Doug Lassiter wrote:
> Have had a Weber Silver gas grill for several years, and I'm largely
> pleased with it. Lately, the heat doesn't seem quite as intense. I can
> put my hand over the grill for 7-8 seconds on hi. That's not a real
> "sear" kind of heat. This is NOT the well known gas leak safety
> throttle issue -- I get temps up to about 450F when closed. When I
> look at the flame bars, the little flames coming out of the gas holes
> (must be several hundred) are not uniform in length. Some are an inch
> long, and some are a quarter of an inch long. That is to say, it looks
> like the flame bar isn't shooting enough gas through many of the
> little holes.
>
> Well, OK, I take my pocketknife and jam it in one of the little gas
> holes/slits, and I can make the quarter inch flame from that one turn
> into an inch long flame. So ... it looks like these little buggers are
> getting clogged up.
>
> So is there a straightforward practice to cleaning these out? Um, the
> pocketknife trick is not that convenient.
>
> Looks to me like a small drill bit could make a major difference here.
> Just make a bunch of bigger holes! But do I dare?
>
> Is this a recognized issue for this kind of grill? Yeah, I'll try
> alt.food.barbeque if I can't get an answer here.
>
It's pretty much a recognized issue for most gas grills. The burners in
mine come out and I generally pressure wash the whole thing (with the
regulator taped over) and the burners. Improves flame control and heat
quite well. If you don't have a pressure washer you can just use a hose
with a small nozzle to do the job, be sure to shake out any debris and
excess water. I do my gas grill about every three months. It's all
stainless steel including the cooking grates and the burners are bronze.

George