Saturday 31 May 2014

Weber BBQ Gourmet System compatibility with older Weber gas grills

I have a vintage Weber Genesis Gold model B from circa 2002 and was eyeing the new Weber BBQ Gourmet System in the stores the other week.

Unfortunately Weber only lists as compatible BBQ models the Weber Spirit 300-series from 2013- (part #7586), Weber Genesis-series from 2010- (part #7587) and Weber Summit-series any year (part #7585).

After a lot of searching on the net I found out that Weber does not publish any dimensions of their BBQ grates and accessories - only packaging sizes. After another couple of hours of searching I found some third party replacement grate listings with dimensions on eBay and Amazon for my old banger and I double checked the online found dimensions (17 1/4" x 11 3/4") against my BBQ which checked out rather well at (440mm x 300mm) per side (two grill grates side-by-side).

So off I went to the local Weber retailer in high hopes that I could possibly modify one of the BBQ Gourmet System grates to fit my old BBQ. When I managed to talk one of the shop clerks to open one of the sales packages to take measures I was greeted by slightly larger dimensions of the BBQ Gourmet System Grille for the Spirit 300-series (#7586) of 442mm x 302mm. I decided to take a risk and believe it was still within measurement tolerances being off a couple of thousands of an inch in both dimensions and bought one anyway.

As luck has it it fit perfectly into my old Genesis Gold B as a drop-in replacement to the old grille and now I have a nice shiny BBQ Gourmet System stainless steel grille and a bunch of the BBQ System accessories to go with it in my old trusty Genesis Gold. Good to go for another 10 years!