Centro Barbeques

Yes I have a Centro BBQ which is only two years old. It has never worked properly, burns well sometimes and without warning it will barely burn at all. It burns so low that I’m unable to cook anything on it.I never know if it’s going to work or not. I also know of two other identical models which act exactly the same. I thought there was a problem with the regulator so I bought a new one but that didn’t make a difference. Do you happen to know what the problem is ?

Did you end up buying one ? I am looking at getting one . but can’t find any information anywhere.
Thanks

We are having the same problems. I was just looking for the email address for Centro to order a new regulator, their phone is constantly busy, and Canadian Tire doesn’t carry the regulator. Our bbq is only about 7 months old. I would say,,, don’t buy one.

OUrs stopp[ed working after about 8 mnths. We had exactly the same problems everyone else desscribed. The problem turned out to be the dials. Both became stripped. We were able to fix them temporarily by putting small strips of metal around the contact points.
We contacted the manufacturer and replacement knobs are $9 each plus shipping. Centro does not sell any replacement parts in any of the stores that carry their products.
I wouldn’t recommend purchasing a Centro.

Thanks for the info. Know our mind is made up. was deciding between napoleon with the sizzle burner, or the Centro with the sear it option ( basically the same thing but the centro is 1/2 the price for a larger cooking area)
NOW WE KNOW WHY

I have had a 2 burner centro for 3 yrs now, The flame has worked quite well for that time. Except the electronic/battery starter stopped working after a year, which I believe is a common problem. One big problem is that Canadian Tire that sells it does not carry parts past a year(the heat diffuser has oxidised) or order in replacements for you and instead gives you a toll free number to deal with it yourself.

Tanya, we have a Napoleon BBQ and it is amazing. It is about 5 years old and works great – even heat, lots of room, and has a great look to it. Well worth the price if you like to BBQ.

I bought a centro in September 04, last week there was a flame back behind the control panel, is going to cost me $70 to order it from the 1-800 number!!! Why don’t they sell replacement parts in the stores?

I had same low flame problems and discovered a workaround. Always open the tank valve fully before opening any burners. If you think the line might still have presure from the last barbecue, bleed it off by opening a burner valve then reclose it before opening the tank valve. (if your a trucker picture the regulator working like an air brake pot)

I’ve had a Centro BBQ for a year now. It’s held up well after its first winter. However, I find that this grill has uneven hot/cold spots on the grill. It’s hard to figure out how long to leave food on there for as a result. Also it takes a long time to heat up. Once heated though it seems to work ok.

In hindsight I think I would have rather spent more money and gone for a Napolean or Webber or Vermont Castings. However, we don’t BBQ very much so this seemed ok for our needs.

If I were buying again I’d probably pick something else.

This has been a great learning experience. I have been searching the web looking for comments, info anything at all on the Centro BBQs. It has been a struggle…which was kinda my first clue that maybe this isn’t the BBQ to have. Thanks everyone for the great feedback.

I purchased a Centro BBQ August of last year. The propane stopped flowing through in Oct. I was told sometimes spiders get in the tubes so we left it for the winter. In April we cleaned out the tubes and it still didn’t work. I called Canadian Tire but they were of no help at all. They gave me an number to call the warranty. They gave me a list of things to do which I did and it still did not work. I since purchased another BBQ and would not recommed centro products to anyone.

I have a bought a Centro bbq this year the Serie 6000 whit the sear zone and all the stuff whit the housse and the rotissoire it cost me 1k. But im very happy whit it like 92k btu when you open all the burners the temperature climb wells. Im very happy of my choice. éif you compare to similar great mark you can double the price.

Our Centro barbeque is only 2 years old but we are looking to replace it this year. The “stainless steel” is looking terrible even though it is always covered and it can’t be cleaned. The porcelain grills are a pain because you can’t clean them properly. Was very surprised to find that Canadian Tire doesn’t carry parts. We are buying another one.

Thank you all for your comments. My fiance and I were looking to register for a bbq for our upcoming wedding. The Centro 6000 series had caught our eye. After reading your stories we will be registering for something else! Thanks for your honesty!

My Centro was great for the first summer, but soon after it started to discolor and heat unevenly. Your better off spending a little extra and getting something of better qaulity if your big on BBQing.

Seriously, I’m disappointed that Canadian Tire would carry such a low quality BBQ. It’s a cheap BBQ and forget getting replacement parts for it. You’re way better off getting a name brand, like Weber, Broil-King, Napolean, etc. It’s well worh it. Don’t skimp on a BBQ and you’ll thank yourself in years to come when it still works! Centros? Please….

Thanks for all the great feedback! I have done A LOT of research on BBQ’s and the Centro’s caught my eye for the large amout of primary cooking area and inexpensive price. WHen I went to Canadian Tire, the sales reps were Dolts! They couldn’t answer any of my questions on Centro’s so I decided to do this search and found this website.

After reading all this information, I will DEFINITELY NOT purchase a Centro. Sounds like burner and other problems due to poor quality craftsmanship and parts. Not to mention the hassle trying to get replace emtn parts and bad Customer Service. My take is spend a little more money now and save a lot of time later! My 2 cents! Good Luck in your decision!

We bought a Centro 2 years ago (the one with the bronze lid ~$250) and it still works perfectly, including the starter! I guess I got a lemmon!
Regarding the random low flame – In the manual it basically states – everything off – turn bottle on – turn burners on -spark!
I would recommend these, but you have to look for quality. The other bbqs in our price range were of much worse quality. Before I bought it I never heard of Centro.

Um… wow! Lots of feedback here – mostly negative. I bought my Centro BBQ last July. Worked great for the first summer, besides some uneven heating areas. I have found that letting the BBQ preheat to 500 degrees before cooking works great. My problem is that the chassis wasn’t designed properly and rats are getting into my BBQ via the splash tray, the grease tray, and then into the grill area. Customer service for Centro told me to buy a longer cover and place bricks around it as they don’t carry a “rodent friendly BBQ”!!!

Yes, I bought a Centro BBQ from Canadian Tire in June 2004. Just last week, there was a flame behind the control panel. I also experienced very similiar problems as indicated by other disatisfied Centro BBQ owners. I would not recommend this kind of barbecue.

My Cnetro is now just 3 yers old and has had continous hot and cold spots. It has burnt throguh some of the metal in the firebox and the burners refurse to stay burning. Cdn Tire takes no rsponsibility for the BBQ and although the manufacturer will ship several items the shipping costs are very high – eg $70 for a burner if this is the problem. They have done little to alleviate the issue. I am buying a Vermont Castings recommend by Consumer Reports. I do NOT recommend Centro at this time.

I am extremely happy with my 6000 series stainless Centro. Best BBQ I have ever had. I would definately not buy any US made BBQ’s because parts are expensive and difficult to get. Napolians’s are good but for the money you get a lot more BBQ with Centro. Maybe I got lucky because I have the natural gas model.

Some tips:

Let the gas flow for about 10 seconds before push the sparker to turn on.

Get the burners as hot as possible before cooking.

Try to clean the stainless steel burner covers periodically.

Note to all Centro owners or looking to buy Centro do not get discouraged by these websites. Like car forums people usually only have negative comments that is why they go on these sites.

The only reason I went on this site was to find out how I go about getting a user manual which I have misplaced. I need to know how to best use the sear burner.

Good Luck,
Rob

I to, have a Centro BBQ that had a flash fire- I didnt even know that I should be taking out the burners to clean them until the customer service told me. When I took out the burners- sure enough, I looked inside the tube and saw a web..WOW. So the fire is forced towards you because of blockages. They also told me that on Cast iron burners there is a lighting tube on the bottom of the burner that gets clogged, so I cleaned that out also. I was lucky that no real damage was done to my bbq. I will definately clean it a few times a season now. I guess I should have read my manual.

We have a 2 year old centro, and have been moderately satisfied with the performance to date. However this past week while taking it apart to clean it, I accidentally dropped one of the cast iron jet burners, and the end of it broke right off!!!

We were was able to get an “identical” burner from another company, through a store here in Victoria BC Canada, called Reliable parts. We went ahead and ordered 3 new burners, as the other two are already SEVERELY rusted after only 2 years. The new ones are BRASS, and should last for ages.

Read about the problems with cleaning the porcelin. We just use plain old fume free Easy-Off, and let it all sit overnight. We hose everything off the following day, and just use a dishcloth and dishsoap with warm water to give it a hands on washdown, and then another rinse. Once everything is dry, we just spray the cooking surface lightly with olive-oil.

The best thing we have found for cleaning ANY stainless steel, is MAAS metal polish. Brings it up as bright as the day we broght it home!

But with all this being said, we would not consider buying a centro ever again. If we hadn’t been able to get the replacement burner through reliable parts, we would have had to live with a two jet unit, instead of the 3 jet that we wanted. And waiting 4-6 weeks for parts to come in sucks!

Wow- you saved me money. I was going to buy a CENTRO 6000 today but no more. Thanks for the input, its much appreciated.

Yikes… I bought one about 4 months ago. I BBQ about everyother day, and so far 5 breakfasts.

I looked at all the pricey ones, asked all the questions of the sales guys for them and felt that Centro offered the same or close enough to what the pricey ones told me I must have.

Now mine is a 2006 model so I am not sure if it is differant (vis-a-vis regulators) but I have no trouble?! I also always turn the gas all the way on a trai tleft from Scuba diving as regulators must have full pressure to work.

The only way a rat could get into this thing is if he could work tin snips so I guess they fixed that. I do always preheat, so no hot spots so far, I know to clean it every six months or so (I already have once because I have been driving it hard, on my third bottle) but all in all I am very very happy with it. Though I will try the MASS cleaner, though again, I am using SS wipes, which do a great job.

Again, mine is the latest model of the 6000 so perhaps things have changed?
Anyway, I would recommend it… so far?

My guess is that Rob (comment 23) must work in the Centro PR department. But anyway, I’ll only add that these are pretty cheaply made barbeques that attempt to emulate true quality (and fail). Ours is 3 years old and while we don’t have any rodents, we have the occasional low flame syndrome, but as my wife puts it, the thing only has 3 tempature settings: Hot, Volcano Hot, and Earth’s Core Hot.
Best of luck..

I got a Centro about 2.5 years ago. 3 cast iron burners. One cracked in two about a month ago, the other 2 cracked in two this weekend. The cracking was due to heavy corrosion. I thought these cast iron burners would last a long time but they are definitely low quality and do not last more than a couple of years. Not coincidentally, Centro does not seem to use the cast iron burners anymore.

So Greg (#28) has 3 temperature…. Good foe him, mine bearely reach 300 degres … I will try tonight to use teh sequence to see how it goes, but so far I have been through a full tank of gas and so far only 3 good dinners !!!!

Yikes – just got a 6000 this last weekend. was going to buy a Weber but this had all the bells & whistles for the same price. the rep at canadian tire told me that it was a better bbq with far less problems than the weber (guess I will see. anyways what a monster to set up I should have paid the 50 buck set up fee, but then on top of that i would have had to pay a 50 delivery fee. Long & short grilled my first t-bones & veggies on it. — FANTASTIC- so I am hoping as the later dudee said that maybe they have worked out their bugs
cheers,norm

I just won a brand new Centro 6000, and I wish I could bring it back and exchange it for the Weber. I already have a 3 y/o centro and it was the biggest waste of money. Uneven heat, burners are corroded, sometimes it gets hot, sometimes it doesn’t. In short, not much R&D has gone into this BBQ. It seems like it’s an inexperienced company that made a bucket and shoved some burners on it and put it on a stand. It looks great, but that’s about it. I would give away my Centro 6000 (never used) and pay a few hundred bucks to get the Weber Genesis.

We bought a Centro Bronze 3000RT BBQ from Canadian Tire 2 years ago. We have had several problems with it (early corrosion and deterioration of several parts, hot and cold spots on grill, etc), and I wouldn’t recommend this model (or brand) to anyone. I too am dissapointed that Canadian Tire would sell such a poor quality BBQ, and not necessarily at a cheap price. Interesting and I guess no surprise that Centro doesn’t have a website (at least not that I can find, nor is one listed in the owner’s manual).

just bought a centro 3000. 3 meals later, hot spots, cold spots, i can touch the grill, after being on for 10 minutes. question- is the grate cast iron, and if not, could the alloy they are made of not be holding the heat. when the lid is closed , heat inside is 400 plus, but not the grills. strange.

I too, am very disappointed with the Centro. In less than two years, the Heat Plate and Burner has burnt and rusted through. The “so-called porcelain” grates are rusting. Having had my previous Webber for 15 years will attest that a take care of my BBQ, which the Centro warranty centre implies that I don’t. Their warranty is worth zero. As for me, I would never buy another Centro, as I guess it’s almost time to put this BBQ on the sidewalk on our next garbage pick-up day

We have a centro-new this summer. So far so good. We also have a 3 year old at the cottage. (Both were gifts) The igniter, burners have bought the farm on the 3 year old. The carryover tubes have disintergrated due to rust. Its a major pane to light now but once its lit it works like a charm. 2 complaints only – short life span and trouble finding replacement parts.

We’ve had a Centro for about 4 years. what we thought was a regulator problem wasn’t, but it sure was frustrating. turns out you just have to open the valve very slowly and then it works fine. the heat diffuser is oxidized and i can’t find one anywhere, including on Centro’s own website. am I going to have to buy a whole new bbq just ‘cuz the diffuser is shot?

I’ve had my centro grill 5000AS for just a bit over a year now and even after taking meticulous care of it, the inside liner is completely rusted due to poor quality stainless steel. I called centro to get parts under warranty but they refuse to even listen to my situation and blames poor maintance. But yet, they’ve change the new grills to porcelain coated steel because they’ve had so many complaints on rust. They obviously know they produced a poor product and rectified the problem and the current models but avoid at all cost, replacing parts on the grills of unfortunate custmers who were used as ginny pigs to “test” an unprooven product. I will never buy another centro product again.

