Propane BBQ taking forever to cook

[Sagecoachdriver]

My old Weber Go anywhere grill fits nice in the rear compartment of our Forester. I have used on many occasion 1Lb cans, 1 gal tank and 5 gal tank. All seem to put out the same heat. It's not enough. Last trip I cooked hamburgers and it took over 40 minutes. Today at home I tried my full 5 gal can cooking chicken breasts and it took 55 minutes. The BBQ is over 10 years old and the new Weber Go anywhere look very cheap. Any comments and suggestions on a new small grill with lots of heat would be appreciated.
Note 6,500 btu and 160sq in

[Keystoner]

I'd first check the tubing and burners for dirt, cobwebs etc. Blow some compressed air through if possible. Next I'd replace the regulator. If the regulator doesn't solve it, I'd look for a new grill.

[Sagecoachdriver]

Looking at new grills with 10,000 btu's.

[Duckogram]

Webers last a long long time. Sounds like your burners need a cleaning.

[Sagecoachdriver]

Originally Posted by Duckogram

Webers last a long long time. Sounds like your burners need a cleaning.

You might be right, the burner tube looks pretty bad. Will remove it tomorrow and give it a good cleaning inside and out. Took the regulator orifice off today and gave it a good cleaning, but flame looks inconsistent and low.

[Sagecoachdriver]

Cleaned the burn this morning with WD40, wire brush and air compressor. Huge difference in flame. Now solid blue all the way around the burner and much larger than flame than before.
Thanks

[Iwannacamp]

I have had trouble with LPG items where the valve was causing a restriction in flow.

DO THESE AT YOUR OWN RISK !!!!!!! AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON CANNOT SERVICE LPG ITEMS !!

One could take apart the on/off valve and clean and re-lubricate the plug/ball in the valve. My smoker had gotten grease in the orifice and restricted flow. YMMV

[Iwannacamp]

Originally Posted by Sagecoachdriver

Cleaned the burn this morning with WD40, wire brush and air compressor. Huge difference in flame. Now solid blue all the way around the burner and much larger than flame than before.
Thanks

there you have it!!

[Kimber45]

always turn the tank on first, then turn the valves on the grill. I had a grill that if you turned the grill on first then the tank the regulator would kinda lock up and the grill would not get hot.

[D W]

I would say you need a new grill. With 10 years under it's belt, it's shot. Not worth investing in parts to cure it's ills.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by Kimber45

always turn the tank on first, then turn the valves on the grill. I had a grill that if you turned the grill on first then the tank the regulator would kinda lock up and the grill would not get hot.

New propane tanks (any that have the external Acme thread as well as the left-hand internal thread) have two extra "features" that weren't in the older tanks:

1. Overfill-Protection Device (OPD) which prevents filling the tank too full. (This is roughly like the fill valve in a residential toilet tank.)
2. Excess Flow Valve (EFV) which limits flow from the tank if there's a sudden drop in the pressure at the valve. (This is to prevent a huge volume of gas releasing at once if a hose breaks.)

You've described a tank with a sensitive EFV. As you stated, you can avoid tripping it by opening the tank valve slowly first, then slowly opening the valve at the grill.

If you do trip the valve, it must be reset by closing the tank valve, then removing all pressure by either opening the grill valve or disconnecting the hose. Wait a minute, then close the grill valve or reconnect it.

Larry

[45RPM]

I agree with Kimber45. However the reverse is true, too. If you shut off the valve at the tank first then shut off the burners, you can develop some kind of lock in the regulator and then the burners don't get very hot the next time you fire it up. I think the correction procedure was to close the valve at the grill, then open the valve at the tank, then open the valve at the grill and light. Then close the valve at the grill, then the tank, then open the tank, then open the grill valve, then light and you should be ready to cook. I hope I remember that correctly. I had that problem and found this fix on line and it worked.
-Rich

[TheHog]

I had the same problem awhile back with my Weber. I found a thread somewhere online about the issue.
Unhook any tanks, turn your burners to high and let it set for 10 minutes. Turn the burners off then reconnect to your propane source. Light it up as usual. This gets the air that could be trapped in your lines out. It turns out to be a pretty common problem. If you run out of fuel or turn your propane off before turning the your knobs off first this can happen. It worked for me. I got 3 more years out of my Weber for a total of 13 great years.

[Sagecoachdriver]

Going to keep the Weber. Replaced the heat plate a few years back and plenty of heat with cleaned burner. Happy camper here!😊