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I bought a shiny new Broil King Baron 440 BBQ a month ago.
Looked good, worked well dazzled in the sunlight every day and all was fine for the first ten days or so.....then the weather changed and we got rain.
Not much rain, but sufficient to reveal a VERY significant problem with this BBQ.
Water got under the closed lid and flowed down the inside slope to get to the grease pan, where the water filled the pan and overflowed, dumping dirty water and grease inside the cabinet.
This was a total surprise as I have owned gas BBQs for a few decades, use them almost every week of every year, never put a cover on any of them, and never got any noticeable quantity of water inside the BBQ unless the lid was open.
The new BBQ is in exactly the same position on our level deck as the Weber unit it replaced, and that Weber never had any noticeable water inside it in ten years of use.
After the rainfall the entire inside of the cabinet was wet, although little was retained as it simply ran out under the doors or through vent holes.
I have since seen that this thing takes in so much water with the lid closed that the old comparison of "leaking like a sieve" seems unfair to the sieve, as it might bot be able to keep up
It is amazing how much water gets inside. It actually seems able to suck it in.
I tried contacting the manufacturer by e-mail, which is what their owner manual and their website say I should do......no response
I tried again.....no response
Tried removing the rubber cushions that were under the lid, to reduce the opening size. No change in water infiltration.
Tried e-mail again...no response.
Warranty claim submitted online, with text follow-up. no response.
Phoned their customer service line. Was told they had never heard of the problem, had no solution except I should go back to the store that sold me the BBQ (Rona Canada/division of Lowes.)
The phone rep and his supervisor were of same mind. I asked for higher management contact. That got a flat NO.
Another e-mail sent.
Went to Rona and asked the store manager for help.
He has been kind enough to follow-up, phoned me and said he has not yet gotten anywhere but is still trying..
Meanwhile I tried a leak test with a garden hose. on light spray, with the BBQ lid closed.
The grease tray is a normal size, would hold roughly 8 onces liquid.
In two minutes with the water sprayed on the front of the lid it half-filled the tray.
Similar result on both right and left sides.
Water also went under the thermometer.
Water sprayed on top of the lid, flowing towards the back, filled two-thirds of grease tray in one minute.
Reported this to OMC by another e-mail, with copy to the store. No response.
Tuesday night we were expecting the tail end of a hurricane and heavy rain overnight, so I decided to do an actual measurement, removed the grease tray and put in an empty plastic bucket directly under the tray position and closed the cabinet doors.
The results seem impossible, but the bucket collected just over SEVEN LITRES of water.....TWO US GALLONS!
Reported all this to OMC via another e-mail......no response.
Reported it to Rona via on-line customer service. reporting.
They replied unable to do anything because it was not an onlne order, and I shold go to the store.
Another e-mail response came from Lowes, saying only the store could address my concerns.
Wednesday I actually did the physical measurements with level, ruler and vernier caliper to see angles, openings, etc.
the lid and base are uneven but not any worse than expected. The body slopes forward from where the lid is attached and then the edge tapers inward, effectively directing water into the body.
The front has a 1/16 to 3/32 gap all across. The lid does not extend beyond the front edge of the body, but stops just short of that, so water drops from the lid to the upper surface of the body under the lid.
The vent opening in the rear of the lid is slightly staggered, the bottom edge being 3/16 inch farther out than the upper edge of the opening. The lower part has a small flange that extends about one inch into the body on an angle of about 30 degrees
Yesterday I sent another e-mail giving the exact measurements and angles of all components to OMC, copy to the store.
Still waiting........
Suggestions, please?
EDIT:
I cannot go to the store and get a replacement as they have none, and Lowes/Ropa Canadian distribution warehouse does not have any either.
Looked good, worked well dazzled in the sunlight every day and all was fine for the first ten days or so.....then the weather changed and we got rain.
Not much rain, but sufficient to reveal a VERY significant problem with this BBQ.
Water got under the closed lid and flowed down the inside slope to get to the grease pan, where the water filled the pan and overflowed, dumping dirty water and grease inside the cabinet.
This was a total surprise as I have owned gas BBQs for a few decades, use them almost every week of every year, never put a cover on any of them, and never got any noticeable quantity of water inside the BBQ unless the lid was open.
The new BBQ is in exactly the same position on our level deck as the Weber unit it replaced, and that Weber never had any noticeable water inside it in ten years of use.
After the rainfall the entire inside of the cabinet was wet, although little was retained as it simply ran out under the doors or through vent holes.
I have since seen that this thing takes in so much water with the lid closed that the old comparison of "leaking like a sieve" seems unfair to the sieve, as it might bot be able to keep up
It is amazing how much water gets inside. It actually seems able to suck it in.
I tried contacting the manufacturer by e-mail, which is what their owner manual and their website say I should do......no response
I tried again.....no response
Tried removing the rubber cushions that were under the lid, to reduce the opening size. No change in water infiltration.
Tried e-mail again...no response.
Warranty claim submitted online, with text follow-up. no response.
Phoned their customer service line. Was told they had never heard of the problem, had no solution except I should go back to the store that sold me the BBQ (Rona Canada/division of Lowes.)
The phone rep and his supervisor were of same mind. I asked for higher management contact. That got a flat NO.
Another e-mail sent.
Went to Rona and asked the store manager for help.
He has been kind enough to follow-up, phoned me and said he has not yet gotten anywhere but is still trying..
Meanwhile I tried a leak test with a garden hose. on light spray, with the BBQ lid closed.
The grease tray is a normal size, would hold roughly 8 onces liquid.
In two minutes with the water sprayed on the front of the lid it half-filled the tray.
Similar result on both right and left sides.
Water also went under the thermometer.
Water sprayed on top of the lid, flowing towards the back, filled two-thirds of grease tray in one minute.
Reported this to OMC by another e-mail, with copy to the store. No response.
Tuesday night we were expecting the tail end of a hurricane and heavy rain overnight, so I decided to do an actual measurement, removed the grease tray and put in an empty plastic bucket directly under the tray position and closed the cabinet doors.
The results seem impossible, but the bucket collected just over SEVEN LITRES of water.....TWO US GALLONS!
Reported all this to OMC via another e-mail......no response.
Reported it to Rona via on-line customer service. reporting.
They replied unable to do anything because it was not an onlne order, and I shold go to the store.
Another e-mail response came from Lowes, saying only the store could address my concerns.
Wednesday I actually did the physical measurements with level, ruler and vernier caliper to see angles, openings, etc.
the lid and base are uneven but not any worse than expected. The body slopes forward from where the lid is attached and then the edge tapers inward, effectively directing water into the body.
The front has a 1/16 to 3/32 gap all across. The lid does not extend beyond the front edge of the body, but stops just short of that, so water drops from the lid to the upper surface of the body under the lid.
The vent opening in the rear of the lid is slightly staggered, the bottom edge being 3/16 inch farther out than the upper edge of the opening. The lower part has a small flange that extends about one inch into the body on an angle of about 30 degrees
Yesterday I sent another e-mail giving the exact measurements and angles of all components to OMC, copy to the store.
Still waiting........
Suggestions, please?
EDIT:
I cannot go to the store and get a replacement as they have none, and Lowes/Ropa Canadian distribution warehouse does not have any either.
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