We bot a 400 natural gas modle recently. Other than it being a bear to set up it works well, specially the rear rotissory burner. I wonder if maybe most of the problems Iread about were with Propane modles?

Had a centro given to me two months ago and am delighted… so far. A piece of cake to set up. Problem – with the zig zag designed grill, it dosen’t clean up very well unless you are prepared to burn up a lot of gas to do it.

Centro’s web address is http://www.centroliving.ca . I found it on stickers on the manual and on the display models in Canadian Tire. There is info on different models and a page where you can register your barbecue. However there is no “contact us” page or link that I could find. We were impressed with the Centro 4000 and nearly bought it. Then we found this forum and don’t know what to think. Compared to a Thermos model and various other ones we looked at, including a Weber, these look much better made. Could they have improved them over the past few years?

We were considering a Centro as Canadian Tire has them on sale. The model 4000 was the one we were looking at. They definately are not using cast burners any more. They are very impressive looking umits which “appear” to be solidly constructed. They have a complete cabinet which I couldn’t imagine any rodent penetrating. However what are the chances they have rectified all the design flaws. Thanks for the feedback. We think we will keep our existing BBQ for another season and begin our research for a new unit again next spring.

Well I think many of you just dont know how to take care of your BBQ. Im sure if you research any of the other products (Weber, Neapolian, Char-broil, broil king etc) you will find the same sort of negitive feedback as there is on this site, forums are for people to complain. Yes i agree Canadian Tire employees should be more informed on the product they sell, and you should be able to get the parts from them. But if you contact Centro @ 877-707-5463 they are more than happy to help, and the website is centroliving.ca, which i find has alot of great info on how to keep your bbq cleaned. You just have to take the time and clean them. As far as the comment about the rats getting in your BBQ. you should call someone to get rid of the rats, if you really have that many in your area you should get out of there, you shouldnt let rats take over your BBQ.

It sounds like the previous comment from “Top Secret” is from a Centro employee. I am hoping that he/she will answer a question for me then. What changes and imporvements have been made to Centro barbecues in the last 2 or 3 years? Obviously there are no cast burners anymore and I agree, all the barbecues we looked at had bigger holes for mice and rats to access than the Centros did. But what about the hot/cold spots and the flare-ups and rusting of the stainless steel, rusting of the grills, etc? I still like the looks of these but need some convincing.

Does anyone know how to change the electronic ignitor?

I have had a Natural Gas 6000 series for two seasons w/o major complaints or issues in terms of the grill or the rotisserie burner. (I am not related to either Cdn Tire or Centro either) Only one question for other 6000 owners – have you had any luck with the side burner for cooking? My side burner does not seem like it puts out much heat but then again, 10,000 BTU’s is not that much heat either?? I wanted to boil a pot of water but chose not too as it took too long?

I got a bunch of parts for my old Centro 2003 this year. All I had to do was send some digital pictures to verify the damage and the Centro service center sent them to me…Im happy..as long as they stand behind their product

I have Centro 4000. Beware of Centro BBQ’s. They look great but are poor quality. The burners on the older or new models will rust quickly. The flame tamer (heat distribution) plates will rust quickly. The cooking grids are only PAINTED with PORCELAIN PAINT and are NOT porcelain coated like most other BBQ grids. However, if you keep them oiled with cooking oil and keep them clean, they should last a while. These BBQ’s have poor heat distribution and so the cooking grids are made with wide grills to compensate for this by acting like a cast iron frying pan. The grates are designed to heat up and hold the heat but because of the width of each grill the whole cooking surface acts more like a frying pan, fying your food instead of grilling it!
Most of the price goes into the impressive stainless steel cabinet (which I hear is a low quality stainless steel). The important parts like burners, gas distribution piping, valves and heat distribution plates are cheap. No matter how clean you keep these BBQ’s you will be replacing parts within the first several years. A quality BBQ can handle being dirty, with little maintenance and still run reliably for a long time. Why spend this kind of money on a product you have to baby just to keep it from falling apart within a few years? For the same price you can get a BBQ made with an aluminum box (which is the main part with the lid) and REAL thinner wire porcelain cooking grids and you can easily get a $40 solid, long lasting cast iron burner at several stores. These BBQ’s can take a beating and parts are easy to get. I have taken some of these BBQ’s from the city dump, put $40 high qualtiy porcelain grills on them and $40 cast iron burners and have used them for years with no troubles at all. There was never anything wrong with the black painted aluminum BBQ’s, its just that stainless steel is now the latest fad with many appliances and people are impressed with all the little features and accessories of these BBQ’s. Many features for a lower price than all the competition–sounds good, but don’t be fooled. There is a reason why a base model Weber is more than a fully loaded Centro! The Centro has more features and is all stainless steel but why is it selling for a lot less? Cheaper parts and poor parts distribution. Not all stainless steel is the same. There are different grades. People tend to think of restaurant, commercial grade quality with any appliance made of stainless steel. Don’t be fooled.
If you don’t BBQ often then a Centro may last a while for you with little trouble.

I am trying to finish assembly of a Centro 6000 and have no idea how to install the doors. The manual tells about handles but that’s all. Also, the burner box weldment is poorly constructed making it impossible to attach the side shelf. I plan to get some longer bolts and somehow make do. Thank you everyone for your comments.

I have a centro BBQ,purchased last year,don’t know the model #,mine works great,used it everyday last year, purchased the grilling unit this year,The only part I am pissed with it’s handles have started to rust on both units,plus the fact they change the style of the handles, I was hoping to change them to match,I am going to try and get in touch with Centro.I have a story that goes along with the grilling unit,went to Canadian Tire purchased grilling unit, boyfriend put it together the next day, had it all put together,called me to look at it,the one corner had been damaged,it looked like someone had dropped the unit before it was put in the box,I guess they don’t have any quality control at centro, now after reading all the negative comments, I don’t think I will buy the remaining piece

Not true, check out any car forums, or epinion. People leave comments based on the truth, except those employees logging in pretending to own one. People leave both positive and negative, even audio forums. Thanks for all the responses. Now I know what the pros and cons are. Price and quality. You get what you pay for I guess!
Thanks.

PLEASE….someone take me through the porceline grill care. I loved scratching the heck out of heating iron, I do not want to keep taking them out and “easy-offing” after each and every use. PAIN!!!! Help???

ROB, for the grills I just scrub them clean after each use with a stainless steel wire BBQ brush. You can use the brass ones too. Don’t worry, there really is no ‘porcelain’ coating on these things. I have it from a reliable source that they use a cheap form of spray on ‘porcelain’; just enough to claim that they are porcelain coated. Think about it, real porcelain grills are very shiny black and very smooth! These grills are grey and rough- just like cast iron frying pans. The manual even tells you to keep them ’seasoned’ with oil — just like you have to do with cast iron frying pans! So just give them a good scrub with a good wire BBQ brush ( the plastic ones for porcelain grills are useless–I’ve already tried). The grills should last a while if you keep them coated lightly on both sides with cooking oil to prevent food from sticking and to keep them from rusting. When’s the last time you heard that porcelain grills had to be kept coated with oil to prevent rusting? That’s what the manual says. Any mechanical engineer who understands metturlagy (study of metals) will tell you these grills are not really porcelain coated.

–on a side note, after you calculate that a year or two from now when you have to replace the 3 burners and the 3 flame tamers with higher quality brass burners and stainless steel flame tamers…..You have easily paid the cost of a Weber or Napolean!

Matt

All of what your saying is true. I guess you have to look at just how many of these grills are out there and what percentage are junk.There are 54 feedbacks on the net about these things that I can find and they have sold thousands of these grills in one form or another. I know its not cheap but if you want jenn-aire quality pay jenn-aire or who evers price.I have shopped around and figured that for the money it’s not going to be the best but it is definitly not the worst. Does anyone know if you can get the grills coated? or does the aftermarket sell them? Just a few thoughts.

I got a Centro 3000 Propane model and so far its working very well – At half the price of the Weber model. Got it on sale for $100 off. Setup was much easier than past barbeques I’ve assembled. Only problem was the igniter wire on the main burner needed to be bent a bit to align with the burner (it was too far away and wouldn’t light). A lot of the complaints I’m seeing here have to do with maintenance.. if you read the manual carefully and follow hte instructions the BBQ should last for several years. I’ll probably get a Weber next time but couldn’t afford one right now after summer vacations, kids camp, ski pass, new car, etc.. so for $300 – it was a real bargoon..

As for the comments about Centro employees posting on here.. well its always possible but I doubt it.. how do you know all the complaintants aren’t Weber employees?? (again I doubt it).. and there is truth to the point about ‘the only people that post are the ones that had a problem and have to vent.. people without problems are more likely to be going about their business..

As far as the porcelain coated cast iron grill goes – in the manual its says:
- on first use and at the beginning of the season, coat it in vegetable oil and bake it in an oven at 350 for 20-25 minutes. After that just give a light oiling before regular BBQing. Also – don’t use a wire brush – it will scrape off the coating over time.

..and btw they do have support – there’s a 1-877 number on the bbq and manual, plus they have a website.

I have a 4000 and I shopped I went to barbeque stores and compared price/quality/options.It came down to sales people plugging warranty as the main differentiator. Webbers, Vermonts are double the price and come with a warranty. I hate warranties because they always have an angle. You go to future shop to a buy a fridge for $500 and they want to sell you warranty for $150! You buy a Maytag washer it’s twice the price of a Whirlpool, yeah you get a 3 or 5 year warranty(ironically Maytag is on the verge of bankruptcy and is being bought by Whirlpool) I have to buy a lot of the appliances. Coin laundry, rental properties. I have some units which come with barbeques (natural gas) The problem with any appliance purchase is the warranty. Does Webber ship free, what about down time, does the warrnty pay for that. I take the risk and am comfortable with it as I payed $399 for a 4000 model. Last one at Canadian tire. I was amazed at the instructions, parts description/labelling as I don’t like mucking with these kind of things, but it was a long weekend coming. One screw left over! Only because the factory had already installed this screw, which prevented me from attaching my side tray. Took their screw out and attached tray,…done, took me about 3 hours, but I was very methodical and read stuff a few times because I kept thinking of the horror stories of so many parts left over. As for the doors, the hinges are spring loaded, need a flat screw driver or long finger nail to pull down as you insert. Anyone who ever thought a Canadian tire employee should be knowledgeable about their products, it’s a wharehouse with kids man, they really can only tell you where the stuff is located. You have to help yourself, do your own info gathering. No different than Home Depot. My grills where clearly cast iron from the get go. Olive oil or grapeseed oil(cheaper/no cholesteral) before each cooking works best. 2nd tank in 8 weeks, so far so good. Boiled corn and crab legs on side burner. Like my last barbeque, yes a cheap Fiesta Natural gas with side burner (4 years old and new tenant loves it) you need to boil with lid on it. I use a paderno pot which may help.I saved $500 and am comfortable and acknowledge the risk I have taken vs a webber or a vermont, they are nice. But Webber has a lot of wasted space with dials on top of side panel. Vermont, I appreciate the sturdyness but the lid was too heavy for me. I truly think the Vermont is a clear ly better quality product money no object. Webber, I think you can go to a webber forum and be surprised at the complaints. It’s all in the precentages. It was a toss up between the Vermont(very high quality)and Centro but this forum may represent 5% max 10% of users. I chose the risk knowing I will likely be in the 90% group with no major problems. Webber has a better warranty than Centro but not nearly the quality of Vermont Castings. I think Webber is overrated you can’t cook on a warranty!
They will be bought out soon, too many players.

I bbq year round and have had numerous models over the last 30 some years and this Centro is the absolute worst. Last weekend I bbqed up north on an old bbq that I picked up on curbside and it outperforms Centro tenfold. The Canadian Tire manager has tried to be helpful but the fact remains that Centro BBQs have no heat. I can’t burn a bun on mine and I’ve done everything the Centro helpline has suggested. I received a new regulator from them and that did not make any difference. I clean my bbq often and go through all the recommended steps….open tank, wait, then light….still no heat. In my humble opinion it is a poor design and no one at Centro is willing to admit it. I know a few people with Centro BBQs and they all have the same complaint. So if you are looking for a good barbeque look in the trash….it will work much better and actually cook your food.
PS…I tell everyone I can that Centro is a lemon.

I have a centro..3 burner,rear rotisserie,side burner.I clean the grates once in a while{most times I just let the heat do it]I use a power washer,then heat to dry them.Scrape to often to remove “stuff” you are asking for rust.
For better heat distribution,drill some 1/8 holes in the diffusers,works great.Use fine steel wool to clean burners. To Use Rotisserie. I prop the lid open about 2 inches if burner is on high,if burner is on lower setting I prop lid open about 1/2 to 3/4 inches.Have had great steaks chickens,ribs you name it!I have a natural gas that sits about 15ft. from house,.I used 3/8 copper line cut into the middle of the rubber hose with 2 hose clamps at each end of cut hose,no leaks,plenty of gas supply to burners.
Admit valves are not so good.spray periodicaly with w.d 40.let dry for a day.Side burner is useless,won’t fry bacon after 15 minutes.I Like it ,for the money it is good.You get what you pay for.You buy a Cadillac you get one..You buy a Model “T” you get one and improvise to try and make it a “Caddy.”

Rose – sounds like you really got a lemon as something is seriously defective. Mine works like a charm. It heats up to 500 degrees in less than 5 minutes.

I also find a big sheet of aluminum foil on the grill for cleaning afterwards on hi heat – does a great job of burning off all the crud on the grill

Lots of whiners here! What do you expect when you buy:
1. from Canadian Tire
2. its cheap.

