Yellow Flame Issue: But A Little Different


 
R

Ray P in NJ

New member
Having trouble adjusting heat on my Summit 2-420. Fairly large yellow/orange flames and grill seemed to flare up a lot. Googled that and the fixes seemed fairly straight-forward. Took all the usual steps:

  • "Reset" regulator (close tank, remove reg, open grill knobs, wait, close grill knobs, open tank slowly, open grill knobs, light)
  • Removed and cleaned all tubes
  • Adjusted air shutters (opened to max now)

The problem has been somewhat fixed, but I think there's still too much yellow. The flames also seem to be a little too "loose" if you know what I mean; not a strong "tight" blue. The flame also seems to lick up around the flavorizer bars. (Will post a picture later... too bright outside right now to be able to see anything in grill.)

The "little bit different" part is that the problem seems to result in the grill being TOO HOT at all settings. The main reported symptom of "yellow flames" seems to be that the grill won't get HOT. My issue seems to be that I can't turn the temperature DOWN. The grill gets up to 500-550 no problem, but when I turn it down to even the lowest setting the temp still stays around 500.

Before I take the next step of replacing the regulator, I thought I'd ask here to see if anyone might have any insight as to the problem and proposed solution.

Thanks!
 
Ray P in NJ said:
The "little bit different" part is that the problem seems to result in the grill being TOO HOT at all settings. The main reported symptom of "yellow flames" seems to be that the grill won't get HOT. My issue seems to be that I can't turn the temperature DOWN. The grill gets up to 500-550 no problem, but when I turn it down to even the lowest setting the temp still stays around 500.
Click to expand...


Did a test burn, and here's the temperature range I'm getting:

High/Light - 600F
Med/High - 600F
Med - 570
Med/Low - 525
Low - 475

Now of course I realize that I can turn off 1/2/3 burners to adjust overall temperature in the grill box, but it seems that there should be a wider range of adjustment for direct cooking with all burners on. When I've got the grates covered with burgers, chicken, etc everything seems to cook too fast on the outside but not all the way through. Chicken wings that should be cooked sort of medium heat for 20/25 min or so are charred after 10 min. When I try to turn middle burners off, the wings over the outer burners cook way too fast and the ones in the middle too slow.

Just talked to Weber support and they say they don't have a specific target temp range... only that my 600F top temp is excellent and indicates no problem with grill/burners/etc. Possible fixes they recommended are all things that I've done already.

Appreciate any other insights... even if that involves telling me I'm an idiot who's doing something wrong while grilling!

PS - I did try a new regulator and that didn't address issue.
 
Here's what the flames look like on my grill... which seem to be better than most of the pics and videos you see on the web of people complaining about "yellow flames" on their grills. Am I asking too much to have tighter, bluer flames? At the bottom is the official pic that Weber uses to tout their GS4 burner system, for comparison as to what I think I should be getting.
Thoughts?

IMG_0163.jpg


high-performance-burners.jpg
 
We need a Larry Michaels to have a look at this. When you say it is too hot at all settings, one thought that comes to my mind from problems others have had is whether it is possible that this grill was a converted natural gas to propane grill? A botched conversion can cause temperature control issues.
 
I wouldn't have a problem with the way those burners are operating. They look fine to me. A little yellow isn't unusual.
 
If you start having flame issues on a grill that didn't before the LAST thing you do is adjust shutters. They honestly should never be touched. Many times burners don't even have adjustable air shutters.
First and foremost you will never achieve a flame like you see in a catalogue. Those photos are taken only under ideal conditions and they're photoshopped to look just right. Slight differences in humidity, outside air temps, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure changes can cause slight differences in what the flames may look like on any particular day. So first advice Ray. Put the air shutters back where they were. You did mark them correct? Once they're back how they were, make sure spider guards are clean and clear, do a thorough cleaning of the burners, make sure the grill is out of the wind, make sure air temps are 72 deg, low relative humidity (around 30%) and only than can you judge flame color properly.
If you're having an issue then the only thing left in the chain is the regulator. They DO fail though typically they fail to flow gas at all but yes they can fail to regulate pressure down enough. You can confirm this by 2 ways buy a new one or buy a manometer and know how to use it
I just SMH at why people all of a sudden think that if something is not right than they need to "adjust" something. Remember you can't fix what ain't broke by breaking it.
The flames in your photo IMO show the burners getting WAY too much air in the A/F mix. Also it is normal on a warm humid day to see quite bit of orange in your flame
 
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