Buying a GRILL

[buckytom]

the new webers are beautiful grills. when it comes time to replace my 5 or 6 year old nexgrill, that's the way i'll go. i'm hoping to get a searing burner in it, though.

i forget, you want all magnetic stainless steel, correct? the non-magnetic ss will still corrode, i believe.


lol, it's just me and my dyslexia, but the title of this thread is interesting when i read it each time the page loads.

[Andy M.]

Originally Posted by buckytom

...lol, it's just me and my dyslexia, but the title of this thread is interesting when i read it each time the page loads.

Forget it, BT. That's illegal.

[buckytom]

lol, dyslexics untie!!!


andy, forget illegal. dw would kill me in a heartbeat.

she's is worse than judge roy bean. she's the law east of the pecos, apparently.

[Steve Kroll]

Originally Posted by RPCookin

Mine has the same alignment but with 3 burners.

Originally Posted by buckytom

the new webers are beautiful grills. when it comes time to replace my 5 or 6 year old nexgrill, that's the way i'll go. i'm hoping to get a searing burner in it, though.

The Weber I ordered (the E-330) has 3 three burners, too, as well as a searing burner. I also ordered the optional rotisserie.

[buckytom]

nice! you'll love the searing burner for everything from quickly grilling (less than a minute) things like shrimp and squid, to roasting peppers in seconds per side, to putting a final sear or char for those guests who like burnt food,lol.

good luck with her.

[taxlady]

Originally Posted by buckytom

the new webers are beautiful grills. when it comes time to replace my 5 or 6 year old nexgrill, that's the way i'll go. i'm hoping to get a searing burner in it, though.

i forget, you want all magnetic stainless steel, correct? the non-magnetic ss will still corrode, i believe.
...

What do you think of the Nexgrill? How is customer service? I assume that's a gas grill?

[buckytom]

yup, gas. generally, a good grill, but there's a huge difference in temps all around the grill. you have to learn the few hot spots that are useable for grilling. there's lots of warm spots, (nearly useless on a grill), and there are definite dead spots unless you modify (drill holes) in the flame deflectors. it looks nice after being out in the weather, covered all year long, but the internals are rusting out. more mods to make up for the rot.
again, i like it at $450 from costco, but i know now i should have spent the extra $$$ on a weber.

[TATTRAT]

Heard there was something about buying girl. . . . .errr, grills in here???

[buckytom]

i tried.

no go.

[sparrowgrass]

I have an 11 year old grill from Sears, with a cast aluminum body. Apparently nobody makes aluminum grills any more--they are all sheet metal. I am worried about the sheet metal corroding from the heat and rusting out.

Mine works fine, but I want to hook it to my big propane tank so that I don't have to worry about running out of gas. The gas man told me that mine will not allow that, because it is made to run on the high pressure from the little tank, not the lower pressure from the big tank.

Any thoughts on sheet metal versus aluminum, or the possibility of modifying my current grill?

[Andy M.]

Just about all the top end grills now are sheet metal. Usually stainless. Cast aluminum lids are usually found on the less expensive grills.

Rather than modifying your 11 year-old grill for a larger tank (don't even know if that's possible), just buy a second tank so you are never without gas.

Just remember to fill the empty tank before the spare runs out.

[RPCookin]

Originally Posted by Andy M.

Just about all the top end grills now are sheet metal. Usually stainless. Cast aluminum lids are usually found on the less expensive grills.

Rather than modifying your 11 year-old grill for a larger tank (don't even know if that's possible), just buy a second tank so you are never without gas.

Just remember to fill the empty tank before the spare runs out.

This is gospel for a gas grill. Back in Colorado you paid for a complete fill up even if the tank still had some gas left, yet you couldn't start a roast chicken or smoke a pork butt or ribs when you knew that the tank was almost empty. The only solution that made sense was to have 2 tanks (or be piped into your home gas line, but that method gives up flexibility for grill location).

I wasn't able to bring my tanks here (the moving company wouldn't touch them, even if I removed the valves), so the first thing I did when I got the grill put together was to buy 2 used tanks from the gas man. Two tanks, filled, were $120, one of the best deals I've found on the island. I priced a new tank at $93 empty.

