I have a tendency to come up with grand schemes and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't, but when I declare that I am on a quest THAT is when I get a bit pit bullish and keep after the idea till it happens.
OK, so this time it was a gas grill but I didn't want to spend a lot of money on one and the low cost models were pretty cheaply made. I went and looked at different kinds of grills and saw things I liked and things I didn't. Regardless, the ones I thought were nice and might last longer than a year were way more money than I was willing to spend, with the inexpensive ones running between $300 and $500. I just closed my eyes when I walked past the Weber grills.
The next step was to take the information that I had gathered on what features a "good" grill had and....
Craigslist! So I typed in "gas grill, racine" and up came the results, "Housewares MUST GO, Table, grill, TV stand". That was much easier than I thought it would be. Wow, right here in Racine too. I clicked on the link and there was the picture of a very sad looking grill. I actually have the photo...
They did try to wipe it off a bit. So it is a little dirty but really, how bad could it be? I noticed that it was listed as $50 OBO and I sent off an email to see if I could get a close up look at it. Turns out the grill was at a house about a mile from where I live so when my work day ended, guess where I went?
The grill was truly in sad shape.
"Can you light it for me?"
"Sure" He pulled off the heavy cast iron grates to light the burner. I examined the dashboard and saw that there was no ignition switch so it had to be lit with a lighter. I guess it's good I don't have too much hair on the back of my hands and if I did, I won't.
I looked under the grill and there was no grease trap, so for years the grease was allowed to drip down onto the propane tank and the bottom shelf of the grill and dirt and grime collected. Gross! I thought about saying thank you and leaving but then .... it's just some icky, sticky grill goo that has been building up over centuries. I can clean it.
There was a side burner but the hose was not there and the man said he had no idea how it worked so he just never did anything with it. Hmmmmm? I poked my head around under the grill and tried to see what might be the gas line for the side burner, all the time trying not to look at the sticky goo that covered everything.
Surprisingly, the negotiation began...
"How much do you want for it?"
"$50"
"I'll give you $30."
"OK"
That was easy, but was it too easy? Did I get myself a total junker? NO! I can rebuild her! We loaded it in my truck and I went home. Oh yea, when we tried to move it both the wheels kept falling off, making the 25 foot trip to the truck an impromtu comedy routine. I was the only one laughing though.
When I got home and my husband got a look at it his face was priceless. He scrunched up his forehead, drew back the sides of his mouth and made that "what the hell is this disgusting mess you brought home?" face. We wheeled it to the back yard, replacing the wheels a few times on the way.
Over the next few days I learned a lot about how a propane grill works and how it doesn't. The grill would not heat to more than 250 degrees and that was bad!
I learned about regulators, venturi tubes, and the orifice. I have a theory regarding a universal truth that everything that is important has an orifice. Sounds exciting huh? I took the grill apart and cleaned or replaced most of the major parts, burners; flame tamers, and those pesky venturi tubes. I also had to figure out how the side burner needed to be hooked up but it was far easier than I thought and now it was time to fire it up and see what happens. 250 degrees!? Damn! The last piece that I could replace without major expense and the piece that all of the "experts" said was NOT the problem was the regulator hose, which I tried and tried to get unscrewed with no luck. My brother dropped by and he was able to loosen the gas line so I could get another one.
The next day I hooked up my new regulator and I started her up and watched the temperature dial with anticipation. 200...300....500...700 degrees!! I can finally cook on my cheapo grill. Now all it needed was a good coat of high heat paint and I could be on the road to grilling nirvana.
My first grilling episode consisted of nothing more than a turkey smoked sausage and potatoes on the side burner but it was pretty tasty. I am sure that it tasted so good because I had so much fun learning about my gas junker and turning it into a little gem. Thanks Craigslist! So for less than $100 I have a "smokin'" gas grill AND if something goes wrong with it, I even know how to fix it.
For now I am waiting for a new ignition switch and then, no more caveman lighting for me!
Quest completed!
Did you have a good time? Did you enjoy this post? Let me know and leave a comment. Share the post with your family and friends on your favorite social media or subscribe with an email address and help other people to discover Don’t Make Me Call My Flying Monkeys, that will help our little blog grow and our monkeys can keep doing what they do best - FLY. Thank you for all of your support. The Monkey Queen
No comments:
Post a Comment