I have a Sam's Club SS 3-burner grill that operates on natural gas.
It's 4 years old and is used almost daily for cooking. The three
burners are H-shaped cast iron, and above them are flat ceramic plates
for "flame taming." The grill was and is an excellent value and has
served me well. However, over the past year or so, I began to notice
that the grill didn't seem to heat up as quickly as I remembered and it
took longer to grill a chop or about anything else for that matter. I
also noticed that the "sweet spots" I had identified was being hotter or
cooler than other spots were changed, had moved or were non existent
anymore.

With that in mind, I decided it was time for some exploratory surgery
and a darned good cleaning. My first step was the old faithful trick of
covering the bar grates with heavy duty aluminum foil and running the
three burners on high for 30-45 minutes. The foil concentrates and
reflects the heat back downward, turning any food and charred things to
a gray ash. This was then vacuumed away and the grates and flame tamers
removed. I wire brushed the tub interior and vacuumed everything that
came loose and hadn't been reduced already to ash. The three burners
were held in place with pins that extended through a bracket (probably
for shipping), and were removed with wire cutters. When I lifted the
first burner out, I immediately found what I'd suspected: about 2/3 of
the holes in the sides of the burner were clogged, plugged or
obstructed. Presumably, this was from drippings that made it through
the flame tamers and hit just right on the burner, from the manufacturer
not getting all the casting sand out or from the cast iron corroding and
swelling.

I took the three burners to my shop and measured the holes in the least
used and least obstructed one. Then, I chucked a drill bit in my DeWalt
drill, rolled up a comfortable chair, put on my safety goggles and
started drilling out the holes. My god, are there a lot of holes and
some are very difficult to reach. Those, got a hand "picking" with a
piece of wire. The completed burners were then taken out back and blown
out with 175 psi compressed air until they were clean as a whistle inside.

I reassembled the grill and can report that it's working perfectly. In
all, I used up about a half day, and the result was a grill that has a
more even temperature now across the grates than I recall having when it
was new. I attribute that to having round, perfectly formed holes in
the burners, now, rather than "dents" created by just casting the holes.

If your old grill is acting like mine was, I really recommend investing
some time and giving my solution a try.
--
---Nonnymus---

TINSTAAFL
There Is No Such Thing
As A Free Lunch

On Mar 16, 12:22 pm, Nonnymus > wrote:
> I have a Sam's Club SS 3-burner grill that operates on natural gas.
> It's 4 years old and is used almost daily for cooking.

SNIP of cleaning method

> I reassembled the grill and can report that it's working perfectly. In
> all, I used up about a half day, and the result was a grill that has a
> more even temperature now across the grates than I recall having when it
> was new. I attribute that to having round, perfectly formed holes in
> the burners, now, rather than "dents" created by just casting the holes.
>
> If your old grill is acting like mine was, I really recommend investing
> some time and giving my solution a try.
> --
> ---Nonnymus---
>
> TINSTAAFL
> There Is No Such Thing
> As A Free Lunch

Excellent post. I don't use propane except on my picnic grill, but I
have a lot of friends that do. I am going to pass your post along to
them as I know they haven't cleaned theirs in years, and all have
invested a lot of $$$ in them to begin with. I am sure they will be
glad to know of a tune up to get their equipment in shape before
summer hits.

Robert

Nonnymus > wrote:
> [ . . . ]
> I took the three burners to my shop and measured the holes in the least
> used and least obstructed one. Then, I chucked a drill bit in my DeWalt
> drill, rolled up a comfortable chair, put on my safety goggles and
> started drilling out the holes. My god, are there a lot of holes and
> some are very difficult to reach. Those, got a hand "picking" with a
> piece of wire. The completed burners were then taken out back and blown
> out with 175 psi compressed air until they were clean as a whistle
> inside.
>
> I reassembled the grill and can report that it's working perfectly. In
> all, I used up about a half day, and the result was a grill that has a
> more even temperature now across the grates than I recall having when it
> was new. I attribute that to having round, perfectly formed holes in
> the burners, now, rather than "dents" created by just casting the holes.
>
> If your old grill is acting like mine was, I really recommend investing
> some time and giving my solution a try.

