Weber barbecue: Regulator prevents full temperature unless you play with main value

The one thing I hate about my 1-year-old Weber grill is that you have to open the main propane valve very carefully or the regulator will kick into some sort of safety or limiter mode and the grill temperature will never get higher than 325f.

Is this a known problem with these grills?

It there a solution - from Weber?

The grill is a Weber Genesis:

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Reply to
Sum Guy
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Please go to the Weber web site, locate the online (PDF format) user's manual, and give us the link so we can read the appropriate section. Then we can answer your question.

You used the words "some sort of safety....", which suggests something to me. That's why I want to see the instructions.

:-)

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

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I suspect the problem is in the regulator (the diaphram-shaped thing that's part of the connection fitting that screws into the propane tank).

There is no useful reference to the regulator in the manual, except in the safety warning on page 2.

Here's a picture of what I'm talking about:

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Reply to
Sum Guy

Now you did it! How could you have the balls to tell him to read the manual. I'm guessing he probably doesn't care about safety and reading the manual is not part of his plan. p-)

Reply to
Gordon Shumway

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Is the tank full or nearly so? This is a common problem with the OPD tanks. If you open the valve too fast, the surge will cause the float inside to restrict the opening. It is not a Weber problem, but a tank design "feature" intended to be a safety device. In most cases, once you've used about 1/4 of the tank the problem goes away.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

This didn't happen on the first tank that I used on this grill, but it is happening on the next two tanks (I'm on the third tank). And it doesn't seem to matter if the tank is full, 3/4 full or almost empty.

I got the 2'nd and 3'rd tank from the same place - not the same place as the first tank.

Reply to
Sum Guy

Does hitting it make the float go back to where it was?

Maybe you need to buy from the guy who sells defective tanks.

Safety is the curse of modernity. Like those stupid things that make the lawnmower turn off when you let go of it. What do they think I've driving, a locomotive. I alwasys wire the things so the mower stays on.

Reply to
mm

Howdy. My CharBroil comes with the same warning. I guess you just have to be careful. What do you have to do to reset yours? Mine calls for disconnecting the gas tank and doing it again. This is a feature of the regulator and I assume all modern regulators.

Reply to
PHILIPWOLF

I suspect a faulty regulator.

Reply to
Jeff The Drunk

My mistake. Here is the correct manual:

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There are many more references to a "regulator", but the most useful appear in the troubleshooting section on page 17:

--------------- Symptoms: Burners do not light. -or- Burners have a small flickering flame in the HI position. -or- Barbecue temperature only reaches 250 to 300 in the HI position.

Check: The excess flow safety device, which is part of the barbecue to cylinder connection, may have activated.

Cure: To reset the excess flow safety device turn all burner control knobs and the cylinder valve off. Disconnect the regulator from the cylinder. Turn burner control knobs to ?HI?. Wait at least 1 minute. Turn burner control knobs to ?OFF?. Reconnect the regulator to the cylinder. Turn cylinder valve on slowly. Refer to ?Lighting Instructions?.

---------------

This is a pain in the ass when it becomes the default or standard way that the grill has to be operated all the time.

Does anyone else have this problem with their Weber grill?

See also:

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--------------- Since 1995 all regulators (the part that attaches to the gas tank to regulate the flow of gas) have included a safety device that restricts the flow of gas in the event of a gas leak. This safety device can be inadvertently activated in two ways, putting the grill into what is commonly called ?bypass?. The first way for the device to be activated is to leave one or more burner control knobs in the ?ON? position when the LP cylinder valve is opened. The second is not to wait long enough to ?start? the grill after opening the LP cylinder valve. The safety device in the regulator is activated each time that the LP cylinder valve is opened. The device resets itself when the gas pressure equalizes between the closed burner control valve and the regulator, through the hose. If a burner control knob is turned on before the gas pressure can equalize, the device will remain in ?bypass?. The length of time necessary to wait to ?start? the grill after turning on the LP cylinder valve is dependent on the length of the hose and outside air temperature. It is always good practice to wait a few seconds after opening the LP cylinder valve before turning on the burner control knob to start the grill.

