Click to view attachmentIf it doesn’t feel right.

I still been grilling a lot on the grill but not as much now, since I got the smoker as a Christmas gift. Because I’m not using it 100% of the time, I started to get lazy about brushing out the vent holes in the cast burners and using an air hose to blow out the particles inside the burners and doing the annual spring cleaning. Back around Mid-March I was finishing off some ribs on the grill, and did notice the knobs and front panels were hot to the touch. Back a couple of years ago there were several posts about the knobs were so hot, you couldn’t touch them. Mine was almost that hot. I figured I only needed about 20 minutes to put the finishing touch on the ribs and everyone was waiting to start dinner. So I let it go and continue to grill. After I finished the ribs, I did notice that the edge of the hood was black, but contributed it to smoke from the ribs when I had the hood down and it was smoking a lot. But of course, in all the previous years, there were never any black sooth on the front edge of the hood. I also notice that the flames were a little uneven and some areas were really yellow and the heat uneven. The following weekend, I did my rotisserie ribs, and figure I just use the end burners and the back rotisserie burner. It worked out great, but I did notice that the middle igniter no longer work. So I set aside the following weekend to take the front panel out to check out what was broken.
With the grates and flame tamers off. I lit the grill to observe the flames. I notice that the middle burners was blowing flames back into the front panel. So I better start off by cleaning the burners.

I was amazed at how much particles had built up inside the burners. I shook out at least a ¼ # or more of rust particles. It must have been at least a ¼ cup or more just by shaking. After which I use an air hose. With the air hose, dust particles blew around like crazy. A thorough brush cleaning restored the flames and no more blow back. The blow back might have been caused cause by spider wed inside the throat or other minor obstructions. But it was enough to cause the gas to bounce back toward the front panel and eventually ignite. You will see the damage later as I describe the repair.

The moral of the story is, Know your grill, and if it is not operating right, Stop, and think of safety first. I was lucky that this grill is stainless, so it only burned up the wires to the igniters.
The hose from the propane tank runs along the bottom left edge of my front panel, so if it had been the burners on that end, no telling what might have happen.

Better to have some hungry guest, than have a major explosion or a fire.

While the season is just starting, Everyone should take that hour and blow out the burners, tube or cast. No telling what creature has made a home in that cavity. An Hour now, or 4-5 hours to make repairs.

This is what I found behind the front panel.

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The first picture shows what the back of the front panel normally looks like. The next three shows how much the flames the blowback created. The red wire on the left appears to be OK, but carefully looking at where it connects to the valve you can see the insulation is torn. The angle is hiding the fact that an inch of insulation is missing. The middle wire, which appears to just have a coating of white ash, literally have ½ the insulation gone. The white is from the fact that the insulation has turned to ashes. On the back of the panel, you can how the flames were burning against the back of the panel. All three middle valves had igniters with the insulation burned off.

These three pictures show the damage to all three igniters. Once you touch them, the ashes falls away from the wire.


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Wow Hike good thing nothing bad happened like you said it could have been worse. I just did a good cleaning on my grill last weekend but let this thread be a warning to all who have not cleaned the grill in some time.

-=Jason=-

Well I know what my project is this weekend! I have gotten lazy... my grill is overdue for a cleaning and overhaul. Just looked at my drip pan and it's full of crud, who knows what the burners look like. It got heavy use over the winter. Definitely time for spring cleaning! Thanks for the reality check.

Hike,

Thanks for the heads up!

Patty and my daughter are off to Boston for 4-5 days starting this weekend, so.... I guess it'll be as good a time as any to break my grill completely down and do a big overhaul. All is working fine, but over the winter a lot of crud has built up. I'm not looking forward to it, but it's a necessary evil. Weather is predicted up in the 80's (what a horror)! The grill needs an overhaul. The pool needs to be opened. The lawn needs to be cut and fertilized and weed killer spread. The leaves need to be raked. The deck needs to be washed. The shrubs, beds and bushes need thinning. The grass in the driveway has to be killed. The six cords of wood waiting to be split and stacked. Siding needs pressure washing. Truck needs to be washed. Tractor, hydraulic walk-behind Scag, hedgecutters and chain saw all need Spring tuneups. Two windows need cracked glass replaced (damn that neighbors kid using a 2 wood to putt)! And all this is just page one of a seven page list my Patty is leaving me while she's off for a good time with her family....

Think I'll just stay at the shop and put in extra hours....

Mike

those pics remind me of the pics i took of our 35+ year old furnace that we just had replaced.

http://img23.imageshack.us/slideshow/playe...6135386esp.smil

Run, don't walk to Vegas now! With that kind of luck........Wow! Good catch..