On Feb 18, 3:04*pm, "Steve B" wrote:
I have a Vermont Castings grill that I like a lot. *It's time to take it
apart and clean it up.

What's a good way to clean the grates? *IIRC, they are porcelain. *And the
flame diffusers, which are coated with layers of charred mammal fat? *And do
I really go through it all thoroughly, or is there a soak that I can use,
and a power wash/air jet finish up? *Some of it just needs a putty knife,
some elbow grease, and TLC. *Or should I just power wash and scrape
everything, put it back together, and run it on high for an hour or so to
burn off the excess?

TIA

Steve

My neighbor turned me on to using Oven Cleaner.
We just place the BBQ parts on many layers of newspaper and spray.

Spray at a shallow angle so the spray that "over spray" will hit other
parts of the grills.

I put one grill on top of the other but offset slightly so I waste
less of the spray.
Let it sit for 1/2 hr and just keep spraying the stuff on if areas
are dry or if gunk isn't loosened.

The interior of the BBQ I scrape with a putty knife or old spatula.
To avoid scratching the stainless steel I make sure my putty knife
doesn't have sharp corners or I use a plastic scraper.
I sometimes use the oven spray on the interior too.

I either scrape, wipe (old disposable rags) or hose off the loosened
gunk.
Scraping is slow, wiping is a bit messy and hosing generates messy
runoff.

Sometimes I run the grill through the dishwasher but be
forewarned.....
there can a fair amount of carbonized residual that will require a
number of dishwasher runs to eliminate.

I would avoid running the BBQ very long on high without a cooking load
in it.
I would suggest maybe 20 to 30 minutes on low or medium....... just
enough to dry everything out without overheating the parts.

cheers
Bob