Mark42
Fleet Admiral
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2003
- Messages
- 9,334
Seems to me that the garden variety gas grill used to last 5-8 years or so. The last one was a Lowes "Perfect Flame" stainless steel unit that had the burners corrode/burn through in just two seasons of use. Ordered a new set of burners (3 at about $30 a piece) and that made it through another year and already one is shot. The grill before that was a Char-Broil brand, not too bad, but after 4 seasons, the burners were shot and it was cheaper to just buy a new one (hence the previously mentioned Perfect Flame).
So this year my wife is planning a big spring party. Wanted a new grill, and wanted a good quality unit. So after getting sticker shock on the Weber units, I find Ducane is now made by Weber and share many of the same parts, but cost much less. I see the warranty on the burners is five years. Just before placing an order for a Ducane, I called Ducane customer service and asked about the warranty. This year they changed the warranty from 5 years on the burners to 2 years. Hmmmm. Whats the point of the Ducane if they won't warranty the burners?
So after much back and forth, hemming and hawing, I ordered a Weber. 10 year warranty on the stainless burners, 25 on most other parts, and 5 years on painted parts.
Got the Genesis S-310 model.
Darned things are quite a bit more than the run-of-the-mill, but when I stopped at a hardware store that had the Weber units on display, I can see there is a real difference in parts grade and quality. Makes me feel better about the price.
Hope all goes well with the order and it gets delivered safe and sound.
BTW, two websites that sell OE weber parts have separate listings for the Weber grills bought at Home Depot. That made me feel the HD units are not the same as the regular retail model, even though they have the same model number. At any rate, it made me purchase from an online appliance dealer.
So this year my wife is planning a big spring party. Wanted a new grill, and wanted a good quality unit. So after getting sticker shock on the Weber units, I find Ducane is now made by Weber and share many of the same parts, but cost much less. I see the warranty on the burners is five years. Just before placing an order for a Ducane, I called Ducane customer service and asked about the warranty. This year they changed the warranty from 5 years on the burners to 2 years. Hmmmm. Whats the point of the Ducane if they won't warranty the burners?
So after much back and forth, hemming and hawing, I ordered a Weber. 10 year warranty on the stainless burners, 25 on most other parts, and 5 years on painted parts.
Got the Genesis S-310 model.
Darned things are quite a bit more than the run-of-the-mill, but when I stopped at a hardware store that had the Weber units on display, I can see there is a real difference in parts grade and quality. Makes me feel better about the price.
Hope all goes well with the order and it gets delivered safe and sound.
BTW, two websites that sell OE weber parts have separate listings for the Weber grills bought at Home Depot. That made me feel the HD units are not the same as the regular retail model, even though they have the same model number. At any rate, it made me purchase from an online appliance dealer.
