Any suggestions to fix a commercial gas grill?

[Brian Elfert]

I recently bought a real nice used all stainless commercial gas grill that you tow behind a vehicle. It is extremely heavy duty and was originally owned by a meat company that loaned it out if you bought their meat. The stainless as scrap would be worth almost what I paid for it.

When I bought the grill it was running when I went to look at it. All four burners were going. When I used it this weekend I could only get two of the burners to even stay lit and not all orfices would stay lit. The flame was very orange instead of blue. The two propane tanks were at least 3/4 full.

Any ideas on fixing this grill so I get nice blue flame and all burners work? We tried adjusting the regulator to no avail. The burners are cast iron or some sort of steel and are fairly rusty.

Would a propane dealer be able to work on this? I'm thinking I should just go to a restaurant supply and see what they have for burners.

I don't know that I want to put more than $100 or so into this thing. I can sell it for what I paid pretty easy I think.

Brian Elfert

[Brian Elfert]

To be clear, I am not using this commercially. I bought it for tailgating, family reunions, and such. That is why I don't want to sink a bunch into it.

Brian Elfert

[Jim DeLaney]

An orange flame probably means the air/gas mixture is out of adjustment. Somewhere near the back of the burner, where the gas orifice is, there should be some means of adjusting the air mix. It's often a round disk that you move to adjust the size of the air opening, or a slider that adjusts the size of an air slot.

Another, equally common, source of your problem is bugs - usually spiders or wasps - building their nests inside the burners. For some reason, the propane fumes/residue seems to attract bugs. Removing the burners and cleaning out the insides may well solve your problem.

[Peter Stahl]

I would also say what Jim suggested plus you might try turning the tanks off while the burners are going then turn the knobs off. Turn the tanks on again and relight it and see if it's any better. I've had to do this with my Webber after they made us go to those safety LP tanks. Not sure what causes this, could be the heat or the first start up because LP gas will get really cold which might close off the flow some how.

[Wes Bischel]

With all things equal, I would vote bugs. Our unit gets them on a regular basis. I have a long copper wire I run through it. If it was running OK before, I doubt the mix has changed - unless you changed it.

FWIW,
Wes

[Brian Elfert]

With all things equal, I would vote bugs. Our unit gets them on a regular basis. I have a long copper wire I run through it. If it was running OK before, I doubt the mix has changed - unless you changed it.


I doubt it was running fine when the guy demoed it. It seems that the slightest wind will blow out the burners. I was able to get all four burners running at home in dead calm. I didn't pay any real attention to the flame other than it was hot and all four burners were lit when the seller demoed it.

It is missing one of three drip trays that I didn't notice before that may be causing some of the wind issues. My buddy works at a machine shop and will make me a new one.

Brian Elfert

[Brian Elfert]

The burners don't have an air adjustment. The only air supply is two 1/4" holes in the side of the square steel/cast burners right before the flame orfices. I can't imagine this grill didn't work fine when new, but rust hasn't helped the burners.

The burners almost look like a plain steel or cast tube capped on each end with a threaded hole on one end and a bunch of holes for the flame orifices. The burners are rusty as heck.

Would it be feasible to build my own burners from either tubular or square stainless tube or should I just buy some commercial burners if available? I could probably get my buddy to make some up. I can't remove the current burners easily without destroying them because the builder welded them to the stainless body of the grill.

I'm starting to think new burners would be best. A propane dealer could probably only tell me if the regulator is working. Cleaning up the existing burners would probably only help for a bit until they rust up again.

Brian Elfert

[Chuck Wintle]

Check for spider webs inside the air feed tubes. I have seen spider webs cause this kind of problem before.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

A High Pressure washer?? Sounds to me like it's just dirty.

[Al Willits]

Orange flame is usually stuff in the air, yellow is flame out of adjustment.

Also opening the new propane tanks to quickly will cause low pressure, try shutting them off and let set for 15-20 minutes, then slowly opening them again.
Plugged orfices and spider webs in the venturi tubes are major problems, try cleaning them out also, usually a yearly thing.

Not sure, but don't you live in Minn??

Al

[Brian Elfert]

Orange flame is usually stuff in the air, yellow is flame out of adjustment.

Also opening the new propane tanks to quickly will cause low pressure, try shutting them off and let set for 15-20 minutes, then slowly opening them again.
Plugged orfices and spider webs in the venturi tubes are major problems, try cleaning them out also, usually a yearly thing.

Not sure, but don't you live in Minn??


Yes, I live in Minnesota in the Twin Cities metro.

Brian Elfert

[Al Willits]

Ya can't get it going, let me know, maybe I can help.

I live S Mpls btw

Al