I have had a natural gas Model 2000 for now for more than two years. (I was in Canadian Tire because I needed something and nobody else was open) This was the first time I had seen an inexpensive natural gas barbeque so I knowingly made the purchase. I average using it 6 days a week year round (Southwestern Ontario) without ever having a problem. It has never been covered.

I decided to manually clean 2 years crud off the heat plate a couple of weeks ago. Dumb me! Anybody with common sense knows that you don’t remove rust and crud from corroded metal. All you are doing is removing the glue holding it together.

Its not Centro’s fault that I haven’t been keeping it clean all along.

I went to Canadian Tire where I bought the unit fully expecting them NOT to have a replacement.

Canadian Tire did not disappoint. NO replacement.

The rest of the unit looks great for its age and use!

Overall a good buy at the price.
If I can’t find a replacement heat plate I figure I can toss the whole thing and still be money ahead. (Providing I can find a reasonably priced natural gas replacement.

Our BBQ caught fire last night. Paint burned off of the inside of the grill. Grill plate was red, and has marked the stainless steel red around the thermometer. BBQ purchased just before fathers day ‘06.

About 60% of the above complaints appear to be by people who don’t know how to read, and thus damage their own barbeque and complain about how they got screwed.

RTFM.

Despite that, you do get what you pay for. If you want a top-of-the-line BBQ, spend more money. For the price, I’ve been very pleased with my 4000. After 5 months, I’ve had no problems and excellent performance.

Whow, thanks for the comments folk. I was just about to head off to CT as their Centro 6000 & 8000 series are $250. off. What a sale. Being suspicious of the deep discount, I “googled” Centro and hit this site. Think I will now take my son’s advise and go with Vermont Castings. You do usually get what you pay for!
Cheers

I have a Centro that I paid 399 for last August. Its stainless steel. I did a lot of research (couldn’t find anything on Centro online) and went to all the major stores and compared. The walmart and loblaws ones especially were built like crap.

The staff at Canadian Tires was NOT helpful at all. I almost didn’t buy it cause the kid thought he was selling a tractor. He didn’t know anything about it, its warranty, anything.

I think the grill works good and its built quite well. I don’t have any of the complaints of the comments above, except I know the ignition is going to crap out (they all do). I cook in the winter as well, and so far its held up well.

I like it a lot, and think its a good value.

I was going to buy a Vermont Castings and then saw the Centro. I am so glad I have read this. I will be sticking with the Vermont Castings. Well worth the money. It pays to buy from a company that specializes and services their product.

My piece of crap Centro takes 20 minutes to get to 500 deg. I can’t even get the friggin thing hot enough to sear lines on my steak. Do yourself a favor: cook on the hood of your car instead.

I have a centro, 3 brner, 85-1254 to be exact. I’ve never had an issue with it. Heats up great and doesn’t burn. It’s made in china, and branded for the price bracket. You get what you pay for i guess.

Well, I have to say, I came hours close to buying a Centro. After reading this, it made me think twice. I did kind of wonder why it was a bit cheaper than the rest because
I do know you get what you pay for. Now I have never owned a Centro, so I can’t say anything bad about it (not my style). My brother owns a Centro and so far loves it so I’m sure there is a few good ones out there. So, with that in mind, I cancelled the Centro and ordered a Napoleon Stainless Steel Chef Series. I’ll let you know how I like it, might be garbage, who knows.

We were on the fence about the good deal on the BBQ at Canadian Tire, but after reading this I now have other questions that hopefully someone here can answer.
-What about the 5yr warranty? Most of the problems I’ve read about were in the first few years of ownership – Is the warranty that limited or too much hassle?
-The name ‘Centro’, is it a Canadian Tire brad like MasterCraft is?
-Have people noticed an improvement in the reliability of newer models over the older ones? (ex the 6000 from 2006)

I have owned a centro 2000 series for about two and a half years and my only problem is the stainless H-burner has rusted to the point where it is giving very little flame and what flame there is is orange and not blue any more. The heat plate has compleatly disinagrated.After contacting centro I was required to fax my bill from C.T. to them and then they said they would require color pictures of the burner and heat plate to be e-mailed to them. This was after they grilled me about what maintenence I had done. they then said that the heat plate was a consumable item like the lava rock and not covered under the warranty and unless the burner had a manufacturers defect, it was not covered also. Centro’s supposed 3 year warranty isn’t worth a pile of s–t. Then they had the nerve to ask If would like the price of the two parts and the shipping charges. Please stay away from centro and C.T. for barbques unless you are looking for a cheat piece of crap!

I have had my Centro for 3 years now and have used it considerably both Winter and Summer.While it does not owe me anything I was dissapointed that Canadian Tire (As I have always thought very highly of C-Tire) does not carry parts and the parts are extremely difficult to get.My problems were uneven heating, dials malfunctioning and excessive rusting despite care being given.I was going to fix it but will now have to replace it and knowing I have been fortunate will pick either a Webber, Vermont Castings or a Ducane. Don’t buy one if you plan to keep it for a while.

I have 6000 series that has worked fine for the past three seasons. Assembly was fine, all the parts were included and fit properly. The heat is fairly even ( I have never had a bbq that produced perfectly even heat) and I have had brand names. The side burner works fine, never had a problem with it, other then it is sensitive to wind. I agree that it sounds like some folks are cleaning the grills too rigorusly, just give them brush, and then oil them. It is imparative that you open the tank completely before ignition. I find that I can control the temp just fine, I’ve smoked chicken and it cooks low and slow and a constant 200 degrees. I also have no problem with sear marks on steaks. My only complaint would be that the infared burner only has one setting (hot as the sun). Other than that, for the money I have a good bbq that looks great. I am even considering the new Centro smoker at Canadian Tire. Note: I am not an employee of either Centro or Canadian Tire.

I too had the same problem with the propane regulator off and on, the heat not very even, and now after two years the heat plate has dissinagraded and they already discontinued my modal.

Wow! I thought I was the only one having these problems with burners and regulators. I have had these problems from the first season. Now, I am not able to get parts. Canadian Tire tells me to go to Centro and I can’t seem to find them. Anyone have a phone number I can call Centro at?

Centrino 4000 Same problems as hundreds of others I guess. No gas flow etc etc.
Save your Money, buy anything other than this make and you will probably be better off by far. On a scale of 1-10 this piece of crap ia a -10 and it`s less than a year old.
Waste of life trying to get help at Canadian Tire and there is no Centro help at all. Good Luck to all.

For anyone who needs parts this link may help.
http://www.clagrills.com/parts/centro/centro-parts-home.htm

shame on canadian tire.my natural gas unit did not survive two year.the stainless steel tarnished and the grill rusted and the difuser i expect this year will crumble.never again will i even look at one.one other thing,canadian tire is of no help at all for anything.i am trying to be nice.

I have had a 4000 model for about 3 years. It’s nothing special, but it works??? The flame shield has rusted out, and by reading the comments here, it’s probably not worth calling the toll free number to order another. What I plan on doing is buy a new lower grill that fits (14 3/4 x 25″ ) and convert this unit to lava rocks or ceramic briquettes. Problem solved.

I guess the lesson…you get what you pay for.

Overall—we’re satisfied but I’d never buy another Centro. PS Canadian Tire sucks, shame on CT for selling products with NO support !

Not sure which model I have (Big 4 cast iron burner + side) that I have used for 3 seasons and absolutely love. No problems at all. People here don’t seem to realize that a barbecue must be cleaned regularly. All the reports of uneven cooking sound like the flame holes on the burners have clogged. Twice yearly I remove each burner and stick a nail in each hole to clean them out. You will be surprised how clogged these will get. Also, about 4 times a year, I clean the heat shields with a steel brush. Make sure that you clean the grease tray often. I use tinfoil and magnets to make this easy. I store mine in the garage for the winter, but if you are forced to leave it outdoors, remove the burners and racks, coat them with cooking oil, and wrap in newspaper. Then store them indoors. Common sense will tell you that no BBQ will run for very long with no maintenance.

Andrew in Ajax

Hi Guys,
I am the engineer from the manufacturer of CENTRO BBQ. This is my first time to be here but I just wanna give everyone some help. I am the one who develop, test, and make those grills. If anything I can help here, please let me know. On the other hand, you can also try centroliving.ca or our customer service hotline (toll free). Those information are on the warranty card and user manaul come together with the product.

Anyway, if any complaints, trouble shooting guide, user guide…etc. Please let know. I’ll start to be here about 3 times a week.

I have a 2 year old Centro BBQ and it is the biggest piece of junk that I have ever owned. The porcelain grills are completely rusted, and I can’t get replacement ones ANYWHERE. I spend so much time taking care of the grills, but they just get worse and worse. Of course, Canadina Tire is of NO HELP. I will NEVER buy another CENTRO product, and Canadian Tire has lost a customer.

Hi Tania,
Sorry to hear that your CENTRO BBQ makes you so frustrated.
But I beleive your BBQ is still under warranty. So I would suggest you to call our toll free customer service hotline 1-877-7075463 and tell your agent the model number of your BBQ ( for example, #85-xxxx, check your user manual or warranty card) and which part of your BBQ gets rusted. I believe you will have your service and replacement parts as soon as possible. Our customer service center is independent and is not under Canadian Tire.
Also I am willing to answer you any question about BBQ.

Thank you
Ryu

I am SO glad I came upon this site! My husband and I almost bought the Centro 6000 last night but decided to wait until next weekend when we have cleaned up a little more outside. When I saw the comments here I was astounded! I will NOT be buying this bbq and I thank you all for your honesty.

I see many troubling comments here, however I’ve owned a Centro2000 since mid-2004 and use it all year round and have had good success. As well, I’ve found the customer support system to be quite satisfactory; replacement parts required after unpacking damaged ones were replaced promptly, a year later a replacement for a leaking regulator hose fitting was also sent quickly and technical advice for correcting an extremely low flame problem was right on (even though I was at first dubious with support staff’s suggested fix as I had assumed that the regulator was toast).
So, Centro has been okay by me for now.

Well, Miss.
Sorry to hear that you are not buying a CENTRO BBQ because of some negative comments on this board. But you can also see some positive feedback in here.
For a manufacturer point of view, we spent so much effort to develop and make the whole line of CENTRO BBQs. Sometimes it’s just Canadian Tire’s complicated company policy and system which make all the end consumers unsatisfied.
Hope you can find your perfect BBQ for the coming BBQ season. And just let you know our CENTRO BBQ team will do the best service for all of you if any questions or problems.

Ryu

I saw at our local Canadian Tire, A Centro 3600 BBQ on sale from $250, going for $190. I would have gotten it, without research, believing they had to be more or less the same. I am very glad I came to this page. I changed my mind based on this page.
So, after work, I went to Wal-mart and bought a Fiesta Santa Fe BBQ instead. Cost me $ 240, including all the features I sought. Didn’t include the side burner (which I virtually never use anyway – not much use when it’s windy). ENTIRELY MADE IN CANADA. Sold at Wal-mart (shut up you anti-Wal-mart idiots who claim Wal-mart doesn’t sell Canadian products). My previous BBQ of 15 year vintage was a Fiesta BBQ. Stick with what you know you can rely on! Now I know I don’t have to worry!

Pulled my grill out of storage on the weekend. Put in a new battery, and she fired up on the first click. I’m a believer in giving it a good clean before storing it as it lessens the chance of mice, deters corrosion, and just makes me happier in the spring. BTW, only complaint I have is that all the paint markings (instructions) have come off the stainless face plate. Never used more than a damp cloth to clean it either. Still, I’m 100% happy.

Also, I think that the early grills were of higher quality than the present units. My grill surface is made of stainless steel tube, and will last forever. The steel on the lid is thicker and shows no sign of discolouring. I also think the cast iron burners are far superior to the steel tube burners, provided you keep the clean.

I bought a 3 burner Centro (with side burner)and everything worked very well for 3 years.

But here is my beef; Opening it up last week I figured I would purchase new grates for it which I could acquire at Canadian Tire. I then noticed the burners needed replacing (actually two were broken) but come to find out those parts are discontinued.

THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS, $500 FOR A BBQ YOU CAN’T FIX.

Canadian Tire holds true to their tradition of selling absolute crap… Have you noticed their motto is “I start with you…” but that relationship doesn’t last.

DO NOT BUY A CENTRO BBQ

p.s. The low flame problem is caused by opening the grill before open the gas tank or stripped dials.

Answer for Glen Re:April 22 07
Low flame is generally caused by a safety device in the tank valve. After a year with the same problem I was told to open the tank valve slowly before proceeding to light the BBQ.

We just bought a Centro 4000 natural gas barbecue. The assembly went well with no missing or extra parts and fairly easy to understand. It has the side burner, 3 main burners and a rotisserie infrared burner. So far I have used it twice, once for 1 inch thick steaks and once for thick pork chops. With the 3 main burners lit, it was at 450 degrees within about 5 mins. I had no problem getting nice sear marks on the meats and I cooked potatoes in foil in about the same time as they would take on our old barbecue. As an experiment I heated it up to about 600 degrees. It took about 10 or 15 mins but that seems reasonable and it was a cool windy day. Heat wise, I am quite satisfied. Now the test will be for durability and I will use our side burner and rotisserie soon. It is at the cabin so I don’t use it daily, except when I’m out there. We looked at other names like Webber and Char Broil etc. but this one seemed to be the most sturdy and well made and half the price of others. I guess time will tell. The manual also had Centro’s web address attached to it so I can’t find fault with anything yet.

Bought a Centro 2 summers ago. It has caught on fire twice. We maintain it. Seems to never heat properly, and the temperature dial is never correct. 3 people I know purchased the same BBQ (all at Canadian Tire) all 3 have had fires too. Never again will I buy a Centro. Pay the $200-$300 more and get something that will stand the test of time.

