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Char Broil Grills?

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 1:58 pm
by rms827
I can use a little help on this one...

I got started grilling late in life due to apartment living. My first real grill was a Char-Broil "Tru-Infrared" gas grill. Yeah, I know, Weber is the gold standard for gas grills for regular folks, but we got it cheap. I got fairly good with it, but it's been a pain in some ways. I'm trying to figure out if this thing is worth keeping as a secondary grill for searing, etc... if I should sell it, or just junk it.

My main issue is that the thing runs really hot. I've replaced the regulator, dismantled the thing and cleaned the heck out of the gas tubes, etc... and the coldest the deck thermometers will read when it's running is around 475. Typically it's around 525, and can reach almost 700 with the lid down. Is this normal for gas grills? What I've read indicates I should be able to get a gas grill cooking temperature as low as 350 or so.

The other issues are that the grill plates are a pain in the... rear to clean due to their design. Also, due to the high heat, the stainless steel grill plates have heat discolored so bad that they look like they're rusting out. The electric igniter switch is junk too.

Re: Char Broil Grills?

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 9:09 pm
by Rambo
Come on home to Texas Brother

Re: Char Broil Grills?

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 10:12 pm
by Papa Tom
My son had one of those Tru- Infrared CB'rs and one day a strong gust came through taking it for a tumble out of the breeze way clear to the middle of the driveway.
He said "it's toast" I looked at it and said I think this is fixable, He said "Don't touch it the wife thinks it's trashed that's all I need..."
He has been happily using a pellet pit backed up with a charcoal grill..

Re: Char Broil Grills?

Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 12:13 pm
by rms827
Papa Tom wrote:My son had one of those Tru- Infrared CB'rs and one day a strong gust came through taking it for a tumble out of the breeze way clear to the middle of the driveway.
He said "it's toast" I looked at it and said I think this is fixable, He said "Don't touch it the wife thinks it's trashed that's all I need..."
He has been happily using a pellet pit backed up with a charcoal grill..


Funny you mention it getting banged up, LOL. We don't need strong wind here, we have UPS delivery. The local guy thinks he's recreating the opening scene of Ace Ventura I, I swear. I spent hours straightening sheet metal and other repairs before I assembled it and got it working. Got Amazon to knock another $150 off the price though rather than have to deal with the return. :mrgreen:

I could deal with the heat discolored grill plates and what a pain to clean it is if it wasn't like trying to cook with a flame thrower.

Re: Char Broil Grills?

Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 6:15 am
by rms827
OK, last try here... I'd like to fix this thing and sell it to recoup a little of our initial investment. Here's a slightly out of focus pic that shows what I mean...

Image

Since the thermometer is out of focus, I'll just say that where it's nearly pegged out at is 700 degrees. That's with the gas barely over half way on at the know and the valve on the propane bottle opened maybe 2/3 of a turn. I've replaced the regulator once already. Got a non-adjustable one like it originally came with. Note that's 700 degrees with the lid left up also when it was 60 degrees outside.

Here's a pic of my tri tip getting seared so you all can see the condition of the grill plates. They're blackened more than the meat, LOL.

Image

I'm at a loss here. Almost all google search results turn up the opposite issue with gas not flowing after the regulator is tripped or the gas lines get clogged. The other few posts are very helpful and consist of turn down the gas. :angryfire: :banghead:

I can turn it down to the point it no longer stays burning and up to that point it'l still run at almost 500 degrees.

Re: Char Broil Grills?

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2018 4:15 am
by rms827
Well, nobody here did have an answer. Interesting update though. I saw somebody selling a used one online (exact same model) and emailed asking if they had similar issues. He said his was doing the exact same thing and he had to run it on dead low to fast cook. Guess it's a known Char-Broil defect at this point.

Re: Char Broil Grills?

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2018 9:23 am
by nickcooksbbq
Any chance it’s setup for natural gas instead of propane? Lots of brands sell both LP and NG models. NG is going to use a different (larger) sized orphus to allow more gas thru.


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Re: Char Broil Grills?

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2018 11:09 am
by OldUsedParts
:tup: very good point from, Nick :salut:

Re: Char Broil Grills?

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2018 11:14 pm
by rms827
nickcooksbbq wrote:Any chance it’s setup for natural gas instead of propane? Lots of brands sell both LP and NG models. NG is going to use a different (larger) sized orphus to allow more gas thru.


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Honestly, that's the most logical explanation, Nick. Really it's the first thing I've heard that actually makes sense at all as a possible explanation. I actually went back and looked at the listing on Amazon from my order history. MAYBE they accidentally built it with NG burners (or did it to cover a parts shortage), but it is supposed to be a propane system that can be converted to NG if you buy a separate kit.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001H ... UTF8&psc=1


EDIT: After Nick's post, I think I'm going to contact Char-Broil and see if I do have incorrect burners.

Re: Char Broil Grills?

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2018 3:29 am
by bbqking95
Well, when I bought my grill, that was not gas grill or electric, I saw on their website a blog post about grills. They had a subsection about non-charcoal grills.

I don't want to be a spammer or anything just trying to help a guy out and maybe someone else finds it useful - https://gizzo.co/blogs/news/small-charcoal-grills

Re: Char Broil Grills?

Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2018 8:28 am
by scott76067
late to the party but you need the grill grates that go on top of what youre cooking on.