The Grate Shadow Of Winter Is Lifting!

To hell with the groundhog! GrillGrates are casting a shadow on my grill and that tells me spring is almost here. Warmer weather and longer days means we can cook outdoors once again. Time to dig out, clean up and tune up your grill!

Spring is the perfect time to give your grill some attention. A few hours devoted to your old friend now will help keep it working flawlessly all summer long. My 4-burner Char-Broil gas grill has been a year round workhorse since I bought it 7 years ago and of course GrillGrates have made it a grilling machine with terrific control and consistency. I’ve become attached to this grill and a tune-up was over due but I had never repaired a gas grill before, I just junked them. This Char-Broil is a grill worth saving and I’m proud of the fact that it cost under $100 to make it as good as new.

1. Burners and cooking grates are the first thing to wear out on most grills. Broken burners are not hard to replace, contrary to my expectations. No screws or bolts involved. Replacement burners sit inside an area behind the knob. I decided to replace all 4 burners even though only 2 were broken. I did not bother repairing the igniter, using a lighter is just as easy and less chance of a ka-boom after lots of clicking on the starter.
2. Replace the flame tents- also known as “flavorizer bars”. They are there to diffuse the heat around the tent to provide more even heating and to protect the burners from debris. I discovered that If you let them deteriorate they’ll collapse on to the burner and take it out too.
3. Careful removing too much of the rust inside your grill you may not have anything left! I realized that the bottom of my grill will be the next thing to go so I gently removed some of the rust pile but stopped after realizing it was going to cave in. 
4. Hats off to Char-Broil for a super replacement parts web site that led me right to the parts I needed. Right now they are offering 15% off grill parts.
5. Replacing the existing grates with GrillGrates is a turbocharger for your grill! For the first 3 years I had 5 standard 13.75” GrillGrates across the grill with a couple of inches clear in the back and I was thrilled. I finally listened to our customers and introduced longer lengths. I replaced the 13.75″ with our 18.5″ GrillGrate 2 years ago. My Char-Broil is like a souped up Chevy Nova! It gets hotter faster and uses a lot less propane. My grill is better than new and may have another 5 years in it!  Grate Grilling Ahead!

Check out our YouTube video about cleaning your GrillGrates