# Looking for decent gas grill replacement



## OnTheFence (Mar 28, 2019)

I'm tired of dealing with propane, so I love the idea of a wood pellet grill, but I suspect we'll mostly be cooking burgers and brats. I've heard that the pellet grill would be fine for this, but also that it would be better to stick with gas for such things.
Any thoughts? Can I get good burgers/brats in ~30 minutes on a pellet grill?
If so any suggestions? I'm pretty interested in these 5 (in no particular order):
- Grilla Silverback Alpha
- Yoder Ys480
- Rec Tec RT-590
- Green Mountain Daniel Boone (like the price and windows on smoker and hopper)
- Traeger timberline 850 2019 (heard auger is faster and can reverse and restart to fix clogs)
I am open to something else also.
Can these or something else really be a full grill replacement + a smoker?
Thanks so much in advance!!!


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## HalfSmoked (Mar 28, 2019)

I would go with a weber 22" kettle its charcoal and has may uses.

Warren


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## HalfSmoked (Apr 2, 2019)

OnTheFence Thanks for the like it is greatly appreciated.

Warren


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## HalfSmoked (Apr 30, 2019)

Pelagic Thanks for the like it is appreciated.

Weber also has a 26" worth looking at.

Warren


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## johnmeyer (Apr 30, 2019)

I can't comment on pellet grills, but if you want a replacement for a gas grill, and you have the money, I would get a Weber Summit. It is dreadfully expensive, but people in this forum have recommended it in the past, and my own experience with my 25-year-old Weber Genesis has made me pretty loyal to the brand.


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## Braz (Apr 30, 2019)

I am of the opinion that a grill is a grill and a smoker is a smoker. Any attempt at an appliance that is both is going to be a compromise and probably not perfect at either task. (I could be wrong though. I don't have experience with all the possible choices.) My "arsenal" is a Weber Spirit gas grill, a Masterbuilt electric smoker, a Weber mini-kettle and a Lodge cast iron hibachi. (Not counting the almost never used cheap gas grill and gas smoker and a charcoal pizza oven.) There are only two of us in the household and these tools cover every need. Burgers and brats are almost always done on the hibachi.
I would second johnmeyer's Weber recommendation but you said you were tired of dealing with propane. (P.S. You might check with an RV sales place or a propane distributer for a cheaper propane refill price than the gas station prices. I pay $15 for 20lb. fill at my local propane supplier.)


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## Braz (Apr 30, 2019)

DELETED - double post. Having trouble with my interweb connection.


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## johnmeyer (Apr 30, 2019)

P.S. My gas grill uses natural gas instead of propane. I just go outside, turn on the burner, press the ignitor button, and start grilling. It could not be simpler, and there is nothing to "deal" with.


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## Bearcarver (Apr 30, 2019)

johnmeyer said:


> P.S. My gas grill uses natural gas instead of propane. I just go outside, turn on the burner, press the ignitor button, and start grilling. It could not be simpler, and there is nothing to "deal" with.




I'm Jealous!!
None of that here.
My Gas comes here on wheels.

Bear


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## johnmeyer (Apr 30, 2019)

Bearcarver said:


> I'm Jealous!!
> None of that here.
> My Gas comes here on wheels.
> 
> Bear


We're out in the styx as well, and just on the edge of the NG service. We did a big remodel in '94 and had the workers run a gas pipe around to the back of the house. It was some of the best money I spent on that project.

One NG project on the horizon is to install a NG kit on my Honda inverter generator so I can have "infinite" run time in case of a power outage. Even with this new (to me), small generator, the gasoline I have on hand will only last a few days. I'd imagine that having propane for the grill involves the same worry about running out before the job is finished.


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## HalfSmoked (Apr 30, 2019)

It happens John Had happen more than once.

Warren


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## 2008RN (Apr 30, 2019)

I am in the same boat as you. I have and 19 year old weber genesis, that we have replaced 2 ignitors, 3 sets of flavorizer bars, grates, and one set of tubes. She has been a faithful grill, and is still working. I replace the igniter yesterday and noticed that the center tube might make it 2 more years before needing replaced. I would like a little larger grill than 400 sq in. I have been thinking heavily on RecTec Bull, Yoder YS-640, and Blaz'n grill works gridiron. 

Right now I have a homemade wood chip tray that sits over the center tube, and I always smoke  hamburgers, Costco wings, dogs, brats, and steaks for about an hour at a low temp.   Once the chips start smoking I can keep the temp down to about 100 degrees.  I still want to do that.  I also want to be able to get the temp up to 400-450 degrees to finish off the chicken skin coming off my smoker. Last Sunday I did 40 injected chicken legs in the smoker and then used a braising sauce to finishes them on the grill so the skin was crunchy. Once the grill was warmed up it took 10 minutes to finish off 13 legs at a time, (each load was a different flavors of legs)

I really do not know how well a pellet grill will do what I want?  

