How To Clean Your Burner Tubes - Weber Genesis Maintenance Manual

So, if your Flavorizer Bars are in good condition, what's the best way to clean them?
For my grill, I use two different tools. A grill brush and a plastic putty knife, but before you attempt to clean the Flavorizer Bars,
it can be helpful to fire up the grill. Let the grill run on high, for about 10 to 15 minutes, and then let it cool down. This will burn
most of the grease and residue on the Flavorizer Bars into ash, which will make it much easier to clean them.
Once the Flavorizer Bars have cooled down all the way, take out the cooking grates so you can access the Flavorizer Bars. If the
Flavorizer Bars only have minimal build-up on them brushing them might be all that's necessary. If they've gotten moderately
dirty I prefer to pull each one out and give it a more thorough brushing, and will use the putty knife to scrap off anything that the
brush can't handle.
For really dirty Flavorizer Bars take the bars out of the grill, put them in the sink and clean them with some soapy water and an
SOS pad. Make sure you don't use any lemon-or citrus-based soaps. Rinse the Flavorizer Bars thoroughly and towel dry them.
Don't let them air dry, or they may form excessive rust prematurely. We also don't recommend putting Flavorizer Bars in your
dishwasher. The amount of debris they release could cause your drain to clog. Lastly, don't use oven cleaners or put them in a
self-cleaning oven.
How often you'll need to clean the Flavorizer Bars in your grill depends entirely upon how often you use it, and what you cook.
During the summer months, when my grill sees action almost every day, I try to take them out and clean them about every
th
4 time I use the grill. You might be asking, why so often? Well I tend to use a lot of marinades and barbecue sauces when I
cook, which means there's a lot of stuff dripping down onto my Flavorizer Bars. By cleaning them as often as I do, not only am I
prolonging their lifespan, but I have a better time grilling when they are nice and clean. If they are clean, the drippings will flow
over them better, which means less chance for a flare up, which is always a plus.
Show your Flavorizer Bars some love by keeping them clean, and they'll return the favor by keeping your grill running well for
years to come.
BY JOHN BURNS, GUEST BLOGGER
03.23.15 JOHN R
Hello John Burns,
Thank you so much for this post. It was nice to read up this subject. I've had a Genesis E-310 since spring 2012. My bars are not
stainless, and I'm not 100% sure what they are, but I've noticed that there is some rust spots on them. I was worried about it until
now, seeing that they only need replaced if there are holes or missing sections.
I don't clean them as often as every 4th time, but when I do, I also rotate them. Since I have 5 bars, and only 3 burners, I try to
get equal time for all of them over the burner and as a gap-filler. I would like to think this helps them all last longer as well.
Does your grill pictured above have the heat deflectors under the burners as well? Maybe you could do a post on those? Thank
you again for this information.

HOW TO CLEAN YOUR BURNER TUBES

Burners are the heart of any gas grill, and if there's a problem with them it can make it hard or impossible to grill great food on
your Weber.
That's why, just like a car, it's important to give your grill periodic maintenance, so it can give you years of great meals and
memories. Weber's are incredibly durable, my own 14 year old Genesis is testament to that, but I use it a lot and I don't think it
would be in such great shape if I didn't show it at least some love by cleaning it, especially the burners.
So, what exactly is a burner? Well, when you boil it down, the burners on Weber's gas grills are basically hollow metal tubes
with holes that flames come out of. There's obviously more science behind it than that, but it helps to think of them in simple
terms when it comes to cleaning them.
While you're cooking all that great food on your grill all kinds of juices, grease, sauces, and marinades fall down onto the
flavorizer bars and into the cookbox. The burners are pretty well protected, but over time they'll begin to develop some surface
corrosion on them. For a while, all is well, but left untended the burner portholes will start to get clogged. This leads to uneven
flame patterns, which means uneven heat on the grill.
Most grill owners have at least one brush among their grilling tools, but it's actually important to have two of them. One for the
cooking surfaces, and one just for the burners. You don't want to transfer the grease and cooking residue from the cooking
surface to your burners. For my own grill, I like to brush the burners about once a month.
It's important to brush the burners across their surface, rather than lengthwise.