All grills require at least a little bit of ongoing maintenance to keep them usable for as long as possible, but gas gills require a bit more maintenance than what you would typically see with charcoal grills. If you love spending your summer evenings outdoors grilling dinner and enjoying the company of friends and family, it’s important to make sure you stay on top of some basic grill maintenance steps so you can avoid having to make expensive repairs or having to replace the grill sooner than you’d want to.
With this in mind, here are a few tips for grill maintenance in Seattle:
- Keep the grill covered: When you’re not using the grill, make sure you keep it covered. You will likely need to purchase a grill cover separately, though you can typically find a grill cover made by the same brand as your grill designed to perfectly cover it. Keep your grill covered will help to prevent rust and dirt from forming and damaging it.
- Check propane connections: Gas grills rely on propane, which means it is important to keep an eye on the lines that connect the propane tanks to the grill. It can be beneficial to clean off those connections once a month or so with some soapy water. Have the propane on while you do this, because if you see bubbles start to form, that is indicative of a leak somewhere in the line. There are two fixes here: you can either tighten the connection or, if that doesn’t work, replace the line entirely.
- Clean the grill: Keeping the grill clean will prevent grime from building up and damaging grill components. See below for more detailed information.
These simple maintenance steps don’t take much extra time to complete, but they could add years of service to your grill.
What to know about cleaning
You should plan on deep cleaning your grill once or twice per year, but if you’re the kind of person who uses your grill year-round, you should do so every few months. You can use a grill brush, some soapy water, an empty bucket to catch debris and an old sponge you can throw away after finishing the job.
Scrub down the grates with your brush, then remove and wash the burner protectors. Wipe down the grime on the burners, and clear out all the gunk that has settled down on the bottom. After you’ve finished cleaning the burners, you can move on to the plates below, which will get quite dirty. These plates are easy to pull out and clean with your grill brush, but there will be lots of char and grime that settles down at the bottom.
Once you’ve cleaned all these components, you can put the grill back together. It’s not going to be perfectly spotless, but cleaning in this way will go a long way toward extending your grill’s lifespan and improving its performance.
For more information about grill maintenance in Seattle, contact Stewart Lumber & Hardware Co. today.