BBQ's

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by Slick Fork

And no rust issues? The inside of mine is just gross with rust. The burner channels and the plates are pretty much disintegrated.

Do you ever use any oil to coat your racks before you cook ?
I find it helps stop the meat from sticking, and seems to protect the guts of the BBQ

My BBQ has sat on my back deck since day one, and most of the year it's under a vinyl cover, so you would expect it to rot even faster.
It's only left uncovered from about May to Sept.
It's exposed to the weather from Sept to May with the cover on, so you would think it would have gone rotten by now.
I have gotten my money's worth out of it.

Like I said in my other post, I use Olive Oil on my racks when I cook. Maybe this has a bearing on keeping the rust away.

This may not help everyone as I don't use wire racks.
I use channeled cast racks. These are best for meat, but I use them for absolutely everything and would never consider wire racks ever again

Plus I use ceramic bricks between the burners and the racks. No idea if they help or not, but they last longer than the little cubes that came with the unit.

[gregzz4]

One more thing I do, but probably has nothing to do with your rust

After cooking, I leave the burners running for 10-15 mins to burn off any leftover stuff.
Before I fire it up the next time I scrub it with a wire brush.
By doing this I don't burn my brush on a hot surface, and it's easy enough to remove the leftover goo from the last session.

Mostly I'd say you need to use your BBQ more often to burn off any inside moisture.

I'm off to use mine right now.

Hand-made burgers mmmmmm

[hillegom]

most of the time when the push button spark igniter doesn't work, its the ground.
I built a new cage around my sparker out of stainless. Its worked fine for 5 yrs now whereas before, maybe 2 yrs.
I own a stainless Kenmore bbq. which I have had over 10 yrs. Replaced the burners last year. They are cast iron

[FishyFishy!]

Bought a Brinkman myself. Great bang for your buck. So far, after 5 years of continuous usage, not a single problem. LED grill lights still work, no rust or corrosion issues. The starter is still original and lights first try every time. Hadn't heard of them before I bought one. 5 burners plus the side burner. Great little bbq so far.

Have also owned a broil king and had corrosion and starter issues.

[lastlight]

Big Vermont castings I've had for about 7 years. It's still running and looking as good as new.

[Werbo]

What is your budget? You want a BK skimmer or a made in China?

I work at a firehall (a great testing ground for all appliances) and the Hall's Weber is going strong after 6 years of grilling for 11 men 4-5 times per week.

I have Weber going strong after 8 years outside 24/7 12 months of the year. Powder coating on the Weber's is incredible. IMO make sure you get stainless steel grills. Funny thing is Home Depot has stainless and Rona has cast iron on the same $900 Weber.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I've gone through my fair share of cheapo (Craigslist) bbqs over the years. I'm now a Weber-guy and have replaced my old rusty, uneven heating cheapo bbqs with 3 very reliable Webers (1 propane Genesis E320; 1 propane Genesis S320; 1 portable Q100). I used to have two Q300s and a Smokey Joe, but got rid of those when I upgraded to the bigger Webers. I bbq year-round and love my Webers. No other brand for me, for life.

I typically throw at least two or three huge all-day bbq parties every summer with 50 to 120 guests (max). Just threw one last Saturday for my daughters' early birthdays and the Webers performed admirably. My two 3-burner Webers can keep up with my hungry guests without burning the food since the heat is very even and low setting means low even heat. On the cheapo bbqs, I had hot spots and cold spots and low setting didn't really mean low heat at all. Never again will I own anything but a Weber.

Btw, all my Webers were bought used and I paid $250 for one (slightly beat up SS version) and $400 for the other mint-condition black with SS Weber. That's the beauty of Webers. Even second hand, you'll get years and years of use out of it unless it was really trashed by the previous owner.

Anthony

[intarsiabox]

Not all cheap BBQ's are bad. I got a stainless steel BBQ from Superstore about 12 years ago with SS tube burners and flame guards and the only thing I've had to fix is the igniter that went this winter. It's never covered and has zero rust and still cooks evenly. This being said Superstore doesn't make their own BBQ's and I rarely see them there so I couldn't say that what/if they sell now is even close in quality. My friend has a Weber that works good when he has a party and my parents have a Vermont Castings. My parents BBQ has nice even heat so they use it to bake french fries and such.

[Scythanith]

Propane Weber S330. Cast iron grill surfaces, great temp control, love it!

[mike31154]

Broil King "Sovereign" natural gas model still cookin' after at least 15 years. This thing owes me nothing, but glad this thread came up, after so many years, may be time for a change.

Purchased in Ottawa when I was there & brought it along when I moved to Vernon 2004. Grills are cast iron, original burners, no sign of issues there. Piezo igniter is the only thing that's not working. The stand/frame is painted steel & only a few minor rust spots visible. It sits outside all year & I have been known to fire it up in the winter. Most of the snow free season I leave it uncovered. Surprised to hear folks have rust issues with their cooking enclosures. Fairly certain my Broil King cooking enclosure is cast aluminum, so not possible for it to rust. Paint on inside of lid is finally starting to peel. Side burner cover & mounting plate are stainless steel, so no rust there either. Burner on that still good as well. Thought it was shot a few weeks ago when it wouldn't fire properly & a flame ignited in the feed tube, but reaming out the tube solved that issue. Seems a spider or some other bug had plugged things up.

Every couple of years I clean out the bottom thoroughly, probably about time again. Roll it over to the driveway, dismantle, scrape out grunge, pressure wash.