How to Clean and Maintain Your Gas Grill

If you're wondering how to maintain and clean a gas grill, it might help to think of grilling with gas like baseball. Its season starts in early spring with preseason preparations essential for maximum performance. At the end of the season, equipment is carefully cleaned and put away for winter hibernation.

Consult our maintenance guide for simple preseason and postseason tasks to make every gas-grilling season a homerun. If you grill all year long, follow our gas-grill cleaning procedure twice a year to keep it in tip-top condition.

What You Need:

• Two-gallon bucket
• Dish soap
• Towel
• Cleaning cloths
• Toothpick
• Aluminum foil
• Long-handled stiff-wire grill brush
• Grill cover (optional)

How to Prep Your Gas Grill for the Season

Perform these tasks in early spring to get your gas grill into tip-top shape for the summer BBQ season.

Step 1: Clean the Burner and Tubes

Ensuring the propane tank is turned off, remove the briquettes and cooking grates, and carefully detach the gas tubes and burner. Clean the tubes with warm, soapy water and towel-dry, and then wipe the burner clean with a damp cloth. Towel-dry the gas ports on the burner, and then clean out each one with a toothpick.

Step 2: Wash the Grill

First, cover the gas valves with aluminum foil to protect the connections from corrosion. Next, wash the grill's interior and exterior surfaces with a long-handled stiff-wire grill brush and warm, soapy water. Rinse thoroughly, towel-dry, and then reattach the gas tubes and burners.

Step 3: Burn Off Grease

Before firing up your grill for the season's inaugural cookout, flip over the briquettes, close the lid, and heat the grill on high for 15 minutes. This burns off the grease left on grates from the last grill season.

Step 4: Clean the Cooking Grates

Cool the grill after burning off the grease. Remove the briquettes and cooking grates, and then scrub the grates with a long-handled, stiff-wire grill brush and warm, soapy water. Towel-dry and then reposition the grates and briquettes.

Step 5: Stock Fuel Levels

Check your propane or natural gas supply and replenish as necessary. Recycle corroding or rusted tanks by returning them to a propane supplier, or search online for other local tank-recycling options.

How to Prep Your Gas Grill for the Off-Season

At the end of grilling season (sigh), follow this procedure to properly store your gas grill for many productive seasons to come.

Step 1: Burn Off Grease

Just like at the start of the season: Flip over the briquettes, close the lid, set the grill on high for 15 minutes, and then let it cool.

Step 2: Clean the Cooking Grates

Once the grill has cooled, remove the briquettes and cooking grates from the grill. Scrub the grates with a long-handled, stiff-wire grill brush and warm, soapy water. Towel-dry and then reposition the grates and the briquettes.

Step 3: Clean the Burner and Tubes

Turn off the propane tank and carefully detach the gas tubes and burner. Clean the tubes with warm, soapy water and towel-dry. Wipe the burner clean with a damp cloth, towel-dry the gas ports on the burner, and then clean out each one with a toothpick.

Step 4: Wash the Grill

After covering the gas valves with aluminum foil, scrub down the grill with a long-handled stiff-wire grill brush and warm, soapy water. Rinse thoroughly, towel-dry, and then reattach the gas tubes and burners.

Step 5: Store the Grill

If storing outdoors, protect the grill's exterior with a vinyl cover, keeping the propane tank attached. If storing the grill indoors, disconnect the tank and leave it outside, standing upright, in a shady location away from dryer or furnace vents. Cover the gas line connections on the grill to ward off insects.