I happen to see the weber Summit stainless steel S470 for $2100, beautiful grill with a built in smoker box, 468"sq just . The extra area is only 68"sq, just over 8"x8" It is a little more than I wanted to pay for.  I am still up in the air about what to do. I still have some time before I say goodbye to the old weber.


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## johnmeyer (Apr 30, 2019)

2008RN,

I've replaced the same things as you (although only one ignitor) and also had to replace the entire, big drip pan (rusted out). I didn't replace all the tubes, but the crossover tube rotted out. It sure is great to have a product for which repair parts are easy to get. Top marks to Weber for that.

I drool every time I look at the Weber Summit in the store. There have been several threads where people ask what grill to get, and the response always seems to be the Summit. The four burner unit is all I probably need.


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## Bearcarver (May 1, 2019)

johnmeyer said:


> We're out in the styx as well, and just on the edge of the NG service. We did a big remodel in '94 and had the workers run a gas pipe around to the back of the house. It was some of the best money I spent on that project.
> 
> One NG project on the horizon is to install a NG kit on my Honda inverter generator so I can have "infinite" run time in case of a power outage. Even with this new (to me), small generator, the gasoline I have on hand will only last a few days. I'd imagine that having propane for the grill involves the same worry about running out before the job is finished.




Yeah My Dad had NG, with Heat, Kitchen Stove, Fridge, and Hot Water Heater, and a Lamp at the end of the Driveway.
My Brother has the same thing, but he also has a NG Grill, kinda like the little bare bones things they have at community Parks, but I don't believe he's used it in 30 years.

We're much farther out than they are, and this is my 3rd year of my Bryant "Evolution" Hybrid Heat Pump, with Propane Backup Furnace. No NG anywhere close to us. Probably at least a mile.

Bear


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## 2008RN (May 1, 2019)

I looked online at the Weber Summit stainless steel grills. Lots of comments about the Stainless steel rusting, and all of the regular steel parts. Even people with a cover and storing it under an awning had problems with rust. Information on the dials were also rubbing off. People love the way it cooks and the versatility. When ya spend over $2K for a grill, you wouldn't want it rusting in the first few years. The old Genesis forged aluminum body doesn't turn any heads, but after 19 years (10 in the Oregon rains) the body and base aren't rusted out.  So I still have some thinking to do, about replacing my grill or doing a rebuild on the old genesis.


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## johnmeyer (May 1, 2019)

2008RN said:


> I looked online at the Weber Summit stainless steel grills. Lots of comments about the Stainless steel rusting, and all of the regular steel parts. Even people with a cover and storing it under an awning had problems with rust. Information on the dials were also rubbing off. People love the way it cooks and the versatility. When ya spend over $2K for a grill, you wouldn't want it rusting in the first few years. The old Genesis forged aluminum body doesn't turn any heads, but after 19 years (10 in the Oregon rains) the body and base aren't rusted out.  So I still have some thinking to do, about replacing my grill or doing a rebuild on the old genesis.


This really concerns me because I had made up my mind to get a Summit when my old Genesis can no longer be maintained.

I just looked at all the Amazon Summit listings and searched all the reviews on five different listings for the word "rust." There are indeed exactly seven of the 350+ reviews that mention problems with rust (most reviews are 5-star, BTW). All of these were written prior to 2017. I mention this because I then went to the Weber site and looked at their warranty. The Summit has an unqualified 10-year warranty against everything, but it only applies to Summit grills purchased AFTER 2017. I haven't researched any more than this, but before you completely rule out the Summit, you might want to see if the stories you have seen are from grills purchased prior to 2017 and, if you can find it, whether Weber did a re-design after that point to fix the problems.

Thanks to your post, I will definitely be doing that research myself when the time comes to do this purchase.

[edit]This 2018 post from an independent Weber grill site unfortunately does seem to confirm that the rust problems persist. Bummer.

2018 Summit Construction
https://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?74198-2018-Summit-Construction

[edit2]I kept looking, and the one thing that struck me is that pretty much every single person loved the performance of the Summit grill. I am getting very old, and I will probably rust out before my grill does, so if it works stunningly well (which appears to be the case), I'll get it and let my heirs worry about the rust.


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## 2008RN (May 2, 2019)

John,
That is interesting. There were not many reviews on the weber web pages but a significant amount of them talk about rust. Hopefully they have fixed the problem. I too will check back as I get closer to making the decision to put the old genesis down, or rebuild her for another life.


