Barbecue Won't Light Up

 

  #1  
Old 04-30-15, 10:36 AM
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Barbecue Won't Light Up

I have a problem with a barbecue that is driving me insane, and need some help, please.

This unit is two years old. It has five straight burners inside and one circular burner at the side, and an igniter button operating all six igniter wires. The propane is fed via a tube that is routed to a point underneath the side burner where the side burner tube taps in, then runs along the front of the barbecue feeding all five inside straight burners.

The first time I used it this year, it lit up normally. The second time it refused to light!

I thought the tank might have been empty, so I replaced it with a full tank. Still does not light. All igniter wires look fine and the burners are not excessively corroded to prevent sparks from jumping the gap. The old tank I think still has some gas, but am now testing with the full tank.

I have reset the regulator by turning off the gas at the tank valve, disconnecting the regulator and letting it sit for a while before reconnecting. Still it does not light!

Then I removed a connection of the tubing underneath the side burner and pushed a wire all the way down the tube. Could not feel or pull out any debris from either side, so I replaced the connection. Still it does not light!

Tried using a long tube butane lighter to see if I could light it that way. The side burner lights and burns with a decent flame on high. I was able to light the straight burner closest to the side burner after a while of waiting for gas to build. But that's it. None of the other burners want to light. Seems that not enough gas is getting to them maybe!

Do I need to replace the regulator or is something else going on here?

Thanks,

quickcurrent
 
  #2  
Old 04-30-15, 01:30 PM
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Have you changed the battery in the igniter? If it doesn't click (quarts piezo), then it has a battery. Is your transfer tube clean? Take a clothes hanger or something like that and run it along the channel which feeds the different burners. An obstruction will cause the gas to pour out rather than run down the channel.
 
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Old 04-30-15, 09:24 PM
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An extremely likely problem is that the ports in the burner are clogged with rust at the point where the ignition point is located. See if you can light the burner at that location with your long reach lighter.
 
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Old 05-01-15, 09:08 AM
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Thanks chandler and PJmax, I'll do as you suggest and see what happens.
 
  #5  
Old 05-02-15, 03:06 PM
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I had two problems.

One is that the ignitor stopped working. Replacing the battery did not fix it, so I need to replace it as it provides no spark to any of the burners.

The second problem was the regulator, must have been stuck. After re-setting it twice, I was able to get enough gas to each and all of the burners to get them all lit using the long tip butane lighter.

The burner holes are clear, there is not too much rust or dirt accumulation on any of them, and the propane gas tube leading to the burners is clear.

It was the double whammy of these two problems occurring simultaneously that had me in a jam.

The regulator may have to be replaced before too long, but for now, it's working.
 
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Old 05-03-15, 08:48 AM
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I'm not quite sure how you reset a regulator but if you feel it is defective....replace it now.
Don't wait for a propane delivery problem to become serious.
 
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Old 05-03-15, 06:26 PM
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PJ max, I reset the regulator by turning off the gas at the tank, unscrewing the connection from the tank to the regulator and opening the burner controls, waiting for awhile and then doing the reverse and turning the gas on slowly at the tank. The site for one of the main barbecue makers says to do that up to three times. I needed to do it twice.

I liked the old regulators - they were less finicky, no need to turn the gas on in slow motion! That is the first thing I learned when I bought this barbecue - turn on the gas ever so slow otherwise the barbecue didn't work!

I think I will need to buy a new ignitor - what a pain to have to manually light each burner individually!
 
  #8  
Old 05-03-15, 06:46 PM
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It is the excess flow valve that you are resetting, not the regulator. This is a safety device in case the hose parts for some unknown reason.
 
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Old 05-04-15, 09:28 AM
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Got you, Furd.

I thought the pressure relief valve (or excess flow valve) was in the regulator, but it's in the tank.
 
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Old 05-05-15, 02:53 AM
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The excess flow valve is usually built into the coupler nut. The tank has an OPD, Overfill Protection Device, essentially a float valve, to prevent filling the tank to more than 80% of its volume which is also a safety measure. In addition to the OPD there is a spring-loaded pressure safety device built into the tank valve itself.

In summary, The excess flow device will "lock up" if it detects a flow rate greater than some set value that would normally occur ONLY when the hose was severely damaged or some fool tried to supply gas without having an orifice in the burner line. The OPD prevents the tank (cylinder/bottle) from being filled to more than 80% of its internal volume in order to allow expansion room for the liquified gas due to ambient temperature change. The spring-loaded safety valve prevents excess internal tank pressure from either overfilling or extreme high temperature.
 
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Old 05-05-15, 08:46 AM
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Hmmm... none of those things you describe, Furd, happened in my case.

"The excess flow device will "lock up" if it detects a flow rate greater than some set value that would normally occur ONLY when the hose was severely damaged or some fool tried to supply gas without having an orifice in the burner line."

Still the gas wasn't flowing fully to be able to light it until I did the reset thing. Must have been something else then. In any case, it's working fine now, I just have to light the burners individually with a butane lighter until I replace the ignitor.

Thanks for all that good stuff, though.
 
  #12  
Old 07-21-15, 03:14 PM
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apparently there are benefits to charcoal, a charcoal chimney works great for igniting, one piece of newspaper and you can light the charcoal
 
 

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