Grill Cleaning Techniques

[BeeRich]

Hi folks.

Well, it's Springtime here in Southern Ontario. Time to clean the Napoleon Grill.

Anybody have any good ideas as to how to clean one of these? I have an underpan which needs scraping, and I have to go into the unit, under the grates, to clean up. Any advice appreciated.

Cheers

 

[Greg Rempe]

BeeRich, You might want to consult the manual...for my Weber I pull everything out (grates, burners and manifolds, clean the box, scrape the burner holes and replace the grease pan underneath. Put everything back togther and visually inspect to make sure everything is the proper color flame.

I do this about 3 times a year due to use of the grill.

 

[Nick Prochilo]

Lite the bad boy up and set it to as hot as you can make it. Put a layer of aluminum foil over the grates and close the lid. When ALL the smoke stops pour out, shut it down. When it cools, scrap what ever is left and empty all the crap out of it. Works pretty much like a self cleaning oven.

 

[john pen]

BeeRich, You might want to consult the manual...for my Weber I pull everything out (grates, burners and manifolds, clean the box, scrape the burner holes and replace the grease pan underneath. Put everything back togther and visually inspect to make sure everything is the proper color flame.

I do this about 3 times a year due to use of the grill.

What are burners and manifolds ??

 

[BeeRich]

Hi folks. Thanks for the replies.

Well, I opened her up. Then I scraped her inside, and the angled grates. The SS grate is pretty greasy, but they get cleaned every time I use the unit. I'll be using it later on today for a couple steaks, so that should indicate how well it went. The drip-tray needed some serious scraping. I was impressed with how easy it was. Oh, I also washed the outside with soapy water.

Nick, I do that (without aluminum) every time I use it. The problem with recent flare-ups was the drip tray, as it had a layer of schtuff on it, and was lighting with the recent bacon.

I'll report back with the steak run later on today.

Cheers

 

[Christopher1]

BeeRich, my family has a few Napoleons and the main issue with them is that the burner tubes get greasy and corrode slightly and the burner outlets close over. Each spring I get a wire brush and brush the burners clean of any gunk, this does a decent job at exposing the burner outlets. I then get a small drill, and poke out each opening (they can be corroded, greasy, or a combo) with the back side of the drill.

Once I have the burners cleaned up I reassemble it and I fire it full blast until all the grease etc has carbonized (I haven't tried the tin foil method but I might this year). I then let the grill cool. Afterwards, I scrape the sides, bottom, grease pan with a putty knife and a wire brush. I either shop vac the crud out or use a dollar store dustpan/hand broom combo to sweep it out. It should be good to go after that.

 

[BeeRich]

I had that happen quite early...second burner didn't want to light up. The toothpick trick worked. I should open her up and do that as well. Can you take the burners out fully? The rest I've done pretty much. I think a regime of this nature should be done twice a year, probably Spring and late Fall. I BBQ during the winter (hooked up to house natural gas, which is huge handy) and it's not much of a big job.

Both the Infrared plate/burner and the normal round pipe burners sit tight, not too sure how to take them out. Should I?

 

[bbquzz]

I'm kind of with John Pen "What are burners and manifolds ??" Are they like lump and charcoal grates? Greg do you hire out grill cleaning service, sounds like you have a real system?

 

[Nick Prochilo]

Try the aluminum foil kids, you will be surprised!

 

[BeeRich]

I might do that tomorrow with the foil. The unit is indeed cleaner, but the secondary burners didn't light. So I have to get in there and see.

So I just foil above the grate? Just like laying a big foil steak across the whole thing? Then on full for 20 minutes or so?

 

[Christopher1]

I had that happen quite early...second burner didn't want to light up. The toothpick trick worked. I should open her up and do that as well. Can you take the burners out fully? The rest I've done pretty much. I think a regime of this nature should be done twice a year, probably Spring and late Fall. I BBQ during the winter (hooked up to house natural gas, which is huge handy) and it's not much of a big job.

Both the Infrared plate/burner and the normal round pipe burners sit tight, not too sure how to take them out. Should I?

I don't bother taking them out, once you get the diffusers and grills taken out it's pretty wide open and you can poke around freely. We don't have the IR burners on any of our RB 450s though. Once you get the burner outlets opened up again, she should burn with a nice blue flame, you'll notice when the outlets get plugged you'll have a wimpy orange flame. The bends in the burners are usually what give me trouble, the bending causes the burner outlets to distort and are more prone to clogging.

 

[BeeRich]

You know what? I might actually take a video of this tonight. It's dark out (even here in Canada) and it should show up quite nicely.

 

[BeeRich]

OK, had a look last night. Some of the holes are bunged up, and with a wire brush and a toothpick, they still wouldn't take. So today I'm hitting it with a small drill bit. I forgot the video, as I was coding and baking bread.

 

[BeeRich]

OK had a look. The holes were clean...but...Napoleon, in their infinite wisdom, decided to drill the holes first, BEFORE bending the burner tubes. So, the inside holes are pinched because of the compression in the bend. So a Dremel with a triangled drill bit kinda thingy, and things are flowing as expected. I think I'll email them about this.

I've foiled the grates and have the two burners on high for 20 minutes. Hopefully this should do the trick.

 

[Nick Prochilo]

I might do that tomorrow with the foil. The unit is indeed cleaner, but the secondary burners didn't light. So I have to get in there and see.

So I just foil above the grate? Just like laying a big foil steak across the whole thing? Then on full for 20 minutes or so?

Until ALL the smoke stops!