# Only one side of grill works?



## Farmgirl22 (Jun 12, 2006)

We have a Charbroil grill--yeah, I know it's a cheap piece of crap, but hey, it was in the budget...

It's not very old, and since about our 3rd time of using it the right side hasn't worked...at all for the most part, although occasionally it will come on really low and cranking up the knob doesn't seem to help it any. The left side works fine, but I really prefer to cook whole meals on the grill rather than just one (or possibly two) pieces of meat at a time.

What could be the problem, and how could I fix it?

Thanks!


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## Raised Grain (Feb 27, 2006)

Spiders are known to inhabit the gas orfice. A quick cleaning of the orfice should remove the pesky critter. They will be back also.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I'd disassemble the valve assembly's (they should just lift out and check the tubes. The bugs are a likely suspect. This should be an easy fix.


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## Farmgirl22 (Jun 12, 2006)

I'll take it apart tomorrow and try your ideas. Thank goodness it sounds like an easy (and free!) fix.


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## Drabdr (Nov 26, 2007)

The simple fix mentioned by the others is a really good, very probable cause.:up:

A couple of things: 

1) When the burner is on, what does the flame look like? If it's really yellow, it may not be getting enough oxygen. Too, look at the burner. Does it look rusty and all? Does it feel heavy (has junk and soot all in it)? Are all the holes open, or are they covered up?

If the burners are cast iron, then it would be worth the time cleaning it out. If it's the light-weight Stainless Steel, I might find a replacement at Home Depot or such (if the burner needs replacement).

2) Do the flames look different, or does the food just cook different? Like you mentioned, most economy grills are not designed for temperature uniformity. Too, air may get to one burner better than the other. So, one burner may distribute heat better than another. 

Also... do you have an electronic ignition? Those wires get somewhat brittle, so take some time taking it off prior to jumping in. Too, make notice of the depth of the ignition from the surface, so you can set it back where it was. That's just assuming the wire has to be taken off to do your check.

There are little hoses feeding the gas to each burner. Assure they are all the way up on the manifold. Take a little care with those too; many times they are also brittle.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

One thing I do occasionally is to clean the stainless steel burners in my Weber with a wire brush to keep the ignition working properly to all the sections.


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## Drabdr (Nov 26, 2007)

JohnWill said:


> One thing I do occasionally is to clean the stainless steel burners in my Weber with a wire brush to keep the ignition working properly to all the sections.


Good point, John. It's important to keep that surface clean; otherwise the dirt and soot will act as an insulator. If it's not too fragile, that wire brush will do the trick on the tip of the ignitor.:up:


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## Farmgirl22 (Jun 12, 2006)

I'll keep that in mind too--I didn't get the chance to work on it today...too much other stuff going on. So you think the ignitor will start to work again if I do that? It wasn't a big deal for us, but the ignitor never worked (didn't on the old grill either, so like I said, wasn't a big deal) but it would be nice to have a working ignitor so I don't have to dig out the matches every time I fire up the grill. :up: :up:


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## Drabdr (Nov 26, 2007)

Farmgirl22 said:


> I'll keep that in mind too--I didn't get the chance to work on it today...too much other stuff going on. So you think the ignitor will start to work again if I do that? It wasn't a big deal for us, but the ignitor never worked (didn't on the old grill either, so like I said, wasn't a big deal) but it would be nice to have a working ignitor so I don't have to dig out the matches every time I fire up the grill. :up: :up:


What kind of ignitor is it? Is it one that's automatic (you have to put an AA or AAA battery in it), or manual (takes some pressure to push it in; you clear a pronounced click)?

Is the ignitor on the side of the "good" burner, or the "not good" burner?


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

FWIW, the igniters are pretty cheap, I think one for my Weber was around $10.


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## Farmgirl22 (Jun 12, 2006)

Drabdr said:


> What kind of ignitor is it? Is it one that's automatic (you have to put an AA or AAA battery in it), or manual (takes some pressure to push it in; you clear a pronounced click)?
> 
> Is the ignitor on the side of the "good" burner, or the "not good" burner?


There's only one ignitor button, and it's the "clicky" kind. It's on the side of the "good" burner.



JohnWill said:


> FWIW, the igniters are pretty cheap, I think one for my Weber was around $10.


Still, I think if it has to be replaced, I'd rather spend that $10 somewhere else.  (Like to help replace a couple of $200 faucets....) Besides, this grill was fairly old (although it had never been used ) when we bought it, it's probably obsolete by now.


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## worknfool (Sep 27, 2008)

I bought a fancier Charbroil, sort of like a V.W. bug with a Rolls Royce grill. Had it for three years and yes, spiders move into at least one of the burner bars every year. The burner bars on all of the Charbroils that I saw at the orange borg were all light weight steel, as are mine, and three of my five burners have cracked already. The screws that they use to attach them are incredibly small and mild so they strip very easily. Ended up drilling most of them out and tapping in larger screws. The burners should still be available at H.D. for a reasonable price. The ones around my way put most of their grills and parts on reduction this time of year to reduce their inventories for winter. Using these grills with cracked burners is very dangerous and the cracks are not always easy to see. Some of mine burned like they were just dirty,very jumpy yellow orange flame, but when I started to wire brush them the cracks became much more obvious.


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## wacor (Feb 22, 2005)

I gave up on buying the cheap grills. maybe they hold up if you clean them all the time. otherwise they rot and have issues.


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## worknfool (Sep 27, 2008)

Rarely do I spend as spontaneously as when I bought this grill. The stainless steel hypnotized me. Only later did it reveal its poorly made communist Chinese heart.


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## wacor (Feb 22, 2005)

worknfool said:


> Rarely do I spend as spontaneously as when I bought this grill. The stainless steel hypnotized me. Only later did it reveal its poorly made communist Chinese heart.


I gulped and brought out the charge card and bought a Ducane

One side of it does not light automatically either. but this thread gave me a reminder so I checked it out. in my case I switched the wires and was able to isolate the problem. now to get the part and should be good to go.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

My Weber has been around for years, and other than replacing consumable parts once in a while, it's still as good as new.


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