Rusty and Crusty have never had a pressure washing before. They might not be the best to ask this question to. Does that mean they’ve never had a bath? Uhhhmm…GROSS!
Depending on who you ask, you will get various answers whether or not you should pressure wash your grill.
As a professional grill cleaning company, we see a lot of different brands of grills in a lot of various locations in our customer’s backyards. We are going to discuss the pro’s and con’s of using a pressure washer – when we feel it’s a good idea and when it’s best not to use one.
A pressure washer is fine to use in some cases, but, will it do your grill more harm than good?
Cleaning your gas grill with a pressure washer is fine to use in some cases, but, will it do your grill more harm than good?
Grill manufacturers may give you a different response depending on what model or type of grill you have. Their Care and Use section is typically going to be very generic. They will suggest wiping the exterior of the grill with a soft towel and to not use anything harsh or abrasive. Typically, they will suggest the grill grates be scraped with a grill brush after each use.
I’ve never seen a Care and Use section suggest cleaning the walls or hood. Drip tray, yes. but never “Scrape, Scrub, Wash, Repeat” type of language.
My theory is they never intended the grill to be cleaned in that manner (they certainly don’t fabricate them to be cleaned easily). You got to remember, all our lives we’ve been trained to think a cleaning is nothing more than turning the grill up high for an extended period of time and scraping the grates so why would they suggest pressure washing?
The down and dirty answer is no. We do not advocate, use or suggest using a pressure washer.
Why?
Pressure washing, for us, is not a preferred tool to use. We’ve had customers tell us directly they did not want us to use a pressure washer because someone else stained their patio, destroyed their plants or whatever.
For our business and clientele, pressure washing has more negative aspects than positive
If you have a charcoal kettle type BBQ or a pretty simple grill purchased at a box store and you have the ability to pressure wash your grill than go for it. Blast the grates and interior of the grill to your hearts content.
If you have a built-in grill up next to the house and don’t want black grease and carbon all over your siding or deck than hand scrubbing is preferred. If you have a pressure washer and can take the removable components out like the grates, flavorizer bars and heat plates and wash them somewhere else than that’s completely fine.
If you plug your grill into an outlet to get power to your igniters than you probably shouldn’t use a pressure washer. Some grills have a heating element inside the igniter (similar to an element in a lightbulb). If that breaks from the power of the water than you will likely have a costly repair to deal with.
I’ve read a lot of posts and watched a lot of videos about pressure washing the grill. One of the common themes they all tend to say is “don’t spray the venturi tubes (burner tubes)”. To me, that’s the least of my concern, the water will dry inside the tubes. My bigger concern is the igniters. If you break or damage the igniters from the pressure of the water it can cause unintended problems when you want to start the grill back up.
Do you use a pressure washer to clean your grill? Do you clean the whole grill or just the removable components?
What fears or concerns do you have using a pressure washer on your grill?
Tell us in the comments below.
Husband, Father, grill cleaning visionary. Founder of The Grill Cleaning Superstore and Prestige BBQ and Oven Cleaning, a Denver based professional Grill Cleaning Company since 2012.