I bought a Centro NG unit with a side burner three years ago. It caught fire last year, melted the tin at the gas valves and we almost lost the deck. Canadian Tire said take it up with the manufacturer. Manufacturer said it was a blocked gas flow problem caused by spiders, except the gas run from the valves at the front to the burner don’t disassemble for cleaning. Centro then said they would send parts, but only sent two plastic knobs, not the gas valves. I’m buying a Weber this week to replace the Centro, and contacting CSA on this, passing the make, model and photos over.

Centro is very, very dangerous.

It really makes me laugh to hear some of the comments here. I have taken a lot of barbecues apart, checked under the deck, looked at the burners, etc. Let me tell you that if you can’t make a Centro work, you likely won’t have any luck with a Weber either. If you have fire under the deck, its because the gas line to the burner was clogged. Instead of fixing it you likely turned up the heat to grill something. BARBECUES are all basically built in the same way. Parts on one may be a little better quality than the other, but if you don’t ensure proper gas flow a Weber will burn just as fast as anything else. READ YOUR OWNERS MANUAL. DO AS IT SAYS. You will have no problems at all.

Andrew

In my opinion, Centro is a very poor BBQ and of questionable safety. This was the second NG BBQ I owned, the first being a Jacuzzi NG that ran for 14 years without problem using the twice a year cleaning cycle I used on the Centro.

Sadly, I did disassemble, clean and reassemble the unit twice a year for three years. Didn’t make any difference. A more straight forward access approach to how you access the pipes for cleaning like Weber, or almost any other BBQ manufacturer has, would make this a safer product as it would allow more frequent cleaning.

That being said, when it worked it had uneven heating, a lighter that died after a year, and generally poor fit and finish. There are better BBQs for the money.

The burner seemed to be working fine when it lit, the backflash happened later in the cooking cycle and melted the cheap allow on the gas valves that then dripped on the deck, risking a larger fire.

Seriously, this is not a good BBQ. There are other reports of issues above, and despite reading the manual and performing a twice a year cleaning cycle we still had a failure.

And see, it’s possible to add a comment without going to caps-mode. Maybe reading the keyboard manual will help others

Oh boy am I screwed now! I’ve been wanting a new BBQ for a while now and I came across the centro 4000. I’ve been bugging my wife trying to convince her how great it would look on our new deck. Earlier today my wife sent me an email at work saying that she and the kids have a “surprise” for me. (It’s my birthday on May 11) Now I come across this site and I don’t want it anymore. What if she went out and got that BBQ! What am I going to say? She got me a BBQ for fathers day about 4 years ago and it was one that I didn’t want but I put on a happy face. I knew she could tell I was dissapointed because it wasn’t the one I wanted. Now she’s probably gone out and “got the one I wanted” this time and now…I don’t want it! Oh man am I done like a steak on a “good” bbq!

Dan, keep your happy face and the barbecue! When you think of all the centro barbecues Can Tire must sell across the country, the unhappy people on this forum represent a small percentage. If you follow the instructions when assembling the barbecue and use the proper lighting and cleaning instructions, the thing should work. They are all built pretty much the same. I commented back on May 1st that our new one was working well so far. We shopped very thoroughly for a new barbecue and inspected the burners etc. on many and the Centro one seemed to be made better than most. So we took the chance and so far so good.

You get what you pay for. Pay only $300 – $400 and get only 3 – 4 years of life out of this centro BBQ. I sold mine after 1 year because I didn’t like the heat and rusting. I bought a Napoleon – What a Difference!! Heat, looks, and Sizzle Power! Again I state ” Pay a bit extra and get better product”. You could buy a no name cordless drill, but everybody knows that De Walt is the best! Happy Grilling! London, ONT

I’m back again to say our new Centro that is at our cabin was used again this weekend and it works like a charm. I did a chicken using the infrared rotissiere burner and it was to die for. I would like to see the control for the rotissiere adjust from high to low rather than just be on high all the time. You control the heat by opening the lid. But it worked fine. I did burgers the next day and the grill heated up quickly to 400 degrees and there didn’t seem to be uneven heating anywhere. It also lit on the first try. For now I love this barbecue and the only thing left to test is its longevity. Our last barbecue was an inexpensive Fiesta and it lasted for 14 years with no special babying of any sort. We replaced a few parts recently but it didn’t owe us a thing and was working fine until a severe hail and wind storm smashed it beyond repair. Otherwise I would still be using it. So I do expect to get some use out of this fancy Centro or they will be hearing from me!

I had a Centro peice of junk for one year and had to throw it away! I bought a NAPOLEON GRILL and its amazing! I guess you get what you pay for! Two Thumbs up for Napoleon model P450 even after 2 years now. Steve

I second that! NAPOLEON BBQ’s rock!

Whew! So, I did get a BBQ for my birthday! The cool thing was that it wasn’t the Centro, it was in the form of a home made coupon. I was able to go out and get the BBQ of my choice. The Centro was an option and yes, these comments are only a small fraction. But when you look at other opinions about other BBQ’s you don’t get some of the reactions you get like these ones so I opted to go with a Ducane. I figure I rather spend a bit more, OK, was a lot more, on a BBQ that has been tried, tested and true for so many. After getting it put together and out on my sundeck I got a nice big roast with a home made rum left on over night and tried out the rotisserie. Oh My Ducane GOD! WOW! Since then I have BBQ’ed almost every night! Steaks, chicken, Pork roast. Got the smoker going and made some pulled pork with BBQ sauce on a Kaiser bun. Washed down with a cold bottle of Stella and I could hear the angels singing. Maybe the Centro is good for some, but I think it’s true, you do get what you pay for. I rather pay more and find out that I got something good for my money than go cheap and have to deal with the disappointment. I know you really want that BBQ but if you can hold off and save that bit extra until it’s off season or until next year, I say do that instead and be happy with your purchase. I am very happy! STELLA!!!!

Jeez some of the bad reviews are puzzling.. I’ve been using a propane Centro now for a year and never had a problem. Assembly was easy, it heats to 500 in less than 5 minutes, and the heat is even. I suspect that some of these comments are from less-than-mechanically-inclined assemblers who didn’t quite put it together right.. or aren’t maintaining it properly..RTFM lol!
As far as a fire hazard.. well I had one small internal blaze – but it was my own fault.. I’d forgotten to clean out the accumulated pile of drippings in the bottom.. and as I usually run it on high heat with a tin foil sheet on the grill for 5 minutes after cooking (to burn off the gunge). So I turned the heat off – and cleaned it! Problem solved.

Also about the rust comment on the grill – you have to season the grill properly with cooking oil and being porcelain coated be careful not to scrape it too hard with steel brushes. They recommend plastic bristles but they are pretty useless.. I’ve been using a 2-pronged helical metal scraper that doesn’t seem to bother it too much.. and works well.

Ah.. someone mentioned above that its not really porcelain coated – more like a spray on coating that’s ‘porcelain-like. That explains a lot; as I have been treating it like a cast iron cooking grill..

The first and last BBQ grill I will never buy at Canadian Tire, all the problems discribed above plus more…Canadian Tire should be a shame…We should think about a law suit….unbelievable…..Should I made my research on the web before buying….

Enyway…400$ down the drain…

Hah! Most of these negative comments make me laugh! No offense to those of you who are “amateur” outdoor epicurians, but complaining about how your bbqs don’t work properly likely amounts to the fact that you’re not maintaining them properly. Go to the Centro website for tips on how to look after your bbq so it’ll last for years: http://www.centroliving.ca/grillcare.htm

And no, I’m not working for Cdn Tire or Centro! I’m just a guy who knows that you get about a year of outdoor cooking for every $100 you spend on a bbq. So, if you want your outdoor grill to work properly and last, take good care of it.

PS-For those of you who like your Centro bbq (like me), don’t worry about all the other snivelling whiners on this site!

Well I just got off the phone for the third time in two weeks with the experts at Centro…What a Joke…don`t waste your life calling for help there.
After explaining the no gas flow from the regulator they gave me a procedure to go through,so I did it.
Of course I didn`t do it live in the field while the customer service rep was on the phone …so that don`t count.
All I need is a new regulator and having worked in the Gas business installing furnaces etc I think I know when a regulator is bad.
Oh well I will just mark this down as another good lesson learned ….Don`t buy cheap inferior crap Like Centro Products and don`t rely on any customer satisfaction if it means it will cost them a couple of dollars.

Must be Rubbish if they are overloaded with calls.

Centro Product Support 1-877-707-5463

Your message is important to us, however, due to the volume of incoming messages, please allow 24-48 hours for our customer representatives to contact you.

I’ve had my centro 3 burner with the side grill for 3 years now. Today is the first time I cleaned the burners and crap in the grill. The electric starter still works perfectly. The stainless is still nice and shiny. I have NEVER had a fire resulting from clogged lines. I have NEVER had a low flame situation. It states in the manual that the grilles are cast with a porcelain coating. YES, the heat plates are rusted. They are SUPPOSED TO, that’s what metal that is exposed to high heat does … it OXIDIZES alot quicker. Besides, they aren’t touching the food so who f’in cares??!!

I will admit that it does have its problems. The storage area is poorly designed and allows grease to get in. It does heat a bit unevenly, but it is much better now that I have cleaned the burners (including the holes).

Overall, I think this is the best bbq I have ever owned. I had a broil-king that was a piece of shit. I was sick of the el’ cheapo bbq with the stainless burners, and the cheap grilling racks. I wanted something nice that wouldn’t break the bank. The Centro has done a very nice job for me, and I am very happy with it.

I honestly don’t know what you all are doing to cause all of these failures with your bbqs.

And no, I do not work for centro, or crappy tire.

I hope I get many more years out of my centro. The thought of having to buy one of those plastic webers or napoleans irks me (funny I live 5 mins away from the napolean factory, those bastards still charge retail prices at their factory).

Good luck to all and good bbq’ing, no matter what bbq you got.

One last funny Centro story…

When we replaced our 14 year old Jacuzzi NG bbq four years ago (with a Centro), the garbage pickers took it right off of our driveway before the Toronto garbage men came by. It ticked the wife off for some reason because in Toronto you need to call the city to arrange pick up of larger items like a BBQ. Anyways, I just figured that someone was going to rebuild, repaint and resell the Jacuzzi and make some easy money.

I thought the same would happen with the Centro. We called the city, put it out for pickup. Not only didn’t the garbage pickers go on a raid and take it, but the city forgot to come by.

Centro, the BBQ you can’t give away.

The new Weber is working great. Even heat, looks great, and built solidly. Everything the Centro wasn’t. In short, don’t buy from Canadian Tire, and don’t waste time with Centro.

If I had done some research, I would have saved $450 and only had to buy one BBQ, not two.

I bought a Centro(NG)last year,very little flame took forever to heat up and after hours on the phone answering the same ques. over and over i finally called a gas guy,it took all of 40 min re-drilled the jets/ports and change some fittings. Its bin great so far.You really get what u pay for,If u bbq alot anything under a grand is crap!!

Buy a Centro bbq? Never again! I have had two for 3 years-one at home and one at the camp. The oneat the camp has been used only 2-3 times per year and was still working whe last checked. the one at home was used often. It was bought at Canadian Tire and they would not stand behind a 5 year warranty. Neither would Centro! I took it back to Canadian Tire and they said it was rusted so badly that it was beyond repair. Thankfully I kept it covered when not in use and bought the best stainless the store had to offer or it would have not lasted that long. I bought it already assembled and the side burner has never worked properly. Because of the price, the cost per use rivals the price of the steak cooked. I am left with a feeling of being raped.

GadZooks – I just bought a 6500 series Centro BBQ at CdnTire today on sale ($529 vs $749) and told them I be back later to pick it up. After having read this forum I’ll be going back to CanTire alright but not to pick up the BBQ but to get my cash back.
The quest continues…

Another “Gadzooks”. I just purchased a 6500 series Centro BBQ last night during the CT Sale ($529 vs $749)and did bring it home. I have had my eye on a Vermont Casting, Signature Series 4700 (which is more than twice this price) but decided that this 6500 had all the bells and whistles that I could desire and appeared to have the quality that would satisfy me for at least five years. I agree that many of the complaints in this forum might have resulted from lack of maintenance I would expect that the product should not be prone to heavy rust, discoloration of the stainless steel, or the varying heating problems that have been mentioned. I will be returning this model BBQ and researching further into the Vermont Casting product.

we agree with some of the above statements made about the”CENTRO” barbecues this company sells. The warranty (five years) is a gimmick which the company does not honor. After calling the company and complaining to Canadian Tire about the rust problem – they just don’t care!!! We replaced all srews with stainless steel srews and hope the “made in China” barbecue will last for a few summers. We expected CTire to stand-up for their customers – after all they are the buyers.

Purchased a Centro 420 BBQ from Canadian Tire in May of 2007. Clod spots are evident on the bottom of the grilling surface. It has been cleaned twice since it was purchased (3 months)and burnt up last night We lost a couple of towels, the cover and the BBQ happy to report that the deck is still here. We’re taking it back tomorrow, I won’t be purchasing another! If you are looking to burn your house down, I encourage you to buy one!

I have owned mine for 2 years,looks like new never had a problem and can hit 500 to 550 degress. People having problems with there unit not starting properly or low tempurate. This is caused by a valve in your propane tank. You turn on the tank,wait for the click “this is a safty valve in the tank. Turn on the center burner,count to 3 and hit the start botton.Great unit,sounds like a bunch of people that don’t understand simple direction?

One more grateful reader saying thanks for the warnings. Cdn Tire has Centro on sale and we were seriously considering. My wife and I are now continuing the search for something worth the money.

thanks everyone, Can. tire has it on this week for $449.00 reg. $799.00. We shall save our gas not make the trip to CTC.No wonder it’s $300 off. We have used a Broilmate for 8 years and had very good warrenty service from the company OMC. You must keep your bills and call them. I have recieved a new burner, bottom casting and am currenty trying to get another bottom casting. This BBQ gets used a lot. After reading what Ya’all had to say, me and my little filly will be headin’ down the road to the Broilmaster dealer!

