Is the flame on your gas grill yellow? Are you having problems with uneven heating? Is there a sooty flavor on your grilled foods? Could be that your burners are out of adjustment. Yes, a in a few minutes you can tune up your gas grill and get it back to perfect working order with just a screwdriver. When the flame on your gas grill is yellow it means that the gas/air mixture is not right. By yellow, I mean that the flame is mostly or entirely yellow. It can be caused by a dirty or clogged burner, a worn out burner, or by a badly adjusted burner. Since adjusting the burners is typically an easy thing to do we will start there. Of course you might not have adjustable burners but most full sized gas grills do have this "feature". A quick inspection of the base of the burner will tell you if your burner can be adjusted.
To adjust the burners on your gas grill you are probably going to have to get under or inside the grill. The adjustment point is where the burner connects to the grill manifold (usually right behind the control valves). Gas grills come in a number of configurations and you may need to consult your manual to find the adjustment screw. This screw holds a sleeve in place. This metal sleeve is slotted and when the screw is loosened you should be able to rotate it. So that you can clearly see the flame remove the cooking grates and barrier over the burners.
With the grill off and cool, loosen the screw and rotate the adjustment sleeve. Tighten the screw and relight the grill. Wait a minute for the flame to settle in and see if you still have yellow flame. If you do, repeat the process until the yellow is almost eliminated. Good flame is predominately blue but may have yellow tips. Once you have that burner burning mostly blue repeat for the other burners.
If no amount of adjustment fixes your yellow flame problem try removing the burners entirely and cleaning them out. Debris or dust inside the burner can cause yellow flame. If the burner is damages, rusted, or has holes in it, it will need to be replaced. See my article on Gas Grill Repair for help.
Photo © 2011 Regarding BBQ Inc., licensed to About.com, Inc.
Comments
Thanks for the tip on adjusting the burner. I was not aware of the need to assess the flame color.
I recently had my grill converted from propane to natural gas and ever since i can not control the flame very well. Any Ideas?
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Great advice to a very common problem, explained extremely well!
Those photos really help also.
One point to make -wait until the burners have cooled down before you go in and adjust again. Those buggers are hot!
I have a problem with my hot dog cart burners, it burns yellow and soots the pans and firebox badly.
I thought I knew how to adjust the air flow to improve the flame but I am not having much luck. Could you give me a few pointers
Propane gas burns at a high BTU rating so you have to remove the restrictor just like you do with a gas stove, dryer or water. Most grills are ordered as either propane or natural gas and you can’t change them
Replace your regulator or if it has one replace the gas valve. Our gas stove oven had the same problem. Fixed it