Weber Silver B Overhaul Refurbish Repair Cleaning

[fitz91701]

I wanted to overhaul my weber and got some good cleaning tips from this board prior to starting.

Here is the photo-progression of my weber genesis silver b overhaul. It was a complete knock down to the frame. After looking at the fotos I could've cleaned the side table a bit better so I went and soaked it in the cleaner for awhile and it is all cleaned up now.

I bought the grill in late 2004, and it had a good 6+ years of baked on fat and grease. I grill quite often so the grill was really dirty. I had pressure washed the inside before but had not restored it to "baby's butt" condition. The project took 2 weeks to complete.

Basically I soaked the pieces in simple green and tried the wire brush method.

That did not work as well as I hoped so I sandblasted it off instead. I had access to a sandblast hood deal so it didn't cost anything. I did not sandblast the hood, I used oven cleaner and just scrubbed it and then used a razor scraper to to take the last layer of fat off.

I painted the hood end caps and some spots on the firebox.

I bought the following from Amazon.com:
SS Burners
SS Flavorizor Bars
Hose/Regulator

I used a CharBroil universal thermometer and bought the ignitor at Home Depot.

I reused my cast iron grills as there was nothing wrong with them.

All in all parts cost $100

Can you believe the webers are made in China now (the spirit models)? I almost fell for one until I found out and decided to overhaul.

 

[mbshop]

this is why webers are worth the cost. very nicely done ! i have an old red head i'm working on. hope to get it done this year.

 

[Midnight Smoke]

Nice restoration! I enjoy seeing a old BBQ being brought back to life. :thumb:

 

[DannyMac]

So oven cleaner doesn't affect the finish? I'm down to the last thin layer of hard of hard gease.

 

[fitz91701]

So oven cleaner doesn't affect the finish? I'm down to the last thin layer of hard of hard gease.

There is a funny story behind that one.

I was a little freaked out myself about the "NO OVEN CLEANER" warning that weber even states. Even more so because I had already chipped the edge of the porcelain under where the end caps go (incidentally I just spray painted hi temp bbq black and put the end cap back on - not a porcelain patch - end cap is hiding it).

I put the hood and the drip pan in plastic trash bags outside after I sprayed them with this stuff I got at Smart & Final. "First Street Oven & Grill Cleaner". Says it's fine on everything. So I spray it down, put it outside in black trash bags (big ones) and let set for hour, hours, overnight, scrape with plastic scraper, move to thin metal scraper, move to razor scraper. Razor scraper wins hands down, move to that first. I did the oven cleaner thing for multiple days. 2 or three as I recall. Will not ruin the porcelain at all. Did the same for the drip pan. Both were essentially as near as clean as they arrived after the process.

I think I could've measured the thickness of my buildup with a ruler instead of a micrometer, it was insanely thick. Some of it laughed at the sandblaster as well...but the sandblaster ended up winning.

 

[Big Bears BBQ]

I have a Weber Silver also its probably 8 to 9 yeras old never wears out. I do have to get a new igniter but I've done a lot grilling on it. Weber is worth the money. But with more family and friends coming over to see what's grilling I'm thinking I need a bigger model now.......

 

[DannyMac]

Mine was ridiculous as well! I pulled a Genesis Silver C off the side of the road. After a good power wash that got 90% off, I used a brass brush and #0000 steel wool to try and knock off the rest. Got a little impatient and cooked on it. After your post I have been trying a razor which has been scraping the last hard layer off. It's just going to take a bit more time and effort.

 

[fitz91701]

Nice restoration! I enjoy seeing a old BBQ being brought back to life. :thumb:

Thanks it was a pain in the neck but there are some restoratios to beat here on this board.

 

[fitz91701]

Mine was ridiculous as well! I pulled a Genesis C of the side of the road. After a good power wash that got 90% off, I used a brass brush and #0000 steel wool to try and knock off the rest. Got a little impatient and cooked on it. After your post I thave been trying a razor which has been scraping the last hard layer off. It's just going to take a bit more time and effort.