Wow nice piece of junk! No wonder CTC has it on this wk for $300 off the reg. price of $799.00 thanks for all the comments, and saving us a trip. We have a broilmate by Broilmaster and it has been very good.The company OMC does a good job on their warrenty if you keep your bills. I received a new burner and bottom casting from them. Sorry so many of you got burned by CTC and Centro.

This is a fascinating collection of Centro reviews, and the sad thing is the large majority of experiences are the same as mine were.

At some point, someone is going to lose their house with one of these POS bbqs. If you can imagine the risk of having a self-incinerating BBQ hooked to the NG mains, you can see the accident waiting to happen.

I’m really happy with my Weber replacement. Just cleaned it up and stripped it down for the winter.

I am so frustrated with my centro which i have had for two years, the day we got this as a gift it is a 3 burner side burner also, i had just replaced the burner in my old bbq which worked fantastic, a new bbq for my ladies birhtday from her daugher . I have replace regulator and the the gas fixtures, 3 new tanks and i bbq almost every day, this machine never gets hotter than 300 degrees one burner two or three. I turn on the gas, with burners closed waited up to 20 seconds,electric start poof wait 10 -15 minutes and turn the other burners on cooked 2 steaks 20 min each side and i only cook steaks 6 min and 6 min, brought inside and put on stove to finish, this is an edsel for sure.

Can Tire has the Centro on for sale in store at $229 this week. Thought it was an amazing deal – too good to be true in fact. It appears my instincts were correct – I am glad to say that I thought to research this brand before buying. Thanks folks.

Thank goodness I found this site. I just bought the Centro 4000 NG on SALE ! ($299 from $549), now I know why. So, I will be making the trip back to Canadian Tire to return it.

I had been wondering if my BBQ problems were caused by my grill, because my meat was always falling on the coals when I cooked.

My wife looked at things and told me my weiner is too small.

I guess that’s why I bought a Centro.

Unbelieveable piece of JUNK. After 2 hours of painstaking assembly it would not ignite. Went to complain to Manager of Mont Tremblant CDN Tire. He tells me he has sold dozens if not hundreds including plenty to family and friends without one complaint. I guess he’s never been to this sight. He gives me the Centro 800 number to call. I feel sorry for the poor girl in that place they call customer service. She sends me a replaced part which was an absolute nightmare to change. It still does not light and even if you use a lighter it does not flame the other burners when you turn them on. I am loading it up on a trailer and taking it back for a full refund!! So much for the big BBQ rib dinner this Friday!! Do not buy one of these pieces of CRAP! Trent

Hey Joe. There are better BBQ’s out there. If you don’t mind spending the extra bucks. If your not happy with Centro, Try Napolean. Your weiners might shrink when you see the price.

Hi Ken. Really, what kind of BBQ are you expecting for $229.00. Try a natural gas model. Spend the extra money.

Chris. You have me baffled. You bought a BBQ and took it back after reading info from this site and never even tried it? I would have to assume that your already plummed into natural gas and ready to go.

Remember, if you cant take the heat ,stand back.Try cooking on your BBQ fully clothed. Your wife already told you how small you are. Let her wear the pants and get a BBQ for ya.

Fascinating series of reviews.

I was going to pick up a Centro that the local CanTire had on sale as open-box (real sweet price).

Thanks to Terry, Matteus and Steve for shedding some light on this. All in all, saved me some bucks and some time.

I don’t think I’ll take Joe’s advice and go for a Napolean, it is a little out of my price range. More likely a Weber or Broil King, which come in pretty close to the Centro.

i bought a 4 burner in 2004 and 2 years later the so called stainless steel grills were rusted and splittig open. the top rack is toast also. after paying aimost $800 for this im very disapointed

We have a Centro that we bought in 2003 and I HATE this thing. No problem with the heating ability but we have had to replace the heat shield for the third time this past summer!!! The “stainless” cover is totally discolored and the whole thing is rusting out( the catch pan, the bottom shelf) I tell everyone I know that Centro is a piece of crap and that it is a money pit from the getgo Crappy Tire sells a crappy product and customer service for this thing stinks everything is on back order and not available for 6-8 weeks great, now what do I barbeque on for the rest of the season!!!!! Thanks for letting me vent this has been “broiling” me for the last 5 years. Karen

We have one purchased a couple of years ago. I agree that Canadian Tire should carry replacement parts ( and no- they don’t) ,, I needed to replace the grills and couldn’t find any that fit ,, I called the telephone number supplied with the owners manual and recieved my new grills which were exactly the same as the originals 1 week later as promised and at a VERY reasonable price ( after market ones which are close to fitting were twice the price and would have to be modified ) ,, So my suggestion is to try the proper route and follow the instructions which are supplied when you purchased ,, Thanks

I have had a centro for 2 years and have never had a prob with it,,,,I cook on it year around,,,,,,,I love it

I have had a Centro BBWQ model 2000 for 1 year and three months. It has always been covered and kept clean. It’s rusting right through the top and the burners are completely rusted as well. DON’T EVER EVER EVER BUY A CENTRO, THEY’RE CRAP, and their warranty SUCKS!!!!!

My BBQing hubby wants me to add this comment – He is suspecting that possibly the major cause of food cremetion on the Q is chicken parts or whole chickens mixed with alot of debris in the bottom ( excess sludge build up etc) and higher temps mixed in with a generous helping of low outside temps (-40C) and the possibility of lack of attention. A BBQ is extremely hard to regulate at very low surrounding temps. Plus Poultry seems to be the major player in disaster. ie:chicken has it’s own fuel!

nice to see all the comments was in dominican in january had great roasted bbq pig on spit, wood through the pig and man turninig for a number of hours and just got back on the 7th of this month from santa lucia cuba same thing bbq the old fashioned way cant go south all the time but will invest in a newbbq shortly probably really research the next meal, thanks for all the comments, I sell cars for a living so I do know that there are strenghts and weaknessess in every model so gotta do my homework. terry.

This is for Brian on comment #158. Read comment #124. If your going to cover your BBQ, use a good quality one that breathes. When I store my Q I put newspaper inside, on top of the grills (after it’s cleaned obviously) to help absorb any moisture that might get inside. Cheap and simple. But it works.

I was just over at crappy tire looking at BBQ’s since I have a two inch stack of Canadian Tire money…and this is the only thing I can possibly buy that isn’t a write off for the business. I looked at all the models they had, and the Napolean looked like the most durable model there, but for the twice the price and not even a side burner, I have to wonder about which route to go. One can only hope they have improved over time, but my senses tell me that a crappy company is always a crappy company.

I asked the CT rep who made Centro, and he replied that they make all kinds (different brands) of BBQ’s…that in itself says it’s gotta be junk…jmho

Napoleon is the only way to go and I am sure there are lots of Napoleon Dealers out there, just go to their website. Warranty means alot and the Napoleon are priced higher but check out the warranty..You have to pay for quality..I’ve had my Napoleon BBQ for 8 years

Does anyone have any comments on the Amana BBQ?

i just bought a centro 4800 series
i will be mad if this bbq don’t work
i paid 600 dollars
i bought it at canadain tire
i will flip out

Keep it clean johnni keep it clean.

Hey Johnni,

Take it back. For $600 you could get a nice Weber or Broilking, both of which will last a lot longer than the CrappyTire Centro bbq.

All the cleaning in the world won’t give you an even heat, and when it does break down, neither CrappyTire or Centro want to hear from you.

You are going to be out of pocket when you have to replace it when it fails, so just pack it up and take it back while you still can get a refund.

Spring cleaning for the Weber was today.

I stripped the whole thing down, used a mild detergent solution to soak the black stuff, then a putty knife to clean up. Used a venturi cleaner on the gas works. All in all, things look good. No rust, easy to strip it down and clean it.

BTW, an aluminum pan of clean clumping cat litter made a great winter desiccant. All nice and dry inside.

It’s a real pleasure to have a good bbq, so take my opinion, folks, and don’t by Centro.

Haven,t the centro designers ever heard of the Robertson screw. Assembling my grille wasen,t that difficult but would have been a lot easier using Robertson screws. At least they stick in the screwdrivers, not like the Philips which continually fall out.

My Centro is going strong. I also don’t have the problem of falling out. CHEERS.

I just bought a Centro 6500 series BBQ. Has anyone had a good experience with this BBQ or should I just return it and go for something else?

I bought a Centro three years ago. My story is like everyone elses.

The starter on the thing died after a few months, the rust started at year two, the burners rusted out, and it is crap.

And Canadian Tire wont take it back, either.

I stumbled across this site while searching for parts for my centro after a fire behind the control panel. I thought my Centro was great for the first year but it has been going downhill ever since. I don’t know if I am happy or upset that I am not alone as most of the other problems that others are experiencing such as hot and cold spots variable flame, discoloured stainless and rusting porcelain apply to me as well.
This is just my second BBQ the first lasted me 15 years with just one burner replacement then I gave it to my brother for his cottage when I bought my big shiny Centro. The old BBQ is still going it is 19 years old. It was just a cheap Sterling that you can get for $150 at Home Hardware.
As for the cleaning comments I have cleaned the Centro a lot more than the old BBQ and still have the problems.

Would definately never recommend owning another Centro. Its really just a shiny piece of crap with a misleading 5 yr warranty. The grills will rust and the burners self destruct. I have a covered deck and look after everything I own.The warranty people just want to sell you new parts.When I described to them that the coating on the grills had come off in many places and that 2 of the 3 burners were not functioning properly. Their response was that the warranty did not cover rust. I never said that rust was the problem.The problem was the thin porcelean coating and cheap burners.
I have read the warranty very carefully and find that the company managing this warranty is not about service, but part, sales. I suspect they are doing well in this regard because if you own a Centro you are going to need parts.

i have a centro barbecue from canadian tire model # g40200 and i cannot get any parts for it i wonder if you could help me thank you Bill

Here is their website.http://www.centrobbqs.com/en/
the # for parts and warranty is 1-877-707-5463

Have had a 6000 model for about a year now. I run Natural Gas and haven’t had a problem with it yet. Rotisserie Works well, and the Burners run good and hot. Only problem is that the IR burner must be kept seasoned. Heat constantly burns the seasoning off the “Sear Zone” grate. Very happy with this BBQ.

Mine is a Model 4000, natural gas.It is now 3 years old. Now need two grills and at least one burner and a follower. Will need to replace the other two burners ,soon.

Bought one from a city dump then checked this site which got me scared; no idea how old mine is or which range; just want to mention there was hardly any rust on the stainless steel. I had to clean it thoroughly of course since it had at least one season of grease and debris on it; your stories got me very suspicious. So I spent several hours on putting it back into shape. Right now, it looks just fine to me, mostly there were nice blue flames, and it works perfectly. No unevenness, and quick heating process.
Since it is my first BBQ I liked to be able to take it apart and get familiar with the maintenance process; there are several aspects to that and I feel that if you neglect some of these, you may put yourself at risk, but would that not be the same with any BBQ? . Honestly, I believe it is a matter of treating the thing as described in the booklet. I really do not see how it can catch fire if you follow the instructions to the letter, both as regards the inside and as regards the outside. I”ll watch this carefully. In case I see a problem, I will post another message, but really I am quite confident right now, and I would like to keep it that way. I want my Summer to be relaxing. If I had doubts I would pay the extra 150 dollars. Right now I do not see the need. Normally you get what you pay for and whatever you say, the price of this BBQ is not exactly low. If it is lower than the other ones, surely those have advantages this one has not. Has anyone consulted a consumer guide on these BBQs?
And what’s more, there is basically two ways of dealing with defective items: hope some consumer protection laws will weed them out before they reach the consumer, or litigate. No instances of that have yet been reported on this site, I see? Is it not more useful to discuss how to clean burners? (My friend recommends putting them in the oven and then dropping them in cold water, but another friend says that will break them. NB: the one thing I have not done is cleaning the burners because the flames are nicely blue. I am thinking of using am airbrush (compressed air). Anyone any idea?
Many thanks
Nanette

I read comments about the stainless cover, that made me wonder. Maybe moisture gets trapped in there or one should use a protective product for stainless. If you use your barbecue every day, when so you use the cover if at all? Do you use it every day, or do you use it only when you are away for several days and it may rain? I am puzzled on this issue.

Centro sucks – they don’t get hot enough – they don’t sell replacement parts at canadian tire – they don’t have a catolgue of centro bbqs and parts – they rely on you knowing the part and number and having your manual. They look good and the price is good – other than that – nothing

I recently bought a Centro electric BBQ. The element is burned out,as well as the connection. Can you replace it for me? How much will it cost?
The product number is 85-1038

I’m not seeing any good comments about your gas bbq’s! I hope this little electric one will be better!
Thank you…Arley

I just bought a centro, put it together and then checked this site. Very interesting. We used it the first night for a whole chicken and no problems. I am using it again tonight and will let you know how it progresses. I have a feeling that the drip pan is too close to the burners. Just in case we have purchased a new fire extinguisher. Yikes! Seafood tonight, we hope. This makes grilling sound like an adventure.

I have had a Centro 550 for 2 yrs. now and I find that it is not what I thought it would be. Should I purchase a new one in I will definately lokk at a Napolean or Weber or brand other than Centro. The major problem I have is that as soon as it is preheated and the lid is up the disapates and never recovers. I guess you get what you pay for, buyer beware. It is also made in China, for whatever that’s worth.

Bought a Centro G60105 2 years the supposedly stainless steels rods on the grid split open, the bottom drip pan has rust holes in it and I cannot I cannot find parts in stock in Ontario. I will never buy another.

You guys should all start a class action lawsuit!!?