---------------

Also

-------------- My weber grill did this about a year after buying it. Contacted them via email support, explained I tried all their troubleshooting, and they sent out a new regulator, hose and manifold which did the trick.

--------------

So it looks like I'm going to contact Weber and get a new regulator. The best I've seen it do is to get to 450f in 15 minutes - not 500f in 2 minutes.

Reply to
Sum Guy

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Let us know what you find out when you call Weber. They're very helpful on the phone.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

....and the province of lawyers.

It's not to protect you, but to protect the lawn mower manufacturer from brain dead users. Dummy dad walks off and leaves the mower running and baby rugrat crawls over to retrieve the ball he thinks rolled under the running mower and retracts a bloody stump. Dummy dad promptly sues the shit out of the lawn mower company. If the lawn mower company doesn't fold after paying through the ass, it then adds annoying as Hell shut-off bar to protect itself from dumber'n dust lawn mower buyers. Other dummy dads wire/tape bar, defeating its safety function and more mayhem ensues, but at least now the lawn mower company can say, "Screw you, numb nuts. We put a safety bar on that mower!".

Makes perfect sense to me.

nb

Reply to
notbob

The reason why air travel is such a hassle, why we must practically be sterile and naked and take almost nothing on-board with us, is to satisfy the insurance industry.

AIG (the insurance company that was too big to fail) was bailed out because it insured over half the world's air travel industry. If that company had folded, world-wide air travel would have practically stopped.

The insurance industry demanded that world gov'ts impliment increasingly onerous and restrictive requirements on passengers, to the point that you are basically surrendering many constitutional rights when you're at an airport (searches, no-fly lists, the ability to travel anonymously, etc) as a condition for continuing to provide insurance for the carriers.

Reply to
Sum Guy

That's a good thing. Nobody has a "right" to use any particular method of transportation. The onerous methods should be increased. All airports and all airlines should do things like the Israelis.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

Well, of course. That's lawyers, province II. Lawyers protecting their insurance company clients from other lawyers out to sue anything that moves.

nb

Reply to
notbob

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Common problem with the newer safety tanks. It thinks there is a gas leak. Try turning the gas valves on slowly.

Probably the same guy designed that as the stupid vent free gasoline cans. I've spilled more gasoline in a couple years than I ever spilled with the old style.

Reply to
Tony

I was either kidding here or only talking mower saftety devices and selected other things.

While I'm sure insurance companies make mistakes, including big ones, the requirements for insurance and the inspections that insurance companies require are more thorough and more effective than what government is able to do, and by far, not just on airlines. And it's better for a private organization to be applying such rules than for the goverment to make laws and regulations about all these things. For one thing, it's much easier for insurance companies to change them, including eliminate them, when the situation changes, that it is for any part of the government.

As far as air travel, it would be hard to prove there is a constitutional right to do it. The problem is that since there are wicked people in the world, no set of rules provides both universal freedom and universal saftety can exist. I'm not exhibitionist, but if they wanted me, along with all the passengers, to be naked so that everyone in the airport could see me, it would be worth it to not get bombed to deeath. I couldn't care less if 2 or 3 people see an image of me. It's not like these rules were imposed before there was trouble.

Reply to
mm

This is amazing. The grill is designed to prevent you from filling it up with gas before you light it. Simply turn off the burners before you turn on the gas and you will have full burn your steak temps!

Reply to
Bob

Why don't they have vents anymore?

Reply to
mm

This is amazing. The grill is designed to prevent you from filling it up with gas before you light it. Simply turn off the burners before you turn on the gas and you will have full burn your steak temps!

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8 million messages later and the OP has yet to pick up a friggin' phone and call Weber, whose support service is terrific. What a moron. And you're right. What he's describing as a problem is actually a safety feature.
Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

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