Just another thought on BBQing safely this season. Before firing up your grill for the first time in awhile, you may want to assure that the bores of the burners are not clogged with anything. I started up my grill about 3 years back and the main burner lit right up. I turned on the other burners and most of them lit right away but one did not. I walked away thinking it would light in a moment. I guess I was kind of, sort of, almost right. One of the burners must have been almost completely clogged and had gas build up inside of it. It was enough to explode once some of it leaked out and ignited from the other burner flames. Luckily for me, I was probably inside grabbing the steaks and not fucking with the grill at that moment, I imagine it could have done a number on my hands or my eyes if hit by pieces of the burner tube.
When I checked online as to why that would have happened, I found out the main culprit is usually a spider that has spun a web inside the tube of the burner. Amazingly, sometime later, when I inspected the piece that remained attached to the grill (a piece about 1/2 to 3/4 the length of it it had blown off in the mini explosion) there were the remains of a cocoon like web inside of it, like one of those that spiders build to hide inside. That stuff is tough.
It would have been cheap enough to replace the burner but that grill was several years old, quite the mess (lots of it rusted like the screws that secured the burner tubes) so I got a new grill. Now I turn them on, first without trying to ignite them, and sniff and listen to determine if gas is coming out of them as it should (and before doing so, I assure there is no ignition source nearby). If the gas is not flowing, or if a burner does not light right away (that is once I have finished the sniff/listen test), I will inspect it for obstructions. I would take them off each time to check them but it is a royal pain in the arse with my current grill.
All the best,
GB
When I checked online as to why that would have happened, I found out the main culprit is usually a spider that has spun a web inside the tube of the burner. Amazingly, sometime later, when I inspected the piece that remained attached to the grill (a piece about 1/2 to 3/4 the length of it it had blown off in the mini explosion) there were the remains of a cocoon like web inside of it, like one of those that spiders build to hide inside. That stuff is tough.
It would have been cheap enough to replace the burner but that grill was several years old, quite the mess (lots of it rusted like the screws that secured the burner tubes) so I got a new grill. Now I turn them on, first without trying to ignite them, and sniff and listen to determine if gas is coming out of them as it should (and before doing so, I assure there is no ignition source nearby). If the gas is not flowing, or if a burner does not light right away (that is once I have finished the sniff/listen test), I will inspect it for obstructions. I would take them off each time to check them but it is a royal pain in the arse with my current grill.
All the best,
GB
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