Black Soot On The Bottom Of My Pans

by Dave E.
(Norwalk,Ohio U.S.A.)

I have a Weber Genesis Silver grill with the side burner and I can not use the side burner as it leaves black soot on the bottom of the pans. I checked the little spider trap underneath to see if it was open and it is fine. Not sure i I need a new regulator or not at this point. Any suggestions?

Answer

Dave, the usual cause of block soot on your pans is a blockage in the gas supply and more ofter than not is also accompanied by an orange tinge to the flame rather than the normal blue.

To be absolutely correct, the cause is the incomplete combustion of the propane, which is brought about by the blockage in the gas supply.

The most common reasons for blockage is dust in the burners or maybe food deposits. Have you ever had something boil over on the burner? It's this sort of thing that can easily cause a blockage.

The only way to sort it out is to take the burner apart and give it a good clean with alcohol and a brush. Check all the orifices to ensure they are free of any blockages and then replace the burner.

If this fails to resolve the situation and you are absolutely sure that your burner is clear of any blockage then you have to go further back up the supply to find the problem:-

A blockage in the pipe
A problem with the regulator
The gas itself is contaminated

Any of these things could apply.

I hope that this isn't the case in your situation but I want to include this point for completion of my answer. We've spoken before about the differences between the burners for propane and natural gas and how to go about making a conversion and changing from natural gas to propane. If you are running a natural gas burner on propane without replacing the valve then the sort of problem that you are experiencing is also a symptom.

You can't make the change without replacing the valve.