I admit I was attracted to the Centro 6000 sales “sizzle” since it has a sear plate plus 5 other burners. The three main burners are rod loops. The grills are “zigzag”—fancy but hard to brush clean. The main burners set on full burn hotter from left to right, so I adjust the controls accordingly and close the lid. But I must have a later model since experience not so bad. Not perfect of course—the grills rust easily, and the stainless metal is designed thin in spots like the two doors and shelves. So far nothing has failed for 2 years with zero maintenance and it still shines.

hi, i bought a centro bbq from canadian tire, got it 2 nd june 2008. it came with no side burner no lights and a damaged hood.needless to say still dont now how it is going to work, lol the warranty is pathetic to say in the least. i would not recommend a centro bbq.

I have owned a four burner centro since 2002. The igniter went dead on it after the first year and I have used a bbq lighter on it since then.

I just purchased 4 new burners for it this year from a local propane supplier, since the old ones have rusted out to a point where I feel they are unsafe. I clean the holes on the burners each spring.

I use this bbq a minimum of 150-180 times per year and use approximately 240 -280 lbs of propane per year. Nothing beats a bbq’d steak in -40 deg weather. I would not hesitate to purchase another.

The burners must be ignited from right to left or you will have pressure problems.

If another manufacturer had a unit with cast burners instead of all the crap stainless burners, I would consider them.

I used to go through a bbq per year @ $250.00 a pop until I bought my centro.

My unit sits, uncovered, on my deck 365 days per year.

Fred,

You make a good point that a $600 Centro is better than a $250 BBQ. It’s just that no-one who owns one and has something to compare it to thinks a $600 Centro is better than a $600 BroilKing, Weber, or pile of bricks.

I have had a Centro for 2 years. 3 burner with cast grates. It has worked perfectly. I had to replace the burners recently as they were corroded. CTC did not have original parts but had universal burners. I use it year round and its the best barbeque I have had in 40 years.

I have had a 3 burner+side burner+ rotisery Centro BBQ for about a year and half now and have ad no troubles. Works like a charm, the lighter still works fine, and the burners burn well. Still looks nice also. I don’t use the rotisery or side burner very often, but have been very happy with it.

I have a year old Centro. I have never been happy with it as it doesn’t cook to a proper temperature. Heat isn’t even, not even on the same row. I asked CdnTire for help but they say it is a manufacturer issue. Also, now the stainless cover is starting to warp and discolour. Not a very good product, and Centro doesn’t have a local service shop to help. Wouldn’t buy another.

I to baught a centro 4000 .thought i was getting a great deal.i had a fire. as i thought it started in the grease tray witch it did not. the problrm was in the burners ..now i have a big shiny peice of junk on my deck that i’ve only used about five times which is no more good .thanks to canadian tire and CENTRO ..I will never give those people another cent of my hard earned money again…

There is a manufacturing defect in all Centro BBQs. Uneven heat is caused by a slit at the back of the gas burner. Over a period of time the slit opens up, releasing more gas at the back of burner and thus a higher flame. So over a period of time (usually within the first 4 months) the BBQ will give more heat at the back of the burners than in the front. I think most people will confirm that in Centro BBQs food placed at the back side burns. You can check this slit on the burner yourself.

Hi all….well moving into a home last October meant I could return to the joys of bbq’s in the summer. So, summer came and bbq’s were on sale and so I went to Crappy Tire and bought a Centro on sale. It was a deleted model (something I guess many of us wish would happen to Centro altogether). I must have used it 12 times max over the summer. I think that mine is a 3000 series? Anyway, a few weeks back I went out to fire it up and as I went to light the middle burner it lit but then looked really strange. The fire instead of blue and hugging very close to the burners, was yellow and looped and even worse it started coming straight out of the control knob for the middle burner. The fuel did not smell right, as if it was not burning properly. I turned on the left burner and it turned on perfectly. The same for the far right burner. I have tried twice since then (of course I just shut it all down right away) to clean the burners and look for blockage. Just this aft I tried again and it did the same thing. The middle burner is still doing the same thing. I am also miffed that I cannot locate my receipt and the brochure from the bbq. Maybe one of the kids through them out…and with what I’ve been reading about Crappy Tire and Centro I am not optimistic about how I’m going to fix this….sigh…

mine has this zig zag grill that was a neat idea at the start but is horrible to clean and to retrieve you food off.
I would never buy another one.

Hi,
We just moved to the new house and decided to buy a bbq. Centro brand was on sell and we bought it last week(6800 model).It is siting in my home and hasnot been instilled.Now I read your comments and Paniced ,do you thing we have to return it? This is our first bbq!!!!

Just got a natural gas centro 4800 hooked up. All 3 burners were on high for 2 hours and it never went above 300 degrees F. We had to add on an extension to the 10 foot hose so the total length is 15 feet. Any hints??

Folks, These Centro’s are just garbage. Fred, Kathleen, it’s a shame but you’ve just experienced the typical Centro burn-down. Experience says Centro and CanTire will blame you for faulty maintenance or bad assembly. If so and it is still on warranty, remember the warranty was part of the overall purchase and if CT declines it you can call Visa or MC and dispute the bill and ask for a charge-back for product not delivered.

Lindsay, Zahra – don’t spend any more many. Take it back for a refund and get a Weber, or BroilKing, or anything else.

Lindsay

Further to Joe’s comment, move the bbq closer to the main so you don’t need the extension. See if it comes up to temp without it before spending money on a gas fitter.

Don’t spend more money on the gas fitting until you know the bbq works. Swap out the bbq first

Matteus

Piece of junk- can’t get it to burn hotter than 350F – had the natural gas people check it twice

Garbage!

Forget what Pat says (the old garbage about “you must have put it together wrong!”

Pat got that’s all

Well, we returned the barbeque with no problem to Canadian Tire. Just to test it, we removed the 5 foot extension and used the 10 foot hose that came with it which is 3/4 inch I believe. The hose hooks up to the house right at our gas meter and is equipped with a shut-off valve. All 3 burners on high for 20 minutes and the barbeque finally got to 350 degrees. This was under ideal conditions- no wind and about 28 degrees outside.
We have yet to buy another barbeque but will update on how it performs. Looking at Weber or Napoleon.

M Wilkes: thanks for the support/comments. Had a late day bbq at my parents house today and I noticed that their aging bbq now only has gas flaring out of just a small portion of one rack. Told my mom that this is the time to toss the machine at the end of the season and next year get a new one. I pointed out to her that 50% of the area that is supposed to have flame you could barely see any blue flame under the lava lumps.

As for my own predicament, since I cannot find the copy of the bill I think I will take in a copy of my mastercard statement and show the manager the transaction linked to his store and tell him that I want to return the bbq and that I’ll even put it into a rented truck, return it to him and then he can send it back to Centro. I used it maybe 10 times all summer. My son and I spent an hour assembling it, a pain in the ass but we did it perfectly and the machine worked flawlessly until the middle burner of the three decided it was time to malfunction. So no, I won’t be using it again as it is a hazard and I will try to take it back to Crappy Tire and ask for my money back. Next spring I’ll look to buy a different brand. Too many people have complained about Centro and from my own experience the thing should never have broken as we did not abuse it in any way.

I had a flame shooting threw the middle dial of the CENTRO 2800 model. The knob was destroyed and I burn’t myself trying to shut the dial off. It was burning from the inside out. I called the warranty toll free number and they blamed it on the fact that I hadn’t cleaned the pipe inside the burner! I have owned BBQ’s for 20 years, and we clean our BBQ spring and fall. This shouldn’t be the reason for this. I think it was a manufacturing defect! I shouldn’t have to pay anything for something that isn’t even a year old. I can’t be buying BBQ’s every 2 years. I am complaining to Canadian Tire H.O. and I’ll take it to the Governement Level! I am royally pissed!

With the wheels locked my Natural Gas BBQ rolled off my deck, damaging the lid and both front doors. You should report your problems to TSSA in Ontario And CGA, I plan to report mine and I`M a licenced gas fitter,

Well, I finally got round to calling Crappy Tire about my Centro bought this past May. They tell me that my ONLY option is to call Centro and invoke the In House Service part of the 1 year warranty. I tremble at the thought of how badly this is about to get. I will update on my experience…..

Yeah, I had a Cr@ppy Tire Centro BBBQ. It caught fire on my deck.

I’m not whining tho, just listening to Talking Heads on my iPod – “Burning down the house”.

I’ve had mine for 2 years and I’ve never had a problem. I use it quite a bit year round so it’s been good to me.

Thank you everybody who wrote comments about CENTRO bbqs. I was going to purchase one. Now I will certainly not.

Be carefull about sales items on Canadian Tire. I bought a compressor with nailor on sale and now I am stuck to return it to the same store from where it was bought which is too far.

Talking to rude and corky manager at the Canadian Tire, it was disclosed that each store is franchised and so is indepent. Pertilarly for sale end items. Will some one tell me what is an END OF SALE item ONSALE.

We bought a Centro 6000 – model 85-1132 – we’ve had it for 3 years and never experienced anything remotely close to the above-mentioned complaints. The only issue we have is finding a cover for it but thanks to this site, we now have a phone # and website. Thanks a bunch!

I found a Centro natural gas BBQ on sale at my local Canadian Tire. Very good price but I wanted to see what people thought about it – I’ve had some problems with Can Tire branded products before.

Luckily I googled “Centro BBQ review” and this was the second site listed. The first site had a couple of problems out of a small amount of reviews, but this site closed the deal.

I’ve got small kids and can’t put them at risk, which is what I would be doing if I bought this thing from what you folks say. I’m going to hold on to my money for now and look more in the spring.

But Joe, children are great on the bbq with a little marinade.

I’ve had the same broil master bbq for 27 yrs. thanks to your info i won’t be buying a centro. i’ll be back at broil master they still make the same model. thank you

I just purchased a Centro 6800 model and assembled it of course before I did any research. Now I’m reading all the feedback on the Centro’s which is making me a bit nervous. What I would like to know is which models are causing the majority of these problems, gas or propane?

I bought a Centro 4800 yesterday on sale at Canadian Tire, for 299$ (normal price is 499$).

I started the assembly yesterday evening, and now this morning I’m reading those bad comments. I’m wondering if I should finnish the assemnbly or simply put everything back in the box and buy something else? I’m getting affraid now…

Have had a centro bbq fer over five years ,works great never a problem,Going to buy another one this week cas I’m now switching to NG and want a more delux model.

I had mine for about 6 years now. I simply love it. The electric starter still works well, my burners are in tip top shape. I owned a weber, grill master and many other expensive one in the post, frankly for the price this is the best BBQ I ever owned. Keep in mind that I take EXTREMELY good care of my BBQs, I clean every inch of the bbq once I am done. Keep your toys clean and it will work for ever.

The inside of my Centro rusted out after 8 months along with the porcelain grates. I followed the recommended maintenance and they always stuck to the food. I am now on my second set of grates and they rusted within a few months. Not going to purchase another Centro when I shop for a new BBQ.

I just purchased a centro 4800 for my husband has a gift to our 50th anniversary and he just asembled it in our garage but now I am very upset after reading all the negative responses about this product. It is still winter out our way and we have not had it hooked up yet. I am not feeling confident now about my purchase of CENTRO PRODUCTS.

We bought a Centro 6800 yesterday to replace a 32 yr old Falcon. It is a natural gas model and we are having it assembled. My DH is 72 and not keen about doing that again. Our old Barbie still works but we are unable to conrol the heat and it only has 30,000 BTU. new one has 86,000. Am hoping that this one will serve us well. We take good care of everything we own and it comes with a 5 year warranty. The Centro has all the bells & whistles. I had used a Centro Sear plate on the old one so am looking forward to that feature on the new one as well as the Rotissory burner. It was a great price Reg $800 for $450. My experience with review sites has been that usually people with complaints are the most frequent users, understandable! Considering how many of these Bar B Ques were flying out of the store yesterday I,m hoping that this will be a good relacement for us. My husband watches all the grilling shows on The Food Network and wants to get creative which is why we purchased this many featuered super large unit. Hopefully someone with experience with this model will post.

Purchased a lower end model Centro 3 years ago and loved it. We have a trailer in the north and use it for all our cooking on the weekends and on holidays. It gets a real work out. The burner sarted acting up last year and we replaced it and it still works fine. Wsa in Canadian Tire this week and purchased a 6800 model because it was on sale and we needed a larger barbie. We feel confident in our purchase and know it will work even better than our current one. We are going to donate our current one to the park to use when we have functions.

Picked barbie up on Mon along with 3 pieces of the cusine series that go with the bbque. Am hoping all of this will work well together. Major investment. Still haven’t tried it out as we have to remove old barbie from the deck and put new equipment up there and the weather hasn’t exactley cooperated!! Rain & now very cold. It is suposed to be nice here this weekend so am hoping we’ll get a chance to use it this weekend. Anybody have the breakfast centre? Wish me luck. This is one good looking setup!

Bought a 6800 model last weekend. I turned it on for the first time last night. I was surprised how fast it reached 325 degrees. In less than 2 minutes. But that was it. It was not going over 350. I let it burn for more than an hour without any success. Of course, we called Canadian tire to return it but they said they can’t do anything because we took it out of the box and we used it. Tehy said that we have to deal with Centro. We called Centro and they said that they have a problem with the thermometer. Apparently, I have to add 200 degrees to the reading because it shows the temperature of the cover and not the bbq itself. What the hell???? We’re currently looking with my friend who’s a lawyer to see if we can have our money back.

Frank, is your barbie propane or natural gas? I believe NG is hotter but still the BBQ should reach at least 500. Haven’t got mine on the deck yet so am hoping I won’t have a problem.
Joe, if you go on the CTC site you will see that all kinds of people really like their Centros. I read most of the reviews on all the different models and most are very positive. Hopefully mine will be too. !!

