changing with the times

[rober]

back in the day the power steering on my 1954 5 window chevy truck was a BIG steering wheel. power windows & mirrors, who needs em' right, until you've used them. I got a Weber performer awhile back that has the propane lighter but continued using my charcoal chimney. last week digging around my shop I found a small propane tank & decided to try the gas ignitor on my performer. I'm hooked! is there anything I need to do to maintain it?

[hawgheaven]

Yup. Keep using the chimney, lit with a can of Sterno. Been doing that for years... I hate that POS gas igniter.

[Neil_VT00]

I'd say check that your hose is in good shape and run a pipe cleaner through the burner tube to make sure there aren't any spider nests in there.  Otherwise if it's working you should be all set. 

I love my gas assist. It's great for lighting a chimney or just a pile of coals on the charcoal grate for a direct cook.

[addicted-to-smoke]

Use the gas assist all the time, with the chimney. I brush ash off of it, when I have the charcoal grate removed for quick sweeping out. A vacuum's hose placed over it does a good job of sucking out ash from the tube, if needed (usually not needed).

My advice is to use it to get started, but run it no more than a few minutes. Let the chimney take over from there, unless you like running to the store for propane. Plan your cook 10 minutes early and you won't miss the extra time needed to get coals totally lit.

The other reasons I don't run the gas very long is because it WILL slowly ruin the charcoal grate (no matter what ... ) and because if you leave the gas on, you'll get big flames out the top of the chimney without them actually ashing over faster. It's like they're getting so much air flow, they go to flame, when what you want is ashed over. Does that make sense?

[addicted-to-smoke]

back in the day the power steering on my 1954 5 window chevy truck was a BIG steering wheel. power windows & mirrors, who needs em' right, until you've used them. ...

My step father-in-law has a 2000 F350, flat bed (not pickup bed). Uses it to get around a little, but mainly it was bought for pulling a 40ft horse trailer. His power windows are super s l o w and the cloth seats dirty ... the ones we prefer now are "just work trucks," vinyl seats and manual windows.