When I was a welder, back in '53, we had a hand tool for cleaning the
orifices on acetylene torches. It had a number of different size gimlets or
augers or whatever they're called.

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!

Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! !
~Semper Fi~

Nonnymus wrote:

> I have a Sam's Club SS 3-burner grill that operates on natural gas. It's
> 4 years old and is used almost daily for cooking. The three burners are
> H-shaped cast iron, and above them are flat ceramic plates for "flame
> taming." The grill was and is an excellent value and has served me
> well. However, over the past year or so, I began to notice that the
> grill didn't seem to heat up as quickly as I remembered and it took
> longer to grill a chop or about anything else for that matter. I also
> noticed that the "sweet spots" I had identified was being hotter or
> cooler than other spots were changed, had moved or were non existent
> anymore.
>
> With that in mind, I decided it was time for some exploratory surgery
> and a darned good cleaning. My first step was the old faithful trick of
> covering the bar grates with heavy duty aluminum foil and running the
> three burners on high for 30-45 minutes. The foil concentrates and
> reflects the heat back downward, turning any food and charred things to
> a gray ash. This was then vacuumed away and the grates and flame tamers
> removed. I wire brushed the tub interior and vacuumed everything that
> came loose and hadn't been reduced already to ash. The three burners
> were held in place with pins that extended through a bracket (probably
> for shipping), and were removed with wire cutters. When I lifted the
> first burner out, I immediately found what I'd suspected: about 2/3 of
> the holes in the sides of the burner were clogged, plugged or
> obstructed. Presumably, this was from drippings that made it through
> the flame tamers and hit just right on the burner, from the manufacturer
> not getting all the casting sand out or from the cast iron corroding and
> swelling.
>
> I took the three burners to my shop and measured the holes in the least
> used and least obstructed one. Then, I chucked a drill bit in my DeWalt
> drill, rolled up a comfortable chair, put on my safety goggles and
> started drilling out the holes. My god, are there a lot of holes and
> some are very difficult to reach. Those, got a hand "picking" with a
> piece of wire. The completed burners were then taken out back and blown
> out with 175 psi compressed air until they were clean as a whistle inside.
>
> I reassembled the grill and can report that it's working perfectly. In
> all, I used up about a half day, and the result was a grill that has a
> more even temperature now across the grates than I recall having when it
> was new. I attribute that to having round, perfectly formed holes in
> the burners, now, rather than "dents" created by just casting the holes.
>
> If your old grill is acting like mine was, I really recommend investing
> some time and giving my solution a try.

That's good information. I've torn mine apart to clean it but I
replaced the burner rather than trying to open the holes and clean it
out. If it takes a half a day I would rather drop in a new one any way.

It seems that my last three Webers all burned hotter in the right - rear
corner of the grill even new out of the box. It is the closest side to
the gas but I still can't figure out why it's hotter in the back.

Dan

"Nick Cramer" > wrote in message
...
> Nonnymus > wrote:
>> [ . . . ]
>> I took the three burners to my shop and measured the holes in the least
>> used and least obstructed one. Then, I chucked a drill bit in my DeWalt
>> drill, rolled up a comfortable chair, put on my safety goggles and
>> started drilling out the holes. My god, are there a lot of holes and
>> some are very difficult to reach. Those, got a hand "picking" with a
>> piece of wire. The completed burners were then taken out back and blown
>> out with 175 psi compressed air until they were clean as a whistle
>> inside.
>>
>> I reassembled the grill and can report that it's working perfectly. In
>> all, I used up about a half day, and the result was a grill that has a
>> more even temperature now across the grates than I recall having when it
>> was new. I attribute that to having round, perfectly formed holes in
>> the burners, now, rather than "dents" created by just casting the holes.
>>
>> If your old grill is acting like mine was, I really recommend investing
>> some time and giving my solution a try.
>
> When I was a welder, back in '53, we had a hand tool for cleaning the
> orifices on acetylene torches. It had a number of different size gimlets
> or
> augers or whatever they're called.

