Burn Through in Stainless Steel Burners
I grill.
I mean, I grill - often. I grill about 3 or 4 days a week, every
week of the year, every year. Living 100 yards from Lake Erie,
this is no small feat: it gets cold in Cleveland in the winter,
and we get our fair share of snow - most of which is lake
effect, sometimes measured in feet rather than inches.
I have often found myself outside after dark on a late December
evening, in 20-degree weather with an icy wind blowing in off
the lake, snow half-way up my shins, basting a roast on the
rotisserie.
Naturally, my wife thinks I am nuts. She also thinks I am a
great cook, which is neither here nor there. But, I digress...
A couple of months ago, I noticed that the grill was heating
unevenly. The left side was noticeably hotter than the right.
The flame was higher on the left, and I had more problems with
flare-up on that side. Meanwhile, the right side was not cooking
very well at all. The grill is a 3-year-old Fiesta that my wife
bought at K-Mart shortly before we met. It sports a stainless
steel sheet metal burner which is adequate for occasional use. I
suspected that the burner was burned through since I use the
grill much more than the manufacturer intended; I wanted to
replace it much earlier than this, but since we were buying a
house, I placed the project on the back burner, so to speak.
The house threw us a couple of major curveballs, the worst of
which was a total replacement of our kitchen. At the time, we
were waiting on our new countertops: we did not have a working
kitchen; the microwave and the grill were our only working
kitchen appliances. Nice time for the grill to fail, huh? One
night during the remodel, I wanted to grill some chicken. I
fired up the grill, and noticed that the flame on the left side
of the grill reached the cooking grate, and the flame on the
right was barely noticeable. Our chicken browned noticeably
toward the left side, and barely cooked on the right. These photos
show the old burner.
I muddled my way through the meal, deciding to take action. The
next day I ordered a new burner/venturi set over the Internet.
Since spiders love our new house, I splurged on spider guards.
The only tools I needed for the job were a pair of pliers and a
screwdriver. I assembled the burner/venturi assembly, connected
the ignitor to the burner, and went out to the grill. I
disconnected the securing pins for the burner underneath the
grill and the old burner lifted out easily. The new burner
settled gently into place, and I connected the ignitor and
installed the spider screens. I tested the ignitor, and,
satisfied that it worked properly, fired up the grill. Even blue
flame, about one and a half inches high, with yellow tips.
Perfect. Nice, even heat again. Project completed, and in about
a half-hour.
So why did this happen? Why did my burner rot from the
inside out? The answer is simple physics. When your burner burns
gas, the flame outside the burner creates a vacuum inside the
burner. An open valve allows gas under high pressure to flow
from its source into the burner, where the pressure is lower,
and then continue out to the outside to be burned.
So how does this cause burn-through? Remember the flame
that is sucking the gas out of the burner? Now shut that gas
off. What happens? The gas is still burning. When there is no
more fuel, the vacuum inside the burner actually sucks whatever
is right outside the burner, resulting in an audible "pop" when
the flame goes out. Here it is in a nutshell:
you've been cooking food, right? You've been using spices,
sauces and rubs -- and the food itself has its own juices. These
are in the air surrounding the food and the burners, mostly as
partially-burned carbon particles. These carbon particles get
sucked into the burner when the flame is extinguished. These
particles remain in the burner until the next time you fire up
the grill. When you fire up the grill, these particles create
chaos in the flow of the gas. The pressure of the gas will hold
these particles against the sides of the burner. Reaching
ignition temperature, they eventually burn through the metal
from the inside out. Now you know why I had to replace my burner
- and why you'll have to do the same if you purchase a grill
with a sheet metal burner.
My story points out another issue: what type of burner will your
new grill have? This is a major decision that many overlook when
they purchase a high-end grill. Most grills, even well-known
$3,000 to $5,000 units, have the same stainless steel sheet
metal burners that I just replaced, and many have a thickness in
the 20- to 24-gauge range! Let's face it: buying a $3,000 grill
is like buying a Mercedes or a Lexus; you shouldn't have to
replace the engine in a 3-year-old Lexus!
If you purchase a grill with a stainless steel sheet metal (or
cast iron/cast iron composite) burner, you will replace the
burners at some point. The more often you grill, the more often
you will replace the burner. The more expensive the grill, the
more difficult the replacement.
"What?" you say! Stainless steel will rust? Well, yes, it *will*
rust. It just takes a lot longer. The idea that stainless steel
will neither stain or rust is a myth. The "stainless" in the
term "stainless steel" refers to the fact that there are no
impurities in the metal itself, and that nickel has been
introduced into the alloy to produce a more acceptable finish. A
lower grade of stainless steel with a lower nickel content will
attract a magnet, also contrary to popular myth.
What, then, is the alternative to a stainless steel sheet metal
burner? Cast iron? Well, yes, but many grill manufacturers also
use cast brass or cast stainless steel, which will not rust or
burn through. Lynx and Fire Magic are two such grills, and
they're even warranted against rust and burn-through. A
less-expensive alternative with cast brass burners would be the
Coleman 6000, retailing for under $1,000 (photo right).
This is not to disparage stainless steel sheet metal burners:
Napoleon uses 16-gauge stainless steel in their burners, much
thicker than just about any other brand, and they tend to last
longer than other manufacturer's burners. They are still prone
to rot and burn-through, however: it just takes a little longer,
that's all.
So, if you're shopping for a new grill, check the burner
construction first.