When the barbeque repair man shakes his head and avoids making eye contact, you know you’ve done something wrong.  It’s the same disappointed look the dental hygienist gives when you admit to not flossing.

The reason the repair man, Adam, was fixing our que was due to a recent fire.  A fire, I was unaware of until Bill arrived just in time to see his cherished Weber Silver Series engulfed in flames.  Now looking at the charred gray knobs melted to the metal plate, I could tell Adam was clearly disgusted with the carelessness we had shown this once majestic grill.  “Grease fire,” he stated.  “You need to clean out the tray underneath or in extreme cases,” ours being one of them, “They will catch fire.”  

Well there’s just is not arguing with facts.  I wanted to explain to Adam that cleaning the grill is a blue job – a Bill job.  I do pink jobs or indoor jobs, and the person he should be disappointed with, was Bill.

In an attempt to lighten the mood and bolster my self esteem, I cheerily asked what kind of barbeque he had, “Weber, and it’s 18 years old,” he replied, making it very clear that he looked after his barbeque.  For the next half hour, I was given a maintenance seminar on how to properly care for our Weber.

The first lesson I learned is to regularly clean your grease tray or catch pan.  It is important to keep this clean as it will attract animals looking for a late night snack.

The second most important area to keep clean, and this is likely where our fire started, is the bottom tray.  To clean this area, take out all of the grills and grates.  Scrape the sides and base with a 1″ putty knife and push the debris out of the hole into a trash can.

Next, using a brass wire grill brush, gently brush the burner tubes, this is where the propane comes out.  The tiny holes on these tubes becomes blocked and results in uneven cooking.

The cooking grates are usually cleaned by preheating the grill to high; this will burn off any accumulated debris. You should occasionally brush the bars with a brass grill brush. 

The above instructions are geared to people who own Weber gas grills.  To find out how to properly clean your appliance, I would recommend going to your barbeque’s manufacturer website. 

Here’s to a great grilling season.

Julie

This entry was posted on Monday, June 25th, 2007 at 11:03 am and is filed under Fix It. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.