Nevertheless, we believed that its retirement loomed. The grates and flavorizer bars underneath them had deteriorated and were crumbling. The igniter and the thermometer had stopped working. We could not tell how well the burner was regulating the flame—whether it was also damaged.

Long story short, we’d begun shopping for a replacement.  We dream big and were eyeing expensive upgrades like this Traeger Pro Series 34 Pellet Grill and Camp Chef Woodwind Pellet Grill with Sear Box​. The thing is that we already have a smoker that we enjoy using, Bradley Digital Smoker, and plenty of other extensive toys sit on our wish list. Before purchasing something new, we decided to take a good look at the guts of our Weber Spirit.

We cleared out the grates, flavorizer bars, and debris; scrubbed the cookbox; and inspected the burner tubes. Those tubes were fine, especially after going over them with a wire brush. We next visited the internet. A search on Amazon retrieved replacement parts at responsible prices. We bought new grates, new flavorizer bars, a new igniter and a new thermometer. It all cost $111.40, which is not nothing but much cheaper than a new grill.