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## 2008RN (May 13, 2019)

JohnMeyer,
I live about 110 miles from Portland, Oregon. I decided while I was up there for other reasons that I would stop in at 2 BBQ stores.  The first place had Yoders. OH MY, I was about to slap down the credit card but I figured that both me and the grill would have to live in the dog house.  Mama would wonder why she hasn't gotten her new fridge and flooring. The yoder looks awesome, but I still don't know if it could really replace a propane grill.  

Then I went to another store and found Blaze grills. They have models that are all 304 Stainless Steel, and really great designs, plus lifetime warranty on non electronics.  They seem to be a comparable to the weber summit. No separate smoking burner, but they have a custom smoke tray, that will set on the flame tamers.  The 4 burner with 552sq" main grilling area. Price is close to the Weber summit. 

Have you heard anything about the Blaze grills?


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## johnmeyer (May 13, 2019)

Sorry, I have not seen either the Blaze or Yoder. Hopefully other people are still following this thread and can chip in.

I did go to the Yoder site, but they appear to sell only smokers and charcoal grills; no gas grills. I was interested in the Summit primarily for its grilling capabilities, not because of its limited smoking features (although they would be nice to have).

I then went to both the Blaze site and also to Amazon to look at their grills. There is a certain similarity to the Summit, and the price is quite similar (in the $2,000 range). However, the one thing that struck me is how few reviews there are for any of the Blaze grills: probably about 5% of the number for the Summit. As I stated in a previous post, I have been amazed at how easy it still is to get repair parts for my 1994 Weber Genesis, and I expect that, given the much lower sales volume, that getting replacement parts for the Blaze could be a lot more difficult.


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## 2008RN (May 14, 2019)

Great thoughts, thanks for your input.


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## HalfSmoked (May 14, 2019)

I agree with John but then again how new is the Blaze grill co. so they would have less reviews.

Warren


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## 2008RN (May 14, 2019)

HalfSmoked said:


> I agree with John but then again how new is the Blaze grill co. so they would have less reviews.
> 
> Warren



I checked it out. Blaze Grills founded in 2012, out of Louisiana. The owner actually started back in 1998, and struggled. He worked with Ironworks with designs back around 2000.  He started and internet sales company to move his and other people products (Shoppers Choice now BBQguys). Blaze grills is a small company, catering to higher end grills with revenue  6.4 million a year.  According to reviews they have continued to refine their grills and stand behind their products.  The company is independently owned.  Looks like a good solid little company. Will they still be in business in 20-30 years? I do not know. When the founder steps down will the business fold/go under.


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## johnmeyer (May 14, 2019)

As someone who spent the last half of his career running small companies, I am obviously a fan. That said, for something like a gas grill, they would have to have designed something very different or unusual, or have some amazingly solid parts for me to give up the security of dealing with a company that has sold millions of grills and has had decades modifying them and servicing them. I'm not sure I see, in the pictures or the descriptions on the Blaze site, something that would make me want to take a chance on them.

For the ultimate negative, showing what can happen when dealing with a small outfit, check out the recent, long thread in this forum about the agony of dealing with a Kickstarter-funded company making temperature measuring devices. It's been a real headache for all the customers. Blaze is obviously further along, but it's something to think about.

I just skimmed the reviews on Amazon for three of their products. My general sense is that they use really good materials, but that the actual design of the thing (burner size & placement; flavorizer bars; heat chamber size; etc.) is typical of an early engineering prototype rather than a refined product that is in its twentieth design iteration. Also, there seemed to be a theme of poor customer service. My experience with small companies is that they usually operate on the two extreme ends of the customer service spectrum: they are either willing to do anything and everything to satisfy their customers so that they get the word of mouth advertising, or they only know how to make and ship the product, but don't really understand how important customer relationships can be.


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## crisparkle (May 17, 2019)

I'm gonna go get one too after getting back from the trip. Is Weber ok?


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## Brass Man (May 22, 2019)

crisparkle said:


> I'm gonna go get one too after getting back from the trip. Is Weber ok?



I have a Weber Genesis that we purchased 2+ years ago when we moved to Florida. 3 burner, no side burner. It has performed flawlessly. On the lowest setting, the grill will hold the temp at 350. Cast iron grates go in the oven on the self-clean setting every 6 months. Do a lot of grilling down here.

Two others to look at. We had a Napoleon for about 10 years when we lived in the Northeast. Worked very well. Ours had the infra-red cooking area. Eventually had to replace the screen for that burner. It is still earning its keep as we gave it to one of our sons who loves cooking outside like me. Napoleon's are expensive. Ducane is another that last us almost 20 years. Ducane is now owned by Weber. The Ducane brand is now the low end type grill. Too bad.


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