So I scored my first SS Performer at an estate sale. It was all there-- grates, old-style wire-type coal baskets, cover, thermo, gas tank, and I even dug around in the garage and found the missing plastic coal container.
So I topped off the tank and it lit right up. But after the burner fired for a few minutes, it will do this intermittent pah-pah-pah-pah sounding thing, at a rate of a little more than 1 per second. The burner doesn't go out, but just runs consistently with this constant interruption. It does it whether I have the gas running at full open or tweaked down. And after about 10 or so starting sessions, the burner is hard to get lit in the first place, requiring a few pops of the ignitor (but then it burns with the above pattern).
Any thoughts? I removed the burner assembly to clean the bowl, but haven't done anything to the burner itself other than reattach it. Does it need to be cleaned, or have parts replaced or something?
Also, how long do most folks use the burner? For the whole lighting cycle, or just for a couple of minutes to get started?