I bought a used three-zone Weber Summit-series barbecue for a really good price. It was well-used. Many of the screws keeping it together were corroded and falling apart. There were a couple of holes in the main cooking box. I repaired and restored the entire grill to a very workable condition with the help of Weber, who sells replacement parts and offers great customer support. Unfortunately, I don't weld, so my solution to patching holes involved washers, nuts, screws, and custom cut sheet metal.
Restoring this grill required a few hours of labor and lots of patience. The grill retails for a few thousand dollars. I bought it for less than 10% retail, used and requiring repair. The parts cost less than 100.
Many of us value our personal time in a way that rationalizes avoiding a project such as this. However, the cost savings and value created by this project were sufficient to justify the effort.
I know someone who picked up a stainless gas BBQ free from the curb in front of someone's house. It was in great condition, the burners and grills looked like it had hardly been used. New, it would have been in the $1000-2000 range. What was wrong with it? All it needed was a new AA battery for the ignitor!
My experience with gas BBQs is that the ignitor is usually the first thing to go. Usually, again in my experience, it happens due to corrosion of the ignitor itself. My solution is usually just to use a match, I find that the ignitor stops working so quickly that it's not worth replacing.
Replacing the grills, heat spreader, and burners however makes a lot of sense and can make an old BBQ virtually new again.
Restoring this grill required a few hours of labor and lots of patience. The grill retails for a few thousand dollars. I bought it for less than 10% retail, used and requiring repair. The parts cost less than 100.
Many of us value our personal time in a way that rationalizes avoiding a project such as this. However, the cost savings and value created by this project were sufficient to justify the effort.
I like to consider this strategic mending..