Gas Grill problem

[Stemar]

I have a Plastimo 2000 (I think!) 2 burner hob & grill. The grill recently stopped working and I had to dismantle it and clean some crud out of the jet. It now works fine for long enough to make 2 bits of toast, but after that, the little flame that keeps the big flames alight goes out along the far end, near the thermocouple, allowing the bigger flames to lift off and go out, so the thermocouple cuts the gas.

Until this happens, the flames are about an inch long and a healthy blue colour, with a hint of yellow at the tip.

Any suggestions to get it to burn long enough to grill my bacon and a couple of sausages as well, please?

 

[fergie_mac66]

posibly thermocouple you can buy universals from good plumbers merchants about 6£

 

[philwebb]

Grill problem

I have a Plastimo 2000 (I think!) 2 burner hob & grill. The grill recently stopped working and I had to dismantle it and clean some crud out of the jet. It now works fine for long enough to make 2 bits of toast, but after that, the little flame that keeps the big flames alight goes out along the far end, near the thermocouple, allowing the bigger flames to lift off and go out, so the thermocouple cuts the gas.

Until this happens, the flames are about an inch long and a healthy blue colour, with a hint of yellow at the tip.

Any suggestions to get it to burn long enough to grill my bacon and a couple of sausages as well, please?

First clean out the pilot jet (the bit that gives you the little flame) use a bit of fine stiff wire. This should make the small flame a little
bit bigger. If this doesn‘t work you have to consider changing the thermocouple. One other thing to check is whether the thermocouple
is loose- could be a bad connection. I haven‘t taken my hob to bits but this procedure works on other appliances.

 

[Stemar]

Thanks.

The thermocouple's doing what it should, turning off the gas when the flame that keeps it warm lifts off and goes out. The problem is that the pilot goes out after a few minutes, in just the area by the thermocouple.

I shook a bit of, presumably, rust out of the pilot flame gap and it improved matters. I'll have another poke around and, maybe, ease the plate a bit at the back.

 

[catalac08]

I have great problems with my Plastimo 2000 grill element. There is a vertical baffle inside the tube that divert equal amounts of gas to the burners on each side. This gets very rusty and eventually falls to bits but before that the rusty fragments continuously drop off and block up the holes in the burner. Yours does not sound quite that bad but I would suspect that it is becoming blocked as rusty debris drops off the inside of the iron tube. Poking out the critical hole by the flame failure thermocouple with a small twist drill should give a temporary cure but a better approach would be to take it off and physically rod out loose stuff and then use caustic soda or acid to strip out the remaining rust.

 

[TQA]

Looks like they are available http://www.socal.co.uk/marine-leisure/marine/cooker-spares/plastimo/plastimo-cooker-spare-grill-burner-tube-only-all-models.html

 

[Poignard]

Looks like they are available http://www.socal.co.uk/marine-leisure/marine/cooker-spares/plastimo/plastimo-cooker-spare-grill-burner-tube-only-all-models.html

Also direct from the manufacturer (Leisure Products Ltd, Bolton)

http://www.marinecooker.co.uk/grill_burners.html

 

[Stemar]

They don't exactly give 'em away, though, do they!

For a vital part to rust away like that in a cooker that's only about 6 years old, I do have to wonder about merchantable quality & fitness for purpose. My old Flaval cooker worked fine at over 30 years old, but it looked its age & the Admiral hated it, which is the only reason I got rid of it, but, hey ho, that's the way of the world, I suppose. Make something that lasts forever and there's no repeat business.

 

[catalac08]

Also direct from the manufacturer (Leisure Products Ltd, Bolton)

http://www.marinecooker.co.uk/grill_burners.html

Except they do not sell direct to the public and their recoomended stockist, Bainbridge does not stock burner parts but no doubt can order them at about £50 for a burner tube!

 

[Poignard]

Except they do not sell direct to the public and their recoomended stockist, Bainbridge does not stock burner parts but no doubt can order them at about £50 for a burner tube!

I bought several spare parts from Leisure Products Ltd in 2008 with no difficulty so they must have changed their policy. All the more reason, together with the unreliability of the cooker, for never buying another Plastimo/Leisure Products cooker.

What annoys me is that I chucked out an old, but perfectly reliable, Flavell cooker because it had no flame-failure devices and replaced it with the unreliable and expensive to maintain Plastimo!

 

[KAL]

We've never had any probs with the Neptunes we've owned, apart from the odd thermocouple replacement - they're brilliant, reliable, long-lasting and simple to maintain.

Try SOCAL in Southampton for some advice - they also stock most of the parts you need and are incredibly helpful. I'd be surprised if the grill element has gone after only 6 years though.

 

[VicMallows]

We've never had any probs with the Neptunes we've owned,.

Have to agree. My Atlantic 2000 is now 30 years old and has only needed a new grill burner. A pity new hob burners are now unavailable anywhere but perfectly possible to keep the old ones functional. (Of course, apart from oven, no 'failure devices' to worry about )

 

[TQA]

They don't exactly give 'em away, though, do they!

For a vital part to rust away like that in a cooker that's only about 6 years old, I do have to wonder about merchantable quality & fitness for purpose. My old Flaval cooker worked fine at over 30 years old, but it looked its age & the Admiral hated it, which is the only reason I got rid of it, but, hey ho, that's the way of the world, I suppose. Make something that lasts forever and there's no repeat business.

You did well with your Flavel, mine required new top burners and grill burner at 5 years. I began to suspect it was a known problem when I found that they were available off the shelf in the tiny Caribbean island of Bequia.