Gas Grills - Lava or heat diffuser tents?

[Michael_P]

I was off today and spent the entire day removing all the rusted out mild steel from my grill with 304 stainless. After a bunch of drilling, fitting, bending, braking and bolting, my grill which used to be a mix of mild steel and 304 (or 18/10 I think) is now all anti magnetic stainless steel (less the front doors). Thanks to the local metal scrapyard, I got all the stainless steel sheared to size for less than $50. I was going to make a heavy gauge expanded steel lava grate for it as opposed to using those thin metal heat tents which came with the grill. The current heat tents are falling apart and have big holes in them, so I'll need new ones if I decide to stick with the heat tents. After rebuilding the grill with the thought of using a lava grate, I noticed the old heat tents still fit on the new ledges I made. Except now I can use the cheaper universal heat tents instead of the proprietary ones that are stupid expensive.

My question: Lava rocks or metal heat tents?

I did research the pros and con of each, the only con that concerns me with lava is they say lava rocks can get moldy, and I'm allergic to mold. My parents gas grill which has lava rocks and is over 30 years old and has never gotten mold on the lava rocks

 

[Shannow]

lava rocks...

After the difusers rusted out of mine, I bought a $5 stainless mesh door"mat", trimmed it to fit, and threw lave over it...much more even heating than the diffuser I found.

 

[Kuato]

Another vote for the rocks. I've had both kinds of grills over the years, and the metal diffuser rusts in less than 3 years. Rocks are forever, and I never had mold in mine either. When you use it, just let it get good and hot for awhile before cooking and it'll burn off and kill all the mold.

 

[Danno]

My vote is tents, way easier to clean and you can get universal "stainless steelish" ones on eBay for about $30 - $40 for 6. I bought some of those 3 years ago and they are holding up well vs the the mild steel ones that came with the BBQ.

 

[nwjones18]

I always preferred lava rocks myself but I don't think there are any new gas grills that use them? I remember that used to be the way they all came. I've got an all stainless Weber Genesis now and the tents seem to be holding up alright.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
lava rocks...


After the difusers rusted out of mine, I bought a $5 stainless mesh door"mat", trimmed it to fit, and threw lave over it...much more even heating than the diffuser I found.


This sounds like a brilliant idea after I just spent $80 for three new porcelain-covered metal tents over the burners. How do you formally attach the screen over the burners?

 

[Doog]

I have had both and my current grill has 1/4" thick heat tents....really heavy duty (Kenmore Grill)They are a pain to remove but really work and I only have to clean them once every 4-5 seasons.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: Chris Meutsch
Originally Posted By: Shannow
lava rocks...


After the difusers rusted out of mine, I bought a $5 stainless mesh door"mat", trimmed it to fit, and threw lave over it...much more even heating than the diffuser I found.


This sounds like a brilliant idea after I just spent $80 for three new porcelain-covered metal tents over the burners. How do you formally attach the screen over the burners?


My difuser plate sat on a ledge over the burner...just trimmed it to that length.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Lava rocks sound interesting if you can make it work on your grill. Not sure how easy it is to clean.

After 8 years of use, the porcelain tents (flavorizer bars) on my Weber grill finally rusted through badly enough that I decided to replace them. I bought stainless steel tents this time, in hopes they'll last longer, although I can't really complain about getting 8 years of use from the porcelain ones. I might be ready for a new grill sometime in the next 5 years anyway.