Is my rusted gas grill safe?

May 25, 2010 9:52 AM

Is my gas grill toast? How much rust is too much? Can I still use this without blowing up my face?

While de-wintering my grill (6-year-old BBQ Grill Ware) I found that one of the burners had cracked. While trying to install a replacement, I found that almost the entire inner workings of the grill are rusted out. The 2 remaining burners appear intact, but the ends are rusted. All screws and bolts are shot, and even the base of the legs are crumbling.

Online reviews of this model show lots of rust problems, but I'm wondering when it's time to pull the plug? I never could get the new burner installed, since I can no longer take apart the grill to get to the connector.

Anyone have a similar issue? How can I tell when it is no longer safe to use? How long will this kluge work?

PS: A previous post had suggestions for replacement grills...

posted by smelvis to home & garden (5 answers total)

Assuming the valves to turn it off are fine, and you're using it outside where there's nowhere for gas to collect, you're not going to blow up or asphyxiate anyone. It takes pretty high concentrations of propane to actually ignite. It'll just become progressively less pleasant to keep lit, it'll leak gas and not burn as hot, etc.
posted by pjaust at 10:00 AM on May 25, 2010

Grills are pretty cheap these days. I would replace the thing that turns flammable gas into fire with something that isn't non-trivially damaged.
posted by Kimberly at 10:19 AM on May 25, 2010

It's possible to replace the burners and whatnot with aftermarket parts, I believe. I don't know if it's cost-effective to do so. But really, you can find propane grills cheap. Splurge, if you've got the budget. I have a small two burner Weber that I've done absolutely no maintenance on, and never kept it covered, and it is still working after 5 years, for what it's worth.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 10:22 AM on May 25, 2010

Burners are cheap, especially if you get the generic ones.
I've never seen a Grill Ware, but I can't imagine you'd need to take it apart to replace the burners.
You generally just need to take out the grill, take out the lava stones, slip off the old burner and slip on the new. You might have to remove one screw, but since you're replacing the burner anyway, it shouldn't be too big an obstacle.

If the other rust is just surface rust, then I'd keep on using it after replacing the burners.

On the other hand, if the base is rusted through, then yeah, it's probably time for another grill.
I'd stay away from Grillware this time though.
posted by madajb at 11:13 AM on May 25, 2010

I don't think it's too big a fire risk, especially if you keep it away from any structures. But I bet you're going to be wasting a lot of gas (read: money) that will leak out the rusty bits and cracks before it can get to the grill and cook food.
posted by ErikaB at 3:02 PM on May 25, 2010