Magma Grill Burner Replacement

My burner had corroded out to the point it wouldn't make a decent flame, so I had to replace it. Getting the old one off was a bitch! After about three days of PB Blaster and tapping, it still wouldn't budge. I used a propane torch to heat it several times, more PB, tapping, etc. No joy. All that was really left at this point was the brass disc that makes up the bottom of the burner. One of the problems was that with the burner deep inside the cooker, I couldn't get a good flat angle with any kind of wrench or pliers. I decided to drill a couple of holes in it and try a spanner wrench. No good with that either. I decided to split one side of the disk by drilling another hole then cutting with a dremel tool. Think of a little Pac-Man guy or the letter C. Once that was done, I could use a big flat screwdriver to pry the parts apart, breaking the bonds of the threads. While I was doing that, I found that I could put the flat screwdriver into that slot and as I tried to rotate it with a pair of vice grips on the screwdriver, the disk began to turn! Lo and behold I finally got it off. Not finished yet though... the threads were a bit munged on the male side, as well as fouled up with coke (carbonized organic stuff from cooking) so I had to clean out the threads with both a metal brush and the cutting discs on the Dremel. Finally got it put back together and it works! Photos below show how it's put together in case you didn't know. The inside shell simply lifts out, and there are little slots and guides to make sure you get in in there correctly. Under that there is one screw that holds the igniter assembly in place in case you ever want to replace it. Steak night tonight!

-- Edited by Keith on Sunday 28th of March 2010 05:49:57 PM

Well done!
I hope the steaks were great. A neat trick I used a couple of times to clean my Magma like yours was to disassemble it, put it in a garbage bag to bring home and then put it in our self cleaning oven to run it through a cleaning cycle. Seems the handle should be removed before baking it but it was a great way to get a thorough grill cleaning.

Sorry for bumping an old thread. I wanted to write and say THANK YOU!!! to Keith for this thread on how to get the burner off, when its baked/welded on after years of good BBQ'ing out on the drink. My burner rotted out and I couldnt get it off until I read his how-to. Also, thanks to google for bringing me here when I searched "magma burner stuck" lol.

Forklift - Im going to do the exact same thing to clean our magma... I never thought of putting it in the oven. Vedy vedy clever.


-- Edited by FourWinnsFan on Thursday 28th of July 2011 07:51:42 PM

That new-fangled "world wide web" thingie is kinda cool, huh?

Keith wrote:
That new-fangled "world wide web" thingie is kinda cool, huh?

Click to expand...

**

Today I stopped at my local West Marine to buy a replacement burner for the Magma... turns out they are on national backorder!! The kid told me it would be 2-3 weeks, if they ordered one.

Never one to give up, I went scouring the shelves and found one way in the back!! Score!!* So now I can go back to planning my 3-day boating weekend.

Note to self: Im not going to put on the new burner with gorilla force. Because I dont ever want to have to resort to grinding and drilling the old one off, if I have to replace it again in the future...lol


-- Edited by FourWinnsFan on Friday 29th of July 2011 06:57:17 AM

Oh man those burners are a PAIN/IMPOSSIBLE to get off!!! Keith- you must have used some of your superman powers to do the job- I tried to get ours off on my last boat and finally gave up and sold the boat! haha. Our trawler had one mounted on it when we bought it but I still have the other one and the replacement burner....maybe I'll tackle it again.

Did you use anti seize when you put it back together?

After years of use, Magma rot happened to us.

So, bought a new one!

Yah, I know, no challenges like trying to repair the old one.

But, the new one has a hinged lid, a better bottle connection and piezo ignition!

Also, the flame has not blown out in conditions that would have shut down the old one.** Better overall design - and it's still shiny.

Woodsong wrote:
Oh man those burners are a PAIN/IMPOSSIBLE to get off!!! Keith- you must have used some of your superman powers to do the job- I tried to get ours off on my last boat and finally gave up and sold the boat! haha. Our trawler had one mounted on it when we bought it but I still have the other one and the replacement burner....maybe I'll tackle it again.

Click to expand...

*If you have trouble getting the burner off after heating it up with a propane torch and WD-40'ing it, you are going to have to grind it off just like Keith advised.

GonzoF1 wrote:
Did you use anti seize when you put it back together?

Click to expand...

Well, thats an interesting question... And let me tell you what happened.*

Cleaned the grill up with the spendy "Magma Magic" they sell at west marine. $15 for a little bottle, yikes! Anyways, it did work pretty good on my ol' magma kettle.

