Troubleshooting Weber S-335; NO gas flow!

[wotan92]

6 month old S335, worked perfectly as delivered. Cooked 7 times - fine results (full temp ranges & all 5 burners working.)

Replaced tank correctly - Opened valve slowly, waited 60 seconds, tried to ignite far left main burner first .... NO JOY. Tried all 4 other burners in correct firing order - NO flame, no smell, no sound. Replaced tank with full Blue Rhino. Same result. Performed leak check, then tried Light Off - No Joy! Manual said to perform match-lightoff .... No flame, sound, or smell. Shut gas down, waited 30 minutes - Rinse, Repeat > Same results - NADA!

Called Weber - They sent a new regulator and hose. Installed, leak checked, and attempted light off - NO JOY! Called Weber again - A new gas manifold is now in the mail & a Weber tech will install and troubleshoot when it arrives.

I've had a propane cooker for 5 years before this. Had to replace that regulator once. Had 23 years of nuke plant operator experience including all types of hydrogen, helium, etc. gas operations, leak checks, PMs, etc.

Any suggestions on what I could be missing here? BTW exterior air temp has not been below 52 degrees Fahrenheit since this happened.... I can't find anything else in the manual.

[MBMorgan]

Have you tried removing the tank and opening its valve briefly to see if it's actually dispensing propane? It's not impossible that the tank/valve itself is at fault.

[GolfGeezer]

Had similar issues with my gassers in the past (Weber Summit and current Napoleon Pro). The sequence I found that worked for me: leave tank valve closed. Open all burners fully opened and leave that way for 5 minutes. Close them. Making sure the regulator hose is firmly attached to the tank, slowly open 1/4 turn. This allows the regulator to balance and reset. Try lighting. If that doesn’t work, guess it is up to the Weber tech.

[wotan92]

Capo Beach here .......... Will give it a go. BTW, was this regulator reset trick in your owner's manual?

[GolfGeezer]

wotan92 Sorry, I just saw your comment on this thread a tad late in the game! I really do not recall where - it definitely was NOT in the Napoleon's manual. I was probably doing some internet searches and found the suggestion that way.

[bbqLuv]

it is nice to read about how Weber is standing behind its products.

[Jfrosty27]

I have had a bad tank valve a couple of times. The "propane exchange" tanks are heavily used and abused over and over.

[SmokeyGator]

Did you check to see if some critter crawled into some port and clogged it?

[Donw]

Agree. Air blown thru all ports and hoses. Amazing what likes to crawl up and nest in grills.

[prepperjack]

Well, I have additional comments beyond what everyone else has said, but I did want to say hey from one Nuke to another. I was a Nuke in the Navy, (EM) though once I did my Navy time I decided my nuke days were behind me and I never went into commercial nuclear power.

[wotan92]

Prepperjack - I wasn't a Navy nuke (SONGS operator) but I worked with a whole lotta fine fellows that were probably with you aboard those boats, etc. I enjoyed their craziness and there ability to do things right, no matter the challenges! Fair winds & Following seas to you and yours.

[Mr. Bones]

Many heartfelt, an sincerely meant Thanks fer Yer Service, Brother, from an ol Air Det Seabee...

[wotan92]

All youse guys are awesome! I have solved my flow problem thanks to your suggestions. More later.

[Mr. Bones]

An jus like that, kersplat???

Aintcha gonna tell what it was, so's th next beleaguered an perplexed pilgrim might benefit? LOL

I'll stay tuned; it's better than anything likely to be on th TV, anytime, soon, like...

[wotan92]

Mr. Bones & All the Fine Helpers that flocked to my SOS -

Evelyn Wood version of my fix: 56.8% Operator Error, Remainder was procedural, design, & execution sloppiness. I (Bolded for m-FA-SYS!!!) discovered my problem before the Weber Tech got to CA from Las Vegas and gave him back all the free parts shipped posthaste from Weber to me to get that nice new cooker working. I had a leak at the flex hose to gas tank union that I didn't discover in the 'normal' sequence of 1) disconnect MTY tank, 2) pull off, 3) HANG full tank and 4) connect up and 5) cook.

In the sequence, even though I soapy-water checked (Snoop'd) my connections AFTER rehanging the tank ... I observed no leaks, But I missed a leak. Due to the "skirts" around the tank area on this model of Weber operator has a limited view of the connection and my small leak bubble was on an "invisible" vector from normal observation position. I had a leak - hence the overflow shutdown valve kicked in stopping gas flow to the burners!

How did I discover the leak? By sheer luck! After replacing/reconnecting many different full tanks several times (Propane gas generator - Fire Season - California - Commercial Nuke - Wife that always uses AC air conditioning - Hate Wind & solar unreliability.) By chance I SNOOP'd the tank / hose connection BEFORE I rehung that tank on the Full/Gonna Run Out this Cook HOOK. Voila! Large leak bubble. Reattached tank to hose, SNOOP'd, NO LEAK! Three other full tanks were attached while the tank was NOT hung on the hook. No leaks in any of the three following tanks.

BOTTOM LINE: Highly suggest you SNOOP (Water/Soap Spray on Connections) BEFORE hanging full tanks on this Weber cooker. Remember - 2 levels of competent Customer Reps had spent about one hour total on the phone trying various tweaks to solve my problem and another Weber guy (who knew a lot about cookers) tried to help me also on the phone. Several Home Depot & Ace Hardware BBQ assemblers didn't find my problem. "For want of a nail ...." a Memorial Day BBQ with a shiny new cooker was missed. But I love my Weber -no kidding.

Closing hint/tip: I am using a pizza stone from Lowe's as a heat deflector for 2 stage cooking apps. It sits beautifully just beneath the grates and evens out temps in the outer perimeter of the cooking area. Thanks again Amigos!

[jfmorris]

Wow! So the shutdown valve was actually doing its job! I've had it kick in myself due to opening the tank valve AFTER opening one of the grill valves, but never had it kick in for an actual leak on any of my Weber grills. Glad you got a resolution to your problem.

I've also done indirect on my old 2 burner Genesis by putting a pan down on the flavorizer bars under the grate, to act as a heat diffuser. I bet a stone works even better.

Happy grilling!

[Huskee]

Bigger & longer cliffhanger here than the season finales of good TV shows.... Thanks for coming back to answer it!

[wotan92]

I din't realize the level of knowledge nor the dedication to fixing a problem that the members of this site hold .... I promise to be more involved (when I ain't busy cookin'!)