Evolution of the Weber BBQ

The evolution of the Weber BBQ presents a highly interesting and entertaining story. To understand where the Weber BBQ came from and how it remains today, you have to journey back in time to the 1950s.

The Weber BBQ was created by an American salesman working for a Metal Works company in Chicago, Illinois. The company name was Weber Brothers Metal Works. The company was run by the father of George Stephen, Sr. – the creator of the Weber BBQ. While George’s main job was sales, he often tinkered with innovative products like fireplace equipment and mailboxes.

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All inventions spring forth from a recognized need that will be fulfilled by the creation. The status of backyard BBQ in the 1950s was open charcoal braziers. They were merely open metal boxes or trays with an iron grid resting on the top. These types of BBQ’s were not efficient, very messy to use and produced less than perfect cooking results.

George Stephen, Sr. took two half-spheres that were used to create buoys and created the first Weber BBQ. At first, the BBQ did not work at all because there was no airflow with the top lid closed. Once holes were added to both the lid and the bottom, the BBQ became highly functional. The original Weber BBQ solved many of the maladies of the early type grills. There were no more ashes and smoke blowing in the face of the cook and throughout the yard. The heat was more evenly distributed so cooking quality vastly improved. Finally, the lid kept the smoke inside the grill to get a much nicer smoky flavour to the meat. The original name of the Weber BBQ as marketed was “George’s Barbeque Kettle.”

Over the years, many improvements were made to the kettle shape of the Weber BBQ. Wheels were added to the stand for easier mobility. The lid was made taller to hold more smoke inside the BBQ. The body of the BBQ was coated with porcelain enamel to decrease rust.

The kettle that appears to be a squashed egg-shaped gadget is still the beloved Weber BBQ. Although science cannot prove the claim, many BBQ enthusiasts will swear the meat cooked on a Weber BBQ is better tasting than meat cooked on any other type of shape of BBQ. With such a devoted following, the Weber BBQ will be around for many years to come.

Home Fires offers fireplaces, BBQ and other heating solutions of a wide range of brands. If you have any questions regarding fireplaces or BBQ equipