throughout, black metal oxide coating on the bolts. I gave the lower bowl and upper lid a thorough inspection. I found no gaps or holes in the in the coating. There were only a couple of rough spots around the lower vent but coverage was complete.


The parts scattered across my patio.
WeberSummitParts01.jpg


Bottom Bowl
WeberSummitBottomBowl02.jpg


Wheel Covers
WeberSummitWheelCover03.jpg


Miscellaneous parts.
WeberSummitScrews04.jpg


Table top as shipped. Very nice brushed stainless (covered with protective plastic).
WeberSummitTableTop05.jpg


The Weber product label.
WeberSummitLabel06.jpg


Left side lower bowl support.
WeberSummitLowerBowlSupport07.jpg


Nothing new here.
WeberSummitGasTube08.jpg


Looks like a new home for my blower!
WeberSummitSecret Hole09.jpg


Hole in relation to the gas tube. Not a tight fit around the tube. If I get in to crazy smoker mode I might have to do something about this.
WeberSummitGasTube10.jpg
 
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PART II

Another close up of the secret hole.
WeberSummitSecretHole11.jpg


Standard igniter wiring.
WeberSummitWiring12.jpg


Heat shield for the propane bottle. One beef here - the hose needed to be a little longer to get around the shield or the shield needs to be bent toward the bowl a little more. It was tough to hookup as is out of the box.
WeberSummitHeatShield14.jpg


Two handles on the bin. Good fiting cover.
WeberSummitCharcoalBin.jpg


Closeup of the hinge before installation.
WeberSummitLidHinge17.jpg


Hinge safety bolts. Instructions say to trash them. Not going to follow that step. They might come in handy. You could use them to lock the lid back in in place.
WeberSummitLidHInge18.jpg


Hinge spring closeup.
WeberSummitLIdSpring19.jpg


When attaching the lid you have to wiggle these in to place. Its hard to do with the hinge in the locked position. But with the spring assist you certainly dont want to remove the safety bolts before it is attached.
WeberSummitLidAssembly20.jpg


WeberSummitLidAssembly21.jpg


Just before final tightening. Everything fits well.
WeberSummitSafetyScrews23.jpg
 
PART III

Protective film over the vent.
WeberSummitProcectiveFilm24.jpg


The seal is broken!
WeberSummitRemove25.jpg


The family all together. Soon to be downsized?
WeberSummitFamily26.jpg


Biggest complaint here. Picture taken underneath the front lid. The lid doesn't sit evenly on the lower bowl. You have a little bit of centering control with the elongated slots in the hinge bracket but no front to back adjustment. So the lid on my unit sits way toward the front of the grill. In the back the outer lip it is almost to the point of touching the outer lip of the bottom bowl. Not happy. I will order some of the plastic washers from Weber and put them behind the hinge to push it back a little bit. An easy fix.
WeberSummitLIdGap27.jpg


Another nit pick. The grate hinges rest on the resting surface of the bottom bowl. When opening them it pushes up on the grate putting the entire weight of grate and whatever you are cooking on those two points. I think I can bend them in a little to stop this from happening.
WeberSummitGrateHinge29.jpg


One side of the grate hings wasn't bent properly. It hangs in the gap of the radius bent around the non moving piece. Any easy fix but still a quality control issue.
WeberSummitGrateHinge30.jpg


Underside of the lid, closeup of the vent.
WeberSummitLidVent31.jpg


The stainless steel braid lid seal. This is where it meets in the back.
WeberSummitSeal32.jpg


Small holes around the rim are the attachments points. In this picture I am pulling down on the seal slightly.
WeberSummitSealAttahment33.jpg


Slight upward radius upward from left to right in the summit logo. Creating a couple of bubbles at the top of the logo. Yeah, I know, nit pick. But heck its their 'Top of the Line'(?) product. It should be gold plated for the price.
WeberSummitLogo34.jpg
 
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PART IV

Performer in the background. Considerably larger.
WeberSummitSize35.jpg


Another pain point. The little basket looks like a great idea and it is but the rails are terrible implementation. Easy to pull out but a pain in the butt to shove in easily. Problem is that it wiggles in the slot and one of the corners will grab sending it off angle causing it to stick. Annoying as hell. I will fix this.
WeberSummitSize36.jpg


Another size comparison to the performer.
WeberSummitSize37.jpg


The Summit cover has a velcro hold down strap.
WeberSummitCoverVelcro38.jpg


The cover fits well and goes on easily. The material feels slightly softer and thinner than previous Weber covers I have purchased.
WeberSummitCover39.jpg


Caster wheel side, cover on.
WeberSummitCover40.jpg


Caster wheel close up. Hard plastic with rubberized coating on the wheel surface.
WeberSummitWheel41.jpg


Size comparison with cover on.
WeberSummitSize42.jpg


The large wheels and a small part of the lower shelf are exposed with the cover on.
WeberSummitCover43.jpg
 
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PART V

The quick reference and manuals. In three languages. The quick reference is thick (think manila folder)and laminated.
WeberSummitQR44.jpg


Quick refeference front.
WeberSummitQR45.jpg


Quick reference rear.
WeberSummitQR46.jpg


Almost forgot the diffuser. This thing is heavy! My guess is 10 pounds(?). Well made. It feels like something that came out of cold war era Russia. Built like a tank. Or its a weapon thrown by one of the Avengers...
WeberSummitDiffuser.JPG

WeberSummitDiffuser2.JPG
 
Congrats on your purchase, you have a great wife, as you already know. Thanks for posting the pics, this was a great review. I am excited to see your cooking experiences with it. I agree with you on the diffuser. I thought it was a hefty hunk of metal. You don't get that impression until you actually wield it.

One question I had, is your performer the shorter stainless steel table style, or the taller newer variant? I saw the summit charcoal yesterday, but they did not have the table version, so I could not see how tall it was.
 
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Thanks for the pictures and comments.
I think your compliments and nits are appropriate.
I expect all products to fit fit together correctly and function without binding.
As the price goes up so do those expectations.

I am kind of surprised it does not have a charcoal ring ala the WSM.
How much charcoal can it handle?

Hope you smoke a brisket soon and tell us about your experience loading charcoal, fire management, and post cook cleanup.
 
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Great post!

I really appreciate that you took the time to post your thoughts and nits. I am thinking about this myself and look forward to hearing about your experiances fixing the nits and cooking, of course.
 
Great post!

As for the nit picking there is no such thing on a 2k grill, it should be perfect or Weber should make it perfect. Dial up customer service and make Weber make it rite. Congrats on your new grill, Happy Anniversary!
 
Congratulations Mike on your anniversary and your gift! Thank you very much for the detailed assessment and awesome pictures. We can't wait to see the results of your first cook!
 
Great photos, Mike, thanks for sharing them, and for the candid description of pluses and minuses.

Two things I noticed in the photo of the label:

  • There's no serial number shown. Did you edit it out? Is it marked elsewhere? Is it missing entirely?
  • The phrase, "Made in the USA incorporating globally sourced component parts."
 
Those are fantastic photos, thank you for sharing your new BBQ/Smoker. So what's the first cook? :)
 
Great photos, Mike, thanks for sharing them, and for the candid description of pluses and minuses.

Two things I noticed in the photo of the label:

  • There's no serial number shown. Did you edit it out? Is it marked elsewhere? Is it missing entirely?
  • The phrase, "Made in the USA incorporating globally sourced component parts."

I edited out the serial number. The rest is as the picture shows.
 
Mike,

Congrats on your new toy and anniversary, the photos are great and your comments well stated for the price it should be perfect. As others have or will ask, what is your first cook going to be, and then could you compare a favorite cook from each of your other grills/WSM to see how this unit fares to them.

Keep us posted.
Kevin
 

 

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