Adventures With Grill #2: Grating over heating element out of position on delivery

Craig Lares

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After my post in which I described finding the super hot spot to the right of the fire box with my first SmokeFire, I subsequently took delivery of a second SmokeFire EX6 at my cabin last Friday. The grill had been delivered to our local hardware store, which provided assembly and delivery to our mountain cabin in the back of a pickup truck. When I attempted the initial burn in cycle, the grill wouldn't go over 80 degrees and finally gave me an E6 (no ignition of the pellets). I followed the trouble shooting guide and cleaned out all the pellets left in the pellet burn cavity. The heating element was glowing red indicating it was working properly. I noticed that the 3 in diameter metal grating over the heating element was in a strange position and the heating element was not sticking out of the hole in the grating and therefore was not coming into contact with pellets sufficiently to ignite them. 90 minutes later I finally had to unscrew the ramp and was able to get the grating back into its proper position with the heating element protruding from its hole like it in the figure in the manual. The grill seems to be working ok now (after two runs) but I'm keeping the old gas grill it is replacing around a while longer until I have a half dozen cooks under my belt with the new grill. Apparently the entire assembly of hardware that results in captivating the small grating over the heating element is not secured sufficiently to keep it in position through the jostling of shipment and delivery. Weber needs to add some fasteners to keep everything in its proper place!
 
I'm not sure I would blame weber for this one, sounds like it was assembled incorrectly. The end user/assembler is responsible for inserting the glow rod, sounds like yours was done wrong, or you have an extremely rough driveway :)
 
You may be right- I am not familiar with the assembly procedures and if positioning the grating is part of that, then it could have been an assembly error by the local hardware store.
 
You may be right- I am not familiar with the assembly procedures and if positioning the grating is part of that, then it could have been an assembly error by the local hardware store.
OK, I just went back and looked up the assembly instructions to make sure I was remembering correctly. Yes, you have to remove the glowplug holder, insert the glowplug and screw it all back together. I would check yours to ensure the hardware store reinserted the screw/got it tight etc. I don't know if this link will work, but it's step 23/24:

 
Thanks Dude. It could have been an assembly error, or it could have gotten jostled out of position during the final delivery trip (it was transported fully assembled). Weber may not have tested the entire grill's ability to withstand a delivery AFTER assembly since they ship the product un-assembled.
 
OK, I just went back and looked up the assembly instructions to make sure I was remembering correctly. Yes, you have to remove the glowplug holder, insert the glowplug and screw it all back together. I would check yours to ensure the hardware store reinserted the screw/got it tight etc. I don't know if this link will work, but it's step 23/24:

 

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I know the first time I tried to insert the glow plug when I was assmembling mine it didn’t protrude through the grate full so it’s possible they didn’t catch that when assembling it. Though yes delivery could have jostled some things around. When I rolled mine from my garage to my back porch the flavorizor bar shelf came lose.
 
The flavorizer bar in the front came off with mine when I rolled it from near my garage into position to start a cook. I have replaced the small casters with 5" poly wheels and the unit moves effortlessly and each wheel is capable of being locked into place. No more issues with the flavorizer bar falling off during transport.
Amazon:
5 Inch Total Lock Caster - Red Polyurethane Wheel - 1/2"-13 x 1.5" Threaded Stem Set of 4
 
those look great Tom. I bought the 5" wheels, but mine don't have the brakes...truth be told, now I'm wishing I'd bought the ones with brakes :)
 
You should assemble yourself, take your time and do it right. What does some kid from a hardware store care? Plus you’ll be familiar with the way it went together.
 
I agree, it’s not too difficult to assemble and between that and installing new welded chute I feel I know the way the grill goes together well.

I got these casters that Bruno recommended Locking Casters. They are great and since they lock both the wheels and the swivels they make the grill much sturdier.

C3E61EC0-37E1-4C6D-989D-7B54856BE9F5.jpeg
 

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