Started re-assembling the grill. The new burner would thread on a few threads and not budge anymore. Luckily, I had a thread file laying around and I filed the threads on the bung. They were filled with rust/food/carbon/whatever. Once I filed the threads, I put some WD-40 on the threads, and the burner now tightened down much easier. You will know if the burner isnt tight enough because it holds the bottom grease tray still and the burner deflector that is under the burner inside the grill. So there is no room for looseness or you'll have rattling parts.

I did not gorilla tighten it; I snugged it and that was enough. We plan on disassembling it more frequently now so the burner never gets stuck on again. Also, it will allow us to deep clean it better that way.*

My 11 year old round Magma is starting to rust a bit on the inside - that flame-cover-plate, whatever it is called. Anyway, I did a similar dismantling and cleaning. Saved getting $15 West Marine goo, because I was on the hook in Ocracoke. I keep thinking I want to get the rectangular grill which West Marine sells for $225+. Haven't gotten it yet, because I continue to breathe life into the round grill - my only gripe being that anything over a 10-knot wind puts out the flame without bodily intervention (standing over the grill, blocking the wind).

A good friend of mine made notice that the $225 West Marine Magma has a cousin at Lowes for about $75, less the bracketing hardware. Sure enough, I found that grill for $79 in my local Lowes. Stainless Steel. I haven't checked the grades of stainless, but I will. Yes they could be different, but still, I laughed when I saw the other grill for 1/3 cost.

Just checked. West Marine $200, Lowes $79. Most reviews rave about the Lowes grill.

Same here, Ben. Bess wants a new one, and to her dismay, I keep cleaning and fixing the old one. Here is the Lowe's one for which you speak: (new window)

http://www.lowes.com/pd_184640-10792-GR4039-014247_4294857759_4294937087_?productId=3306716&Ns=p_product_prd_lis_ord_nbr|0||p_product_quantity_sold|1&pl=1&currentURL=%2Fpl_Tabletop%2BGrills_4294857759_4294937087_%3FNs%3Dp_product_prd_lis_ord_nbr|0||p_product_quantity_sold|1&facetInfo=

Those rectangular units seem nice, I have seen one at the local Lowes, and cheap enough to swap out after a few years, if they do go bad. But, I often use a skillett, paella pan, or a wok so prefer the round Magmas.
Steve

my kids found these things are great for making smoores when on the hook.. good family fun.

i love the idea of putting it in the oven for cleaning, have to give it a try. mine is dirty, it often self-ignites.

btw, the Lowes unit, does it have any mounting options?
think i spent more on the mounts than on the bbq itself.. oh well.

C-clamps. *When I was living in my house, I would throw various grill grates in the oven and* put it on self-clean mode. Works great, but make sure you have done a good pre-cleaning, otherwise the house will fill up with smoke and your smoke detectors will all go off. Don't ask me how I know this.

if you don't want to put it in the oven just set down in the yard or on the driveway and
give it a good spraying with Easy Off oven cleaner, let it sit a while then spray
it down with a garden hose . Mine came clean when I did this.
Steve W

Thank you Keith! I followed your advice and I too got that #@!@ burner to separate from the threads! For others who find this thread - my burner was also rusted enough so that mostly just the brass base plate was showing. I dowsed it with PB. I found drilling holes in a straight line from center to edge to be the easiest way to get through the brass. Tip: When drilling metal- use the slower drill speed, and keep it wet with oil. Once I had enough holes I could use my dremil cutting disks to "connect the dots" leaving just a little of the brass at the center because I didn't want to compromise the threads of the tube. Tip: the Dremil cutting disks are very thin and rigid, one false move and they shatter, which is frustrating because putting new ones on takes time that you'd rather spend cutting. So for the first time ever I decided to couple 2 disc's together, and you know what, it made a huge difference and they lasted much longer! I ended up drilling/cutting lines on both sides of the disc almost all the way to the threaded tube in the center leaving just a little at the center (picture a straight line splitting the circle in half). Then using a "pry bar" to lift the edge of the disc into the line (picture folding the disk in half) while trying to awkwardly torque the other side of the tube with a pipe wrench. I heard the threads break their bond, and then I stuck the pry bar into the line I cut, and rotated it with the pipe wrench, the disk slowly turned off the threads. Wahoo!