What Are the Different Parts of a Gas Grill?

Gas grills are great, but like everything in life they eventually break down. When this happens, knowing the parts that make up a gas grill, how they work and how to replace them will get you back to grilling as soon as possible. Cheap, off-brand grills don’t usually have a wide range of replacement parts available, but higher quality grills do. The best manufacturers sell replacement parts so you can keep your grill going longer.

Knowing which gas grill parts to buy is the first step in successful grill repair. The only way to be sure things will keep working as intended is to buy manufacturer parts made specifically for your grill. Off-brand parts might work, but might not. Here’s a list of gas grill parts that most commonly need replacement.

Igniters

These small parts are designed to make lighting your gas grill easier. Installed near the burner tubes, igniters use electricity to generate a spark which ignites the propane or natural gas flowing from burner tubes. Older gas grills didn’t have igniters, so you had to reach inside the grill with a lighter wand or long match to ignite the gas.

Failed wire connections due to corrosion are usually what cause igniters to go bad, and igniters are often the first thing to fail on a gas grill. Repair usually involves swapping out the igniter module or electrode units. Igniter parts are usually specific to a given brand and type of grill.

Burner Tubes

These are long cylinders of metal, perforated by rows of small holes along their length. When a gas grill is working normally, gas flows through the tubes and out the holes where it burns, creating heat that cooks the food above. Burner tubes can go bad in a few ways, but the most common by far is corrosion.

The thin metal walls of the tubes often rust. If the tubes are not replaced in time, they can develop large rust holes, which cause far too much gas to flow through some spots and not enough through others. Old, corroded tubes must be removed, then new tubes must be slid into place and connected to the gas supply manifold. Replacement burner tubes are available for specific grills, but can usually fit a wide range of different models.

Manifold

Grill manifolds are metal pipe assemblies that connect the gas supply to the burner tubes. They’re usually installed on the front of a gas grill, beneath the burner control knobs and a protective cover. Like other metal gas grill parts, they’re at risk of corrosion over time. When this happens, they stop transporting gas properly to burner tubes and can become dangerous.

Replacing a manifold involves removing the control knobs and cover, then disconnecting the old manifold from the burner tubes and gas line. Then you slide the new manifold in place, reestablishing connections before buttoning everything back up.

Regulator

Regulators connect propane tanks to grills, reducing the pressure of the gas before it reaches the burner tubes. Failed regulators sometimes let gas leak into the air before reaching the grill. Other times they stop letting the gas flow at all. In both cases, you’ll need to order a new regulator, then disconnect the old one from the propane tank and gas line of your grill.

Thread the new regulator on, then test it by spraying a mixture of water and dish soap on all connections before turning the gas on. If there’s a leak, the soapy solution will bubble continuously.