2 years ago I purchased a Master Chef barbecue made by Centro from Canadian Tire. I take pride in looking after my barbecues & do proper maintenance & cover the unit at all times. Outside the unit looks like new but all interior components have completely rusted out & neither CTC or Centro will provide any help. The replacement parts will cost $136.22.
My previous barbecue is over 15 years old & going strong at the cottage. Obviously, Centro & Canadian Tire are selling extremely inferior barbecues. Buyer beware!

Fired up our BBQ this am. Reached 500 in 15 min. So far so good. I think we’ll really enjoy this BBQ

Love my Centro so far. Used it for the 1st time yesterday for souvalki. baked potatoes & garlic bread. Everything worked just great. Guests were super impressed! Today did roasted potates, garlic bread, (luv that stuff) asparagus & steak. Everything cooked to perfection. Had no trouble searing or getting & holding temps. heated to 500 in 10 min and sear burner worked great. Backing off the heat was no problem either. Matteus I sure hope it doesn’t catch fire. it’s hooked up to NG and it would take the whole block with it!!

I bought a 6800 from Cdn Tire. I can’t get it to heat up past 350 F. I’m measuring the temperature with an oven thermometer.

I’ve refilled the propane tank.

I called Cdn Tire but they can’t help me.

Any help here?

Avoid Centro!! Bought a fancy 6000 unit from Canadian tire, second season had “blowback” which melted two control valves and knobs,flames shooting out of control panel, very hazardous due to poor design, should have been taken off market for safety reasons. Then to add insult to injury, Centro would not cover under advertised five year waranty, not to mention difficulty in contacting them.

I have had a Centro BBQ for two yrs now and never had aproblem with it.

I just about purchased a Centro 4900 Propane BBQ and thought I better check the reviews. It sounds like all Centro’s are basically crap and won’t last long. The funny thing is I want to replace the $100 BBQ that is now giving me problems after 7 years, and everyone is having problems with the more expensive ones. I can get this Model 4900 for $550 taxes in, but I will not buy one now and will look elsewhere. Thank-you everyone for a decision made easier!

April 09 – Cdn Tire advertising a Centro 2800 for $180 (regular $299) today only. Came here to find mostly negative experiences so I’m going to pass on this deal. Thanks to all for the feedback – probably saved myself a huge hassle down the road.

I bought my BBQ in May 2007. That crazy zig zag grill is a bitch to keep clean. I now learn that I cannot find or get replacement parts for this BBQ. Model # 85-1103-8. Oh, I could call a phone number that would eventually get me a replacement part, maybe, in time. What is up with that. I am so dissappointed with the lack of support from the company that I bought this product from. Is this company looking for the quick cash grab and not the long term customer relationships? I now have to think twice about being a loyal customer to this store. I liked this store because it is, I think, Canadian. At least that is what their name implies. I guess this is my fault for not researching enough to ensure I buy Canadian, which is what I am gonna do this time.

READ THIS FOR AN HONEST OPINON, FROM A WELL BALANCED PERSON WHO HAS HIGH STANDARDS: My friend had a Centro and it cooked the best steaks I ever had on a BBQ, I thought that I was having a steak at the Keg. It left such a great impression on me that I swore that when my existing BBQ had seen its days, that I would buy a Centro. I bought mine a year ago and it’s been the best BBQ I ever owned. I THINK THAT IT’S A LITTLE STRANGE THAT EVERY POST ON HERE IS NEGATIVE AND SEEMS LIKE IT WAS WRITEN BY THE SAME PERSON. SURE PRODUCTS CAN GET NEGATIVE REVIEWS, BUT NOT THIS CONSISTENTLY. IT’S QUITE OBVIOUS THAT SOMEONE IS TRYING TO SABOTAGE CENTRO. I HAVE NO REASON TO DEFEND CENTRO, EXCEPT THAT IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE SO MANY CONSISTENTLY BAD REVIEWS FOR SUCH A GREAT PRODUCT. THIS IS WHY THE INTERNET IS DANGEROUS…

Bought a Centro 3 1/2 years ago from Canadian Tire. Warranty said five years. While the actual burners were in good shape all the support rails and metal parts to secure the burner were almost completely rusted out. I cover the barbecue with the official “centro” cover but that certainly did not deter the rust. Since the metal parts form part of the burner assembly I approached Centro about warranty—— 5 year warranty does not cover against rust. Stainless steel shell also discoloured badly in first year—Again warranty doesn’t cover discolouration.—– Dials tend to strip quite easily so you have to be careful when adjusting heat. After first year none of the automatic starters worked—were completely rusted out.
Certainly disappointed with the Centro but since I have over $700 (repairs and originial cost) tied up in it it will have to do. Sure would be nice if Centro and Canadian Tire took an interest in quality and customer service.
It is no wonder that Canadian Tire doesn’t entertain the warranty at their stores—- They would lose their shirt.

I have a Centro barbecus and i am now on year three. It works great and has always worked great. I am now just purchasing new flame-tamers but other than that, I will definitely be a Centro man until the day I die!!

My family bought me a Centro 4800 for Fathers Day last year. We are very dissappointed with it’s performance and it most certainly will be featured in our next garage sale. The Centro 4800 is beautiful in appearance but the cabinet is far too large for the burner capability. It takes the 3 main burners and the rear rotisserie burner as well to heat the cabinet to 400 degrees.
I can’t believe how many times I’ve had to refill my propane tanks. We are lucky to get 2 to 3 weeks out of a tank after enjoying 5 to 6 week refill intervals with our last Thermos brand bar bq. The lesson learned here is that bigger is not always better.

I’ve been having regular issues with my propane Centro since the one year mark. I put up with poor temperature control, regular burner replacement and rust on the grills. However, it worked OK for burgers and bratswurst.

That was OK for then, now I am looking to get the natural gas line run outside and pick up a plumbed in bbq. Won’t be Centro, but I heard some bad news about Broilking so I am shopping around.

Just bought Broil King Imperial XL for house – amazing unit – no complaints. I have Centro 6800 for cottage – what a world of difference in quality and performance – I guess you get what you pay for – what can you expect from a Centro – you can’t compare it to weber, broil king or napolean

My Centro is absolute garbage, handle’s broken, bottom doors have never shut properly, grills rusty after one season – expensive lesson learned: don’t buy off-shore made crap. Canadian Tire should be ashamed.
My next BarBQue will be a Made In Canada Broil King.

I purchased a Centro three years ago and there are always problems coming up, the top element broke apart from me, there seems to be flames that fly out wildly,this barbecue is a scary thing, I am now trying to replace the top element but can’t seem to find where I can purchase one.
The Centro barbecue seems to be one big problem

I purchased a four burner centro barbacue and it has been a nighmare. One selling feature was the warranty(five years) but now to find the warranty covers nothing. The whole inside of my barbacue is wroughting. The explanation I recieved when calling Centro was that’s to be expected. It’s called wear and tear. Asked about my five year warranty was told that only covers parts at the time of purchase.
ABSOLUTELY DO NOT BUY A CENTRO!

Matteus . W. It would’nt surprise me if its you writing all these negative complaints. Do you have a split personality???

I have had my Centro for about 3 years and it seemed fine for the 1st but now the burners are rusting out, the sear plates are doing the same. (I have had the Centro cover for it as well and it is starting to rip) I wish I would not have bought this but I did. It has a 5 years warrenty but I can’t seem to get any help with any of my problems. Stay away.

To David McLean it’s not a conspiracy against Centros and we don’t need to shut down the Internet to protect them.

Be happy you got a good Centros.

The rest of us have to deal with our problems(my Centros won’t heat past 400 degrees–had the gas tech check the lines twice!)

Good luck with yours.

I lost $500 buying a Centro that died after two years. I wish I had seen these Googled reviews first because I would have made a different choice. I can’t get my propane grill up to a decent heat, and Centro hasn’t returned my emails.

Dave, the internet may be DANGEROUS, but only if you are a manufacturer making a bad product.

Not impressed with my Centro 4800 BBQ. It never heats past 300 degrees. I understand there is an issue in triggering the limiting regulator and followed manufacturer’s steps repeatedly to correct same, to no avail. Also, after less than one year – and keeping it diligently covered with the proper cover, parts of the paint are peeling. Very disappointing purchase. I would spring for a Weber next time.

See previous posts September18 & October 9th. We purchased a Weber last month and have had no problems getting it up to 500 degrees within 10 minutes. I thought it may have been our new gas line but I guess it was the Centro! Glad we returned the Centro when we did.

I have had a Centro for five years and have never had a problem. Best buy I have made.
I just recently had to change the burner and heat plate. I purchased the parts through my local hardware store at a resonable cost and they were delivered in two days. I use it summer and winter and always keep it covered when not in use.

OMG, someone doesnt like Centro? I cashed in my welfare check to bur this and the hotdogs have never tasted so good. It tastes like I would imagine hot dogs at the Keg would taste, but I can’t afford to go there cuz Stephen Harper cut back the mothers allowance if we ain’t working.

They are nice and shiney, too. Plus I can get them from Cnadian Tire and get Canadian Tire dollars also.

Life is sweet.

had my centro grill for 1.5 years..NEVER had a problem, great heat and great cooking times.

I actually used to work for CT even assembled many bbqs and never had any problems. Then I got one of my own this past Christmas. With 3 burners on I still can’t get it past 350 degrees. Which is basically useless.

I guess it just depends on your experience. Mine to date has been great. After reading some of these posts I keep expecting to have problems but so far nada. My brother in law has had his for 4 years, no problems! Matteus i did manage to catch it on fire! but that was my stupidity. Any idiot knows if you are rotissering a chicken and you put the oil based marinade in a pan under the chick, let the pan get good & hot, smoking actually, and add water the oil will burn! Really well!!! I really can’t believe I did that! Barbeque survived just fine ( as well as the deck, the house, and the idiot who caused all this in the first place.) Lesson well learned.

I think it comes down to we get what we pay for. It is difficult to find a decent bbq for less than $400 – specially if you expect all the bells and whistles like sizzler, rotissere, 4+ burners etc. I purchased 2 bbqs this summer – one for cottage – one for home. I went cheap for cottage – i purchased Centro 6800 on sale at crappy tire for $399.00 with all bells and whistles. In comparison – I purchased broil king at home – imperial xl with same amount of burners, side burner and rotissere for 1600.00. Big difference in price – but huge difference in construction and performance – night and day. So I don’t really expect much from my Centro – I would be happy if it lasts me 3 to 5 years tops – thats why I didn’t spend that much on it. Although I do understand – that to others the $399 is too much – which I understand – but I think whether you buy a Centro, or loblaws brand for $399 with all perks (4 burners, side burner, sizzler, rottissere etc) you are going to get low quality bbq. That said – nobody should be a Centro at retail price unless it is on sale – I waited for mine to be 50% off. I would have never spent $800 original price for it. Unfortunately – I am sure that some people have.

I bought a Centro 4800 natural gas bbq last year in June 2008. This is the worst bbq I have ever owned. It does not produce enough heat to cook a steak and was wondering what the heck is going on. I had the connections checked by a professional, took out the burners, had the gas company check if I had enough pressure, read the FAQ section from the Centro website and so on and so forth. I still have the same problem. I paid $399.99 for this product and feel like tossing it in the garbage or use it as a slow cooker for ribs or brisket.

Bottom-line, paid the extra and get a Napoleon, Broil King, Weber, Viking, Lynx etc…

Centro BBQ owners with cast iron burners. Pull up the grill and heat diffusers to expose the burners. Pull them out one at a time. Lift and pull towards the rear. They should come out easily. Tap the burners on a hard surface to get all the rust out and put them back in place. This may help burners with low flame problems. If you allow the rust to build up, it reduces gas flow.

I bought a Centro BBQ at Canadian Tire 10 days ago and haven’t been able to light it yet! First, there was a leaky regulator, which it took Centro 5 days to replace by “courier”. Apprarently, overnight courier is an unknown concept to them. When the new regulator arrived, I was unable to disconnect the original. I’m hardly the Hulk, but not a weakling either. When I called the “help desk” I was told that a new manifold would take another 3-5 business days to arrive. When I pushed for overnight service, I was told it was not an option. I’m loading this hunk of junk back to CT for a refund and I’ll buy something that works!

all the burners ,propane supply tubes and burner guards will rust out before 5 yrs..mine 3
and i kept mine cover or in garage,
have to fight for parts ..suppose to be 5 year warranty..
JUNK

I’m not trying to be scarcastic here but I’m wondering what people barbque at 500 degrees? My bbq gets that hot but what do you ever cook at that temp. I think you would end up with homemade charcoal. Most receipes call for about 300 – 400 degrees. I don’t ever cook anything in the oven at that temp and for searing the sear grill gets way hotter than that. Just wondering. Hey Mayyeus, in my fire fiassco the chicken remained relatively unscathed. We had a few crispy bits but totally edible. Go figure!

I found the heat problem!

I purchased my Centro 4800 NG about a year ago. I’ve had heat issues since day one and have gone online to read reviews to see if I can solve this problem. This heat issue seems to be the most common issue.

I got no help from Centro and once they told me to replace the thermostat which was incorrect and a way to brush me off.

Well the other day I looked over my BBQ and practically ripped it apart to see if I did something wrong and guess what….I didn’t do anything wrong but found out that the problem is. Something that no one has been able to figure out including Centro.

Here’s the issue. Loss of heat from the back of the BBQ!! What do I mean? Turn your BBQ around and look at the gap between the lid and the back plate. There is a good 5-6 inch gap which causes great heat loss. Not only that but the back of the base has no cover and wind blows from underneath. So what did I do to test this out?

I took a long piece of aluminum foil and made a make-shift back plate….enough to cover the gap and guess what? My BBQ went from a top end of 350 degrees to an outstanding 475 degrees! And that’s only with the aluminum foil.

Well I be heading to the hardware store tomorrow to buy some aluminum. I’ll use one piece to cover the gap in the lid and one for the back of the base.

Bottom-line….the less air gets in the more heat you’ll have.

Thanks for the suggestion John T. (300)
I bought the Centro 2800 NG model last year for my husband for father’s day. Worst present ever. Used it a couple of times last summer and it seemed fine. Fired it up a couple of weeks ago for the first bbq of the season and 45 minutes later it was still at 300 degrees. Read the manual which suggested that old NG fittings could be the problem though it was never an issue with the old bbq. But the hookup was installed 18 years ago so i called Gas company out to check and everything is perfect.
This bbq was a waste of money and to add insult to injury, i paid the xtra 50 bucks for the NG model.
We’ll try out the aluminum foil trick tonight.

Anna,

Also make sure that you’ve used a venturi brush and cleaned out the pipes. These bbq’s suffer from blockage of the tubes caused by insects and spiders. If the tube is blocked, gas won’t get to the burner but instead will back up around the front of the bbq, catch fire and destroy the bbq.

I have had a Centro 2800 less than one month and the powdercoated
drip tray caught fire. Besides ruining 30 dollars worth of food I cant believe that Centro would design a drip tray that holds flammable fluid (fat) would be coated with a flammable coating. I will be contacting both Canadian Tire and Centro to recall the product.

Centro 6800.
This will be its second season. The flame is VERY low…since day one. The adjustment directions (to increase reulator flow) don’t work. Can’t get any higher than about 275. Changed the regulator/cleaned the venturi pipes. No resolution…terrible.
Electronic ignition has now failed.
My $75 fiesta bbq works better than this.

Centro’s are absolutely garbage. DO NOT EVER BUY A CENTRO BBQ. They don’t heat up, and the company always gives you the run around as far as fixing it. It took me 45 min to cook some hamburgers the other day and they were still pink in the middle. That was with the burners turned on to high. My bbq is 1 year old and I’m going throw it in the garbage and buy a different brand name.

My parents bought me a 5800 BBQ last year. The ignitor never worked from day 1. but, i have enjoyed cooking on it. Over the winter, we installed NG and my wife had a NG fitting set up for the BBQ. I am disappointed there is no converter system available. So, CT has a sale on. After reading the reviews, I am very hesitant to buy another.

My dad has a 2 year old centro and it works fine as well. Did we get anti-lemons?

My final call? hold off one more year and save up the extra cash to buy a better brand.

I’m shopping for a new bbq as my Centro last night burned out and wanted to warn people. Although I have used it 3plus years there were always hot and cold spots but yesterday flames came out of the handle and metal and plastic melted before our eyes.
I would caution against this bbq – noone was hurt here but we have quite a mess to deal with. The initial good price isn’t worth it.

had my 4000 series since 2007,out of the box,the lid was not assembled,{welded} correctly,centro sent me a new lid within a month of purchase,after first year of use started having problems lighting,had to replace regulator,wanted to buy add on components,found out product line was discontinued,what a waist of 600 bucks.

I bought a CENTRO 3800 about a month ago. It was obvious from the first time we used it that it does not have enough heat. After 20 minutes it hits 300 degrees. Yes I open the tank valve slow with the controls in off prior to lighting, you have to do it that way to open the internal check valve which prevents the bottle from draining if it is not hooked up. I know some clown will make some witty comments to protect this mediocre product, my suggestion to anyone buying a bbq is to use the $400 you are going to spend on a CENTRO towards buying a better, more expensive bbq that works. I am looking forward to beating my head against the wall when I call Crappy T and CENTRO to inform them their product does NOT work.

Mateus, Joe,

Hate to interupt your love-in, but are you telling me that after paying $500 for a BBQ I have to jury-rig some sheet metal to make it work.

You gays are smoking something more than the bbq if you think that is right.

These Centro’s need a major recall. They are the Yugo of the BBQ world, not even Chrysler quality.

After contacting Centro and C tire and receiving no satisfaction
about my month old 2800 model that had a powdercoated drip tray that caught fire, I have now been in contact with CSA and they are investigating. I advise anyone who has had unsafe conditions with their BBQ to do the same.

I have a Centro bbq with a rotisserie back burner. I recently washed it with degreaser and after rinsing the bbq with water I can no longer ignite the back burner. I see a spark, but it will not light. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Bought a CENTRO 3 years ago and it has fallen apart and or rusted. e-mail centro with the part #’s and they ask what part. Rust not covered, continued run-a-round. They sure don’t like to stand behind their 5-YEAR WARRANTY.

FIVE FOOT FLAMES
I was using the side burner on my Cenro 5800 and the
natural gas hose came loose from the metal fitting and started a fire under my side burner shelf burning it and melting the control knob.
After burning through the hose it fell and like a torch pretty much set my house on fire. My family room
window is melted and the window burnt and broken.
I think that a faulty hose caused this and will
pursue it further. I do not recommend the Centro
name and think the inferior quality cost me a window
but could have been much worse.

OK, so there is something up with these Centros. I picked one up on sale at the start of summer and thought it must be me. Mine doesn’t have five ft flames shooting out, but half the grill cranks out enough heat to burn my burgers while the other half is just getting up to speed. I pulled and put back the burners but it didn’t help.

I got the Centro on sale, propane model if it helps. If I had seen these postings I wouldn’t have bought it but its not worth the hassle to take it back. I’ll learn to live with the problems but warn the friends and relatives off of the product.

Oh well, more cr@p from Canadian Tire. I don’t let them touch my car now I won’t let them cook my food.

Its about time.

Remember to keep it clean and there’s never any problems.

Really

I’m glad to see people are learning. I REALLY mean that.

Great to see the clean up. Let’s focus on personal experiences with Centro – all of us.

I like the barbecue however the lights on the 6800 grill fall off every night I guess because of the colder climate it just a pain putting them back together every morning. I just bought the barbecue in
February and Canadian tire informed me that I must take it up with the company (another pain)

I have had a Centro BBQ for 5 years. I keep it maintained… Cleaned etc… I have no issues with the BBQ. Its still going strong.

I had a Centro a couple of years ago. I followed the recommended maintenance and it still caught fire and melted. No warranty support from Canadian Tire or vendor.

I have read in previous comments that spider webs and insects will cause the BBQ to catch fire and melt. Therefore the warranty would be invalid.

Thanks for your info Joe. Are these bbqs more likely to get insect infestations? If thats the case it makes sense that the warranty wouldn’t cover it.

Hi Maria. Do you have a Centro BBQ ? Do you know of someone else that had one ?

Hi Joe, my dad has offered to by us one for the new house. Actually, he’s offered $600 and I’m trying to see the best option. Saw Centro at the Canadian Tire and like the stainless. Also saw the BroilKing which has less stainless for the same price. The neighbor said stay away from Centro because only Canadian Tire can service it, so looking for some comparisons.

This site makes me a little concerned as a lot of people seem to have problems. What’s your story?

i bought a centro bbq from canadian tire 18 months ago and the grill inside the bbq has rusted out completely. i would NOT recommend this brand to anyone. it is expensive and garbage!!!

DO NOT BUY A CENTRO BBQ. I BOUGHT ONE 14 MONTHS AGO AND THE ENTIRE THING IS RUSTY. I CONTACTED CENTRO AND THEY WERE USEFLESS THEY TOLD ME IT MUST BE MY ENVIRONMENT. THE REPLACEMENT PARTS ARE OVER 175.00.. CRAZY GARBAGE! SOO MAD. DONT BUY CENTRO BBQ YOU WILL BE SORRY YOU WASTED YOUR MONEY!

Hi Maria. You stated that “your looking for the best option”. If you can pitch in another 4 or 5 hundred bucks , you can get a really nice Napolean. Centros are not the best BBQ. Stainless steel needs maintaining to keep it looking good. Alot of people have complaints about Centro. I have a natural gas model with no complaints.

Maria. Me again. I should also say that I dont mind spending the little bit of extra time cleaning , maintaining , and polishing my Centro. I can understand that alot of people dont have the time or the patience to look after a BBQ.

My Centro bbq has NEVER worked properly. Never heated hot enough to cook food properly. Canadian Tire would take absolutely no responsibility. There should be some kind of consumer protection laws against this practice of selling you a crappy product and then you can’t even return it. We just bought a Charmglow at Home Depot-on sale 299$ for a 5 burner with side burner.It was at 500F in about 5 minutes! I’m SO happy we can bbq again!!!!!!!!!!

Bought a 3800 natural gas model, Couldn,t get it up over 300 degrees so I sheeymetaled in the back, and now it gets over 400 degrees and worksgreat

Perigrine, I’d ask if your mod invalidated your warranty but that would be cruel.

Enjoy your bbq, I’m glad you could fix the problem that Centro couldn’t.

falcon it’s good to see people use a bit of common sense. Happy BBQin.

I purchased a Centro 4000 four years ago. At the time I had considered a few others (such as Broil King and Weber) but was convinced by the CTC associate that Centro was the best buy on the market at the time, was mostly stainless steel and came with a 5 year warranty. I BBQ a lot, summer and winter and wanted a product that would stand the test of time and priced affordable. So far I’ve been pleased. However, a few months ago while cleaning out the drip tray, I found some rusted metal fragments. After further inspection, I noticed the burners were quite rusted and deteriorated. I called Centro and found the lady I spoke with to be quite abrupt and very defensive. She suggested the reason the burners were failing was that I had not taken proper care of the BBQ and that the so called 5 year warranty covered manufacturers defects only.
I was quite surprised by her attitude and took my concern to the local CTC store which referred me to their so called “customer service people” toll free line, who were of no service what so ever and promply informed me that my concern was to be taken up with the manufacturer and had nothing to do with CTC. Can you say “pass the buck”! I’m not impressed. My suggestion…stay away from Centro & CTC.

Hi Rob. You never stated that you regularly clean your BBQ. Centro “is not” the best buy for its price. If you dont keep them clean and maintain them , I would say 4 years is a long time for a BBQ to last. I’m going on my 4th year with my Centro and it literally looks almost new minus the flare up plates and drip tray have a bit of rust. I could clean the plates and apply high temperature paint but the above 500 degree heat will just burn it off anyway. After about 5 years I’ll just buy new ones and hopefully they’ll last another 5.

Hi Rob, welcome to the wonderful world of Centro. They’ll tell a lot of things that invalidate your warranty, but probably won’t define what it *will* cover.

Remember, insects and spiders can invalidate your warranty. So can rats and weasels, especially the corporate ones.

In the end, the motto is “is your BBQ good, or is it a Centro”.

And this wraps up my contributions to this board.

My personal experience with Centro is on record, as are many others. These bbq’s aren’t going to get better and people will keep buying them because they are shiny and Canadian Tire is convenient. That said, the only thing left is to make sure that if you do buy one, buy it with a Visa card so if it proves unfit for use (low temperature) over the first few weeks you have some recourse by contacting Visa and initiating a chargeback in Cdn Tire doesn’t respond to your complaint.

Happy bbq-ing all of you.

Good bye Matteus. Its a real shame to see you go. You made a huge impact in the feild of purchasing BBQ’s. Your my hero.

Joe, thanks for the advice, but we decided not to go with Centro. As you said they aren’t the best and we hoped the gift would last a while.

You were sweet, and thanks for trying to help. At the end, we can’t take the risk.

Maria your very welcome. Im sure you made the right decision. Im glad I could help. Happy BBQing.

+1 on the failure to come up to heat problem.

I’ve put a panel over the air gap, but still not warmer than 375F according to my oven thermometer inside.

Not a good sign, as I don’t trust cooking burgers at that low a temp.

please excuse me, as English is not my language. I have bought the Centro and think it do not work. What can I do as the Centro call people say to take it to the store, and the store say it is the manufacturer.

I not have the patience. Is there a governament I can speak to?

Hey Monte. Relax. First things first. What problems are you having with your BBQ ?

I am relaxe, just passionate about rightness of my purchase. A bbq should cook, yes? Cook means heat? The answer be yes. And heat means hot, which I do not get. But why not?

Home there is a buyers protection to stop the people from being taken of. Here, I do not know. Who can help?

If there are spanish people, please answer. English is a little more problem for me.

When did you buy your BBQ ? How old is it ?

It is bought in mid-August at Canadian Tire as open sale item. It is three months old. It does not get hot as should. It is the propane one.

Hello again. Did it just start doing this ? Also go to Google and type in BBQ troubleshooter. Click on the one that says BBQ troubleshooting guide.

Our BBQ was a wedding gift, looked great and worked great……for a short while. after 3 years had to replace the heat deflector above the burner, 2 years later I now have to replace the heat deflector again and now the burner too. Oh I almost forgot, the ignietr NEVER worked at all .Here’s the contact # 1-877-707-5463.
Remember this, once burned – shame on you, twice burned – shame on me. STOP BUYING SHIT….we all know that a lot of the CTC stuff is SHIT……
Buy a WEBER……..

Wow… Cant believe all the bad reviews.
I have had a Centro for 3+ years and no issues at all.
I would consider our household heavy bbq users. We use it year round, 2-3 times a week.. Cook for large parties throughout the summer and our BBQ has been bullet proof. We make sure to keep it covered and do an overhaul cleaning once a year and thats it. No issues heating up to 500 degrees, No issues with inside rusting out. Starter still works. Maybe we got lucky???

Thats good to hear Frank. I think maybe whats happening with the BBq’s that are working for people is that they were assembled correctly. There are small details to pay attention to when assembling that are very critical in the performance of BBq’s.Again this is just a thought.Mine works great. I’ve had it for 4 years.

Good to see I’m not alone with this stuff. I never worked right and I replaced with Broil Kink last year.

Secret assembling tricks my hairy assembler. I call shill.