Cleaning your gas grill

To keep your gas grill in good working order, a little maintenance goes a long way! After all, you wouldn’t expect your oven to keep working perfectly and not need a little care or cleaning. Cleaning your grill is part of this process. Protect and maintain your investment.

Anyway, there are three stages to your maintenance program. There’s the routine cleaning that you want to do every time you use your grill. Then there’s the cleaning you want to do about every couple of weeks to a month. Finally, there’s the annual deep cleaning of your grill.

Every Time You BBQ

1. Preheat your grill every time you turn it on. This cleans and disinfects your gas grill.
2. Brush your cooking grids to remove residue and give yourself a nice clean cooking surface.
3. Turn up the heat on your grill to maximum after you remove the last of the food with your grill brush. This burns off the drippings and grease in your grill.
4. Cover your grill as soon as it has cooled down. It is a myth that a grill cover causes rusting.

Every 10 Cookouts

1. Remove the cooking grids and clean them on both sides.
2. While the grates are out of the grill, clean off those metal barriers above the burners and below the grates.
3. Clean out or replace the grease drip pan.
4. Put everything back in your grill and fire it up, letting it heat up for about 10 minutes or until there is no (or at least not very much) smoke coming out of the grill.

Every Year

If you plan to close your grill for the winter, you will want to do this at the end of your season. If you grill year-round (good for you), pick a nice day and do this at least once a year. If you use your grill more than once a week, you should do this twice a year.

1. Remove the cooking grids and soak them in hot, soapy water.
2. Remove the barrier and do the same to them.
3. Thoroughly brush out the interior of the grill, but leave the greasy accumulation as a protective layer on the metal.
4. With everything out of the way, fire up the grill just long enough to look at how the flame is coming from the burners.
5. If the flames are uneven, you need to clean out the burners. To do this, remove the affected burners from the grill and, with a pipe cleaner or small wire, push through the ports (holes along the side). Then gently tap the burners, open end down, on the ground to displace any debris from inside the burner. Once cleaned out, replace the burners and fire it up again. If the flame is even, continue. If not, repeat this step.
6. Clean out, or if it’s deteriorated, replace the grease drip pan.
7. While the cooking grids and barrier are soaking, close up the grill and give the exterior a good wash down.
8. Wash off the grids and barrier and put your grill back together.
9. If the paint is coming off or your grill is showing signs of rust, it will need painting with high heat paint.
10. Fire up the grill and allow it to heat up, drying all the internal parts.

If any of this seems like too much hassle, or if your run across any damaged parts, or if you just want the peace of mind that comes with professional inspection and servicing, contact us, because we do this grill servicing all of the time!