I soaked the hood in simple green for a day or two before I went to the oven cleaner for a couple of days before I took to scraping. The razor did a number on that last layer

Here are some added pics of the hood prior to clean.

 

[Drew]

Looks great! Nice job :thumb:

 

[fitz91701]

this is why webers are worth the cost. very nicely done ! i have an old red head i'm working on. hope to get it done this year.

Yes, what seriously helped was that the price of the parts are very reasonable compared to the cost of new. I would imagine that the sandblasting would've cost anywhere from $100 to $150..it took a good 3 hours to get it down to metal like that...the fat was very tenacious. Not too mention the work done on the hood.

I should mention that simple green is not cheap, stuff is like $10 per gallon and I used 6 gallons to soak/scrub. Plus a black tub, so that was $80 right there. Still for $200 -ish is way better than $550 for a new genesis. Luckily the weber is very serviceable and parts are a snap.

Some folks had problems with the drip pan rail screws but mine came off easy.

 

[DannyMac]

I wish I took some more before shots! Mine was just as bad. It started with a good 1/4 inch of solid grease. The razor is definitely the way to go. Time omsuming but effective. It get mine looking like yours soon enough.

 

[fitz91701]

I have a Weber Silver also its probably 8 to 9 yeras old never wears out. I do have to get a new igniter but I've done a lot grilling on it. Weber is worth the money. But with more family and friends coming over to see what's grilling I'm thinking I need a bigger model now.......

I have found that Flavorizor Bars need replacing every couple of years. The ones I took out were porcelain coated and not that old (but still rusting). It does seem that the ones that were in there originally lasted longer. I have been through at least 3 sets.

The ignitor "gas collector" was really rusted out, the piezo pushbutton still worked fine, but since the ignitor comes with everything I just replaced it all. It really lights off nice now.

One thing that I noted also was that the replacement hose/regulator assembly seemed alot lighter than the original. However I have found that
this new one does not have the same "whooshing gas noise" as the old one. The temperature control is pretty snappy and and empty grill comes up to temp pretty quick.

As for the size of the silver, I have cooked for 10 on it without a problem...wings, brats, sirloins and the like. I also do beer can chickens - I think the size is plenty big...maybe you should just double your weber capacity.

 

[J_Don]

Lots of work but the pron shows it was well worth the effort. Great job. :thumb:

 

[swamprb]

Your hard work will pay off in the long run- Now get it dirty!

 

[fitz91701]

Lots of work but the pron shows it was well worth the effort. Great job. :thumb:

Your hard work will pay off in the long run- Now get it dirty!

OK on both the above recommendations...of course it is indeed all about the pron. It is essentially pics or it didn't happen.

Now for the good part:

That grill is hotter than it came "out of the factory". I **** you not that grill burned my hand from the heat. This was at 1/2 setting on all 3 burners - running about 400 ish according to the CharBroil Universal Thermometer. I was using "short tongs" and my hand got hot like it would over charcoal. The years of crud was holding it back. (not to mention stainless flavorizor bars - I think they give off more heat being uncoated).

The results page is here on another thread on this board. I call this "The Breaking-In pr0n"...and yes I insist on pr0n with a zero.

Follow this link:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=105675

 

[jalon]

I know this thread is almost a year old...but I've been searching for a solution.

My Weber Genesis Silver B has the paint coming off the inside. I stopped cooking on it when it started peeling, didn't think that would taste too good

Question is, what do I sandblast it with? I have high-temp paint, but I want to clean it up first. The outside is fine; just the inside, from blasting the grill with high heat and then dropping right before steaks go on (to get a nice char and cook to med. rare).

I thought about black walnut shells, but will that be strong enough? Just don't want to spend alot for material, my buddy has a blaster kit I just have to provide the abrasive.

Thanks in advance,

Jalon

 

[DaveMW]

You did a great job! :thumb: