Watch your Blackstone

[radioguy]

Hey just a quick FYI on Blackstone griddles in general. I have a 22" BS and it's about 4 years old, it travels with me [camper] so it has over 10,000 miles of bouncing down the road.

I made hashbrowns on Inauguration day and turned off the grill (so I thought) and left them on the griddle while I went inside to watch the fun festivities. I came out after about 2 hours to finish the taters and found a burnt hockey puck on the griddle.

Turns out the cheapo plastic knob insert cracked and allowing the knob to freely rotate. My seasoning had all burned off and griddle was warped. It did return to normal after cooling.

I was able to reseason after scrubbing with my CI chain link and salt.

This could be very hazardous if you don't shut off your gas supply.
Bought new knows but couldn't find any with full metal insert.

RG

 

[ronf]

Thats too bad. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Fueling Around]

Great heads up.
Were the knobs up against anything while bouncing down the road? RV packing I assume yes.
I guess that explains the higher cost for RV / Marine grade items.

 

[bigfurmn]

And to think it would cost them a whopping $1 or so to use metal.

 

[JLeonard]

And to think it would cost them a whopping $1 or so to use metal.

Cuts into the profits man!

Jim

 

[bigfurmn]

Cuts into the profits man!

Jim

Like having to buy a new one since the knob broke.

 

[Steve H]

I lost the knob on the 17"we carry in the RV. BS was out of replacements. I ended up taking one of them off the 22". A couple weeks later I found it crushed under the rv. Must have fallen off while I was moving things around. I usually unhook the tank when I'm done using ours. Not for that reason. I'm just been doing that as long as I can remember.

 

[bill1]

For reasons like this, I always valve off the bottle before walking away. They have a much more reliable valve that you can trust. Bit of a hassle kneeling to turn it back on nexst time but I've lost a bottle of gas once from bad tubing and this proves how the downsides can be much worse.

Appears yours had a lid to keep any flame-ups contained but without one, and under the eaves of your house, things could have been real bad.

 

[Chris_in_SoCal]

I heard from an anonymous source that Blackstone Labs is working on a device to protect your knobs.

 

[radioguy]

For reasons like this, I always valve off the bottle before walking away. They have a much more reliable valve that you can trust. Bit of a hassle kneeling to turn it back on nexst time but I've lost a bottle of gas once from bad tubing and this proves how the downsides can be much worse.

Appears yours had a lid to keep any flame-ups contained but without one, and under the eaves of your house, things could have been real bad.

Bill,
The set up for my RV is a little different from home. At home I have a cart that accommodates a 20lb cylinder. My travel trailer carries 2 30lb cylinders in the nose. This runs the furnace, gas stove and hot water heater (switchable electric/gas) I have a quick connect with a valve where I connect the Blackstone. The valve is located underneath the trailer and a little difficult to get too.

Right now I an making sure the gas is off visually. I may put a valve on the gas line near the griddle. I dont think the road bouncing contributed to the cracked knobs. Just cheap plastic. The one that I had a problem with was cracked in 2 spots and this allowed the knob the rotate easily.
I tried a different style of replacement knobs.

RG

 

[chopsaw]

Heat and stress most likely . I've seen it on other things . From my experience the knobs usually have a metal " tongue " that goes in the slot on the stem .
Must cost to much to make them like that these days .
Glad you brought this up . Gonna get my 28 out later and check it .

 

[uncle eddie]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Astralogics]

Good looking out, thanks for the heads up!

 

[radioguy]

I ordered some replacement knobs from Amazon. Not BS direct replacements but ones I thought that might work better. They came with 3 different sized inserts. I may be able to use the two other sizes if they are modified to fit large diameter shaft. I will put a shut off right at the gas line entry. This package is arriving soon.

RG