[RPCookin]

Originally Posted by buckytom

the new webers are beautiful grills. when it comes time to replace my 5 or 6 year old nexgrill, that's the way i'll go. i'm hoping to get a searing burner in it, though.

i forget, you want all magnetic stainless steel, correct? the non-magnetic ss will still corrode, i believe.

I haven't tried to sear a steak yet, but the heat this Napoleon puts out seems to be plenty hot enough to eliminate the need for a special searing burner. I'll find out in the next couple of days.

I'm not sure where you get your metallurgical information, but I worked with 303, 304, 316, 412, and 412S stainless steels, and the most corrosion resistant were the 300 series that we used. We made parts from 303 and 304 for the internal workings for nuclear reactors and they were non magnetic and nearly 100% corrosion resistant. That said, I don't know what type of stainless the grill has in it. All it says is stainless - no way to tell beyond that.

[buckytom]

sorry, i had it backwards. first day back on the overnight shift so my brain was fried.

you are correct, rp. 300 series stainless is more corrosion resistant, and is non-magnetic. better material for an outdoor grill.

if a magnet sticks to your grill, it's probably 412 stainless, and will rust or corrode more quickly.

oh, as far as searing burners go, they work great on really thin steaks. you can still get a good sear while keeping the inside pink on even a 1/8th to 1/4 inch thick piece of meat.

[Steve Kroll]

Agree, BT. I have a friend who says the searing burner on his grill works great for skirt and flank steaks. He says it also does a nice job getting the initial sear on thicker cuts, like filet, although it needs to finish on the regular burners. However, if you have a grill that puts out something like 50K+ BTU, the searing burner is probably not necessary.

[buckytom]

yeah, that much heat will cook any steak nicely.

but i still love my searing burner for things like squid or shrimp. can't make pla muk yang without it. the skewers of squid have to be flash grilled so they're not rubber bands, but still need to get a bit of char.

[RPCookin]

Originally Posted by buckytom

sorry, i had it backwards. first day back on the overnight shift so my brain was fried.

you are correct, rp. 300 series stainless is more corrosion resistant, and is non-magnetic. better material for an outdoor grill.

if a magnet sticks to your grill, it's probably 412 stainless, and will rust or corrode more quickly.

Just FYI, 412 series of stainless is what most tableware is made from.

[NickCooks]

Caution to the original poster. Those CharBroil Grills do not have infrared burners. Infrared burners heat up in seconds. TEC grills (TEC owns the patent on Infrared Burners) heat up to 1100 degrees in under 30 seconds.

I made the mistake of buying a CharBroil "Red" a long time ago. It was a huge mistake.

[NickCooks]

This site has good info on gas grills.

The Best Gas Grills - Searching for the best gas grills so you don't have to.

[RPCookin]

Some updates:

The Napoleon grill cooks wonderfully. I love the heavy, wavy cast iron grates - smaller items are less likely to fall through. I have no complaints at all about its ability to do a great job on anything you cook in it, direct or indirect.

Originally Posted by vagriller

Are all the internal parts SS or aluminum or brass? I have a cheap 3 burner Brinkmann, and the SS parts on the outside look great. The internals are what have corroded on me. But of course, I've left it uncovered for the last 6 years. And I use it A LOT! Even in the winter. But I won't be replacing any parts on it anymore. It will be time to get another grill, and I might even get another Brinkmann.

Okay, there is stainless, and then there is stainless. The grill looked great out of the box, but it took very little time living here on the beach for the salt air to start doing its damage. The "stainless" housing is rusting rapidly - not as fast as non stainless, but it isn't going to last. After 2 years it needs a complete cleanup and probably a good marine paint job if the exterior is going to survive as long as the working guts. The cooking end is still perfect, valves all work fine, the burners are holding up well.

That said, we are in the process of moving back to Colorado, and the grill will not be returning with us. Just isn't worth paying the freight for another 200 pounds for a piece of equipment that is as unsightly as this one is now. It will be replaced this September, probably with a nice new Weber Genesis E-310. While the Napoleon was an outstanding grill, it wasn't really any better than my old Weber Genesis, and definitely not worth paying $300 more for it.