Troubleshooting, maintenance and fuel guides built from the manufacturer manuals, not the forums. Plain reviews and comparisons when it is time to buy.
Clean out the grease, get the steel dry and protected, keep the fuel dry, cover it. Weber's rule for the propane cylinder does not change: outdoors and upright, never in a house or garage.
Guide · Pellet grills and smokers
Nearly every Traeger code points at fuel, fire or a loose connector. Let the shutdown finish, power cycle once, then check the pellets, the firepot and the three parts that make the fire.
Guide · Pellet grills and smokers
Pit Boss manuals define ErH as overheating, ErP as a grill probe wire fault, ErL as a start-up that did not complete, NoP as a meat probe connection fault and Err as a flagged component. Here is what Pit Boss says to do first for each.
Guide · Pellet grills and smokers
Sort smoking woods by strength, not species. Hickory and mesquite hit hard, apple and cherry stay subtle, and oak and pecan are the middle most cooks land on.
Buy for the cooking, not the other way round.
Ribs, pork shoulder and brisket need steady heat for hours. A pellet grill automates fuel delivery, so it usually needs fewer adjustments than charcoal. It still needs safe placement, cleaning, and regular monitoring.
Gas skips the chimney and charcoal setup. Light it and preheat it as the manual directs, then control the heat with a dial. The trade is giving up the fire management, and some of the live-fire character, that makes charcoal appealing.
A flat top handles eggs, pancakes, smash burgers and anything that would fall through a grate. It will not do indirect heat, so it adds to a grill rather than replacing one.
A dedicated outdoor pizza oven can run a hotter stone and chamber than many kitchen ovens. Size the opening and stone to the pizza you make, then compare fuel, turning room, portability, and recovery between bakes.
A kettle does hot and fast, and with the coals banked to one side it can cook indirectly too. The trade is that the fire needs you: safe lighting, vent changes, fuel checks, and ash cleanup. Decide whether that attention sounds like the fun part before you spend anything.
Guide · Griddles
The 22 is a tabletop you carry, the 28 is a cart for a family, and the 36 is a four-burner fixture that needs level ground and a spot of its own. Blackstone publishes the figures that settle it.
Guide · Griddles
Sticky seasoning is oil that never finished bonding. Flaking is seasoning that went on too thick, then dried out or got soaked. Blackstone publishes a fix for each, and neither needs a new plate.
Guide · Gas grills
Most igniter failures on a gas grill come down to a battery, a loose wire or a knocked electrode. Here is the order Weber gives for finding which, and where the manufacturer keeps its manual-lighting steps for the meantime.
Guide · Gas grills
A gas grill that lights but will not get hot has usually tripped the flow-limiting safety device in its regulator. Close the tank valve, turn every knob off, wait five minutes, then open the tank slowly with the lid up and the knobs still off.
Guide · Pellet grills and smokers
Traeger estimates 30 to 40 minutes a pound at 225 to 250°F, Masterbuilt 30 minutes at 220°F, USDA 20 to 30 in a smoker. All three are planning numbers. The bird is done at 165°F in the breast, thigh and wing.
Guide · Charcoal grills
A full chimney of about 100 briquettes for searing, half to a full chimney banked to one side for two-zone cooking, and a few lit coals on a ring of unlit ones for low and slow. Smaller kettles take less.
These are mine. A Blackstone flat top that has earned its seasoning, and a Weber gas grill that has cooked for fifteen years and still runs. They keep the standard practical: gear gets judged by the meals and maintenance it asks for, not the size of the number on its box.
Where the grill will stand rules out more options than any spec on any page. Check the clearance the manufacturer requires to a wall, a rail or a soffit, and check it before you fall in love with something. On a covered patio that number ends a lot of searches on its own.
Check the rules too. Plenty of towns and most apartment leases restrict charcoal and open flame on a balcony, and no product page will mention it. The manufacturer’s manual states the clearances its grill needs, and the local code office can tell you what your town adds.
Then measure the width with the side shelves up, which is never the number in the product title.