BBQ Grill got rusted during hurricane, what do I do?

[The111]

Hi all. Newbie here, I don't know much about grills or cooking. (Sorry!) I bought a cheap $125 grill from Big Lots a few months ago and the girlfriend cooks on it all the time for me. We live in Houston and evacuated for Ike and stupidly left the grill outside, covered of course, but that wasn't enough. It blew over in the wind, and when we returned home it was on its side in some mud/water, with the lid open and lots of rust forming on it. See attached image.

Anyway, the worst rust on the interior is in 3 places... the racks themselves (where you place the meat), the long triangular piece underneath (where the gas/flames come out of) and the inside of the "container" itself (you can see a little along the front edge, near the bottom of the pic). Like I said, the grill was only $125 but I'd still hate to trash it if I don't have to. It's a Char-Broil, and I have the manual and was thinking of trying to replace just those parts. But my concern is, what if there's still something else in the system that rusted, will I somehow contaminate my food? For example, if we replaced only the metal grates, but not the triangular piece, would the flames bring particulate rust through the air onto our food?

What should I do? Thanks so much in advance for helping out a newbie.

[JamesB]

Well welcome tot he forum! When ya get the chance, wonder on over to the Cattle Call section and tell us a bit about yerself...

As far as the grill a little rust ain't gonna kill ya, but it would be a good idea to get it off if ya can...

Looks like most of it can be removed with a little bit of elbow grease. Most of this can be done with a bit of scraping, sanding or with the use of a wire wheel attached to a drill motor.

My concern would be in the burner assembly itself. Looking at the picture, and just guessing, That flat piece directly under the food grate is a flame guard thing and the burners are under it. If they got filled with water, they can rust/flake and prevent a good burn of the gas... Lowe's/Home Depot, Wally World etc. usually carry CharBroil parts, so ya might check there if your needing replacements.

Hope this made some sense... Good Luck!

BTW: Cool website!

[OSD]

You could replace the cooking grates and brush and scrape the rest. Once it's clean, spray it with Pam or wipe down with some cooking oil and fire up the grill to season the metal. I'm thinking like James that maybe a bigger concern would be the actual gas burner under the guard. I think that could be trouble down the road.

[JamesB]

Or ya could always just do what mama used to do with those old rusty grills at the parks. Put down a layer of foil on the grate and poke holes in it...

[Papa Tom]

Welcome and just do what OSD Jim said. If it fires up and runs OK you're good ta go.

[jerrykr]

Just light it up and make sure all of the openings for the flame are working. If it's stopped up anywhere, shut if off and clean out the burner.

If it's burning OK, just bring it up to about 350-400F for 30 minutes or so to burn out the alligators and snakes from the flood, and after it cools, wire brush the food grills, and run them thru the dishwasher. Wipe them down with cooking oil or spray with PAM, and you are good to go. A little surface rust on the grills won't hurt anything. Just wire brush them every time before use.

[The111]

Thanks for the replies, everybody.