Yes, they are called tip cleaners. They have a rough surface so they can
clean the gas welding torch tips. I have always kept a set handy for
cleaning a number of different orifices. They work great on gas stove tops
if you have a clogged ignition tube orifice or clogged burner and I'm sure
that they'd also work well on a BBQ. One thing to note however, they aren't
real strong like a drill bit so if it is badly clogged you may still have to
use the drill but they are a life saver. Here is a web site that sells them
in a little self contained case that holds approximately 15 different sizes
for about $3.65 not including taxes and shipping & handling.

https://weldingsupply.securesites.co...in/einstein.pl





> Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!
>
> Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! !
> !
> ~Semper Fi~

"Jebediah Kornworthy" > wrote:
> "Nick Cramer" > wrote in message
> > Nonnymus > wrote:
> >> [ . . . ]
> > When I was a welder, back in '53, we had a hand tool for cleaning the
> > orifices on acetylene torches. It had a number of different size
> > gimlets or
> > augers or whatever they're called.
>
> Yes, they are called tip cleaners. They have a rough surface so they can
> clean the gas welding torch tips. I have always kept a set handy for
> cleaning a number of different orifices. They work great on gas stove
> tops if you have a clogged ignition tube orifice or clogged burner and
> I'm sure that they'd also work well on a BBQ. One thing to note however,
> they aren't real strong like a drill bit so if it is badly clogged you
> may still have to use the drill but they are a life saver. Here is a web
> site that sells them in a little self contained case that holds
> approximately 15 different sizes for about $3.65 not including taxes and
> shipping & handling.
>
> https://weldingsupply.securesites.co...in/einstein.pl

Where are they listed? I couldn't find them.

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!

Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! !
~Semper Fi~

Nick,

Go to the site, type 'Tip cleaners' in the search box, hit enter, scroll
about halfway down.

Bob
"Nick Cramer" > wrote in message
...
> "Jebediah Kornworthy" > wrote:
>> "Nick Cramer" > wrote in message
>> > Nonnymus > wrote:
>> >> [ . . . ]
>> > When I was a welder, back in '53, we had a hand tool for cleaning the
>> > orifices on acetylene torches. It had a number of different size
>> > gimlets or
>> > augers or whatever they're called.
>>
>> Yes, they are called tip cleaners. They have a rough surface so they can
>> clean the gas welding torch tips. I have always kept a set handy for
>> cleaning a number of different orifices. They work great on gas stove
>> tops if you have a clogged ignition tube orifice or clogged burner and
>> I'm sure that they'd also work well on a BBQ. One thing to note however,
>> they aren't real strong like a drill bit so if it is badly clogged you
>> may still have to use the drill but they are a life saver. Here is a web
>> site that sells them in a little self contained case that holds
>> approximately 15 different sizes for about $3.65 not including taxes and
>> shipping & handling.
>>
>> https://weldingsupply.securesites.co...in/einstein.pl
>
> Where are they listed? I couldn't find them.
>
> --
> Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!
>
> Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! !
> !
> ~Semper Fi~

"Bob Walsh" > wrote:
> Nick,
>
> Go to the site, type 'Tip cleaners' in the search box, hit enter, scroll
> about halfway down.
>
> Bob
> "Nick Cramer" > wrote in message
> > "Jebediah Kornworthy" > wrote:
> >> "Nick Cramer" > wrote in message
> >> > Nonnymus > wrote:
> >> >> [ . . . ]
> >> https://weldingsupply.securesites.co...in/einstein.pl
> >
> > Where are they listed? I couldn't find them.

Got it! Thanks, Bob.

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!

Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! !
~Semper Fi~

Try here Nick. Took me about 2 minutes to find it.

https://weldingsupply.securesites.co...UNDEF:OR:G::PG

--
Brick(Youth is wasted on young people)

wrote:
> Try here Nick. Took me about 2 minutes to find it.
>
> https://weldingsupply.securesites.co...ext::104:UNDEF
> :OR:G::PG

Got it, Brick. Thanks.

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!

Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! !
~Semper Fi~