Orange flames on grill?

[JHZR2]

We have a Weber Q320, which we absolutely love for its size, efficiency, heat and quality. It has been really great. Tonight we were cooking some steaks, but for some reason, had a lot of orange flame. Dont know why - we have never had this before. It was completely orange, where typically it is a nearly invisible blue. This grill will do just about 600F when fully burning. I warmed it up on high and casually saw >500F on it even with the funny burn, which was orange before I put any food on. .

Here's a picture I snapped:

You can see the orange, but it was on all areas of all burners. It's not just some fat catching fire.

What's more odd is that after we were done cooking, I cleaned the grates and then was warming the grill up again before rubbing some flax oil on slightly warm grates as a preservative. It burned full blue as normal!

What gives? Any idea? The grill looks and operates like new.

Should I be concerned? I have a half tank of LP.



And since this is the food forum, we made this:

Steak (we used grass fed tenderloin, coated with Bragg's liquid aminos and cumin), with avocado-radish salsa (three types of radish from our garden), and then a tomato salsa made from the most beautiful local NJ tomatoes that you've ever seen.

 

[Chris142]

Mine does that if I open the gas valve on the tank too fast. It makes the OPD restrict the amount of gas it will flow. I turn my tank off and wait till I hear a click then turn it back on slowly and it's ok.

May or may not be your problem though.

 

[volk06]

I'm grilling steaks right now on the exact same grill! I went all last summer on only 1 tank of propane and I grill at least 3 times a week during the summer. It was an expensive grill but the propane efficiency greatly makes up for the extra cost.

I usually have to cook with mine on low other wise I'm at 450F easily. Sometimes if I'm doing potatoes I'll just use the center one for a consistent 375F

 

[Donald]

I would take the burners out and look for spiders or rust blocking the burner inlet or the gas outlet.

The burners do not last forever. They rust and the holes get too large. Even if the burners are SS.

 

[mrplavick]

I can't add anything but to say that, even as a charcoal traditionalist, your grill and food look wonderful.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Simple. Orange flame means incomplete combustion. Insect nests, clogged, rusty burners, clogged vents, or possibly a faulty tank/safety valve.

Just start with the burners and work your way backwards to the tank. It's a good idea to clean it once a year, and grills are so simple that anyone can do it.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Simple. Orange flame means incomplete combustion. Insect nests, clogged, rusty burners, clogged vents, or possibly a faulty tank/safety valve.

Just start with the burners and work your way backwards to the tank. It's a good idea to clean it once a year, and grills are so simple that anyone can do it.


No kidding. Burners are not rusty in any way, just classic blueish color of as burners.

The key thing is that this happened once and then it didn't repeat. If it were a clog or a burner issue, it would be consistent. So I'm thinking tank/safety valve. I'll have to play with it. Chris142 has given some basis to start.

What's your grill cleaning regimen? Do you have cast iron grates? I prefer them to anything else, and find that polymerizing flax oil on 150F grates works well.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2

What's your grill cleaning regimen? Do you have cast iron grates? I prefer them to anything else, and find that polymerizing flax oil on 150F grates works well.


I just pull the grates, burners, and interior parts out each spring and fall, and anything that can get power washed does get power washed.

If the grates are dirty, after each use I bump the temp up to about 700 degrees for a few minutes. That carbonizes anything stuck to the grates and they simply brush off.

 

[JHZR2]

I've seen in multiple places to not remove cooking residues unless they are to be stored for a long time. I usually preheat my grill to around 5-600 before cooking, and that not only burns anything on there, but also dries (cooks) any seasoning on the grates. We grill once or twice a week at most, so I like to have a protective coating on there to prevent rust or degradation. The cook surface is large enough that fat from cooking meats doesn't spread to all areas.

Do you coat the grates with anything to protect?

 

[GT Mike]

My parent's Char-Broil professional series did this last year when I was over there cooking for our family reunion. It was nearly impossible to get enough heat to cook all the burgers, brats, hot dogs, etc. that needed to be done in a couple hours before people got there. Swapped propane bottles, and it didn't fix it. Googled the problem, and ended up doing what was recommended... Turn the gas off at the bottle, let it flame out, wait a few minutes, then fire it up again. This did work. It hasn't acted up since.