That was yesterday morning's Facebook update. It turns out to have generated a fair amount of interest. People wrote asking if I had blown myself up yet, commented that they had just bought a new BBQ rather than clean up the old one, and so on. I thought about buying a new one, but my old Weber Genesis 1000 was expensive when I bought it 12 years ago (around $500), and would have been even more expensive to replace ($799 at Home Depot). Aside from some rusting parts inside, the exterior was in good shape. So I ordered up replacement burners, flavor bars, and grills from Capital Appliance & BBQ, dismantled and cleaned the BBQ, and reassembled it.
Here's the BBQ.
And here are the rotten parts I removed. The flavour bars were so rusted that pieces had fallen into the drip pan below, and were collecting grease which causes fires. Notice that the parts of the burners that were inside the kettle are rusted (although still pretty solid!), while the parts on the outside are like new — shiny shiny shiny! They're nice solid pieces of stainless steel, but the traces of moisture in liquid propane cause the burners to eventually rust.
And here are the shiny new burners installed, plus new stainless flavour bars, and and stainless grills. I decided to try the stainless bars rather than the porcelain coated, at the recommendation of the folks at Capital BBQ.
And all put back together.
Alec is done with rebuilding BBQ. New burners, flavor bars, grills, and a (relatively) thorough cleaning. Now VERY VERY dirty. 2:39pm
Total time — 3:00 hours. After reassembly, it worked like new again. It's capable of heating to inferno temperatures for searing steaks, and also the gentlest of slow cooking temperatures. Total cost to refurbish was in the neighborhood of $400 — half the price of a new Weber — and my perfectly good old barbeque hasn't been prematurely consigned to the landfill.
The toughest part about the whole job was cleaning and cleanup. The shower was a welcome relief, but even so a day later I've still got dirt ground into my skin and fingernails.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Alec, this is so funny as I had the same grill (purchased also at Home Depot in Bellevue about 12 years ago) and rehabbed it just like you did. I didn’t end up replacing the burners but everything else looked about like your grill’s parts. I also spraypainted the red to black a few years ago.
Weird parallel world.
We looked at the Webers in Canadian Tire yesterday – the most expensive with a sideburner, rotisserie etc. was $549, too big for our deck. We did not get any BBQ but will see what they have to offer at the Depot.
I can’t say enough good things about the Weber, Ma.
I was given this same exact model today by my father-in-law. All the internals are missing but he ordered all new parts; he just never had time to put it together. I’m glad to see one come back to life. Do you have any tips on connecting the burners? The rest of it seems straight forward.
Did you repaint the interior? If so, what did you use? Finally, did you replace the feed hose from the tank with a new one?
Hi Matthew,
The burner kit provided by Weber has detailed instructions on how to reconnect them. It’s pretty simple, though. You remove the assembly on the right hand side that has the gas control (there are a couple of screws on the oven that it’s fastened in with, slide the new burners in, and then reattach that assembly.
My hose didn’t need replacing, but I did check it using soapy water.
As for paint, I didn’t and wouldn’t. It gets VERY hot inside (last night I was doing steaks, and the interior was past 600 degrees, according to my thermometer) and paint would likely burn off, flavoring or worse yet, poisoning, your food. The flaking you see on the inside is not paint, but rather an accumulation of carbon from years of use.
WOnder how to get rid of the white powdery appearance on outside of the fire box. I see it on your "before" picture, but you do not mention it.
Can it be cleaned off(and with what)? I was thinking of painting it with high temp auto engine paint to get it looking black again.
Any ideas?
Don,
The material on the outside is residue from oven cleaner from a previous cleaning. It makes a mess out of the aluminum firebox. You could try painting it, but I can’t tell you what the result would since I didn’t do that myself…
A
Have an 1987 Genesis 5 stiil works great have replaced grill and flavourizer bars only with stainless. Definitely go stainless bars for grilling .
Only parts that have rusted and need to be replaced again drip pan support rails.
WEBER IS BAR FAR THE BEST 30 years experience from original charcoal kettle.
Hi Russell — i didn't see a manifold when I did mine, but I wasn't looking either. Mine was in good shape. The biggest problem I had was that some of the gas jets had corroded to the point of closure, and thus the burners needed to be replaced.
i’m just about to rebuild my 1997 g-1000.
i see replacements for the burner tubes and ignitor kit, but what about that manifold piece inbetween? did you replace this? i don’t see it on any of the sites.
Alex I have weber that looks just like your’s I but it’s Natural Gas, in any case the white stuff on the outside can be removed by just buy rubbing the outside with a light oil. I did it on mine and it looks great. I did as you did I rebuilt it as well. Weber is a great grill!
Thanks for the tip Ricky!
I had the small brass gas orifices in the manifolds of my Weber Genesis Silver B drilled and the line attached to my house gas line. The holes were not drilled large enough so I need to remove the orifices from the manifolds so I can drill larher holes. Does anyone know how to access the manifolds so I can get to the orifices, and does anyone know the right size drill to use? I think a #53 was used. Thanks.
Love your BBQ! I have the same one and am in the middle of rebuilding it with new burners etc. It was given to me about 7 years ago and to this day I still have friends threatening to steal it from me! This is the best BBQ I’ve ever used.
I did the same thing; gutted out the Genesis and replaced the rack and flavor bars and porcelain grills. I did pick up a can of BBQ rated paint and refinished the exterior. Took a grinder to the interior, did not paint. I am planning to refinish the stained wood shelves. The only thing left is to replace its cover. Anyone know where I can find one?
Also trying the same thing, but have run into problems with the very stained wooden shelves. Any ideas about how-to would be appreciated — is there a paint I can use to cover the unsightly stains left even after I have used teak cleaner?
I replaced the cover with a non-Webber one from home depot.
Trying to find a replacement for the quick disc connect coupler and I have the same grill as in the pic but not sure what model it is. Any Help Thanks!
Matt
My uncle gave me the identical grill and it even has the same color. Looks like it was only used a few times as the internal parts are still shiny. I'm going to keep it and just look at it! I rebuilt my girlfriends, she has the same one and has been using it for many years and it outlasted her ex. Works like new with the new stainless pieces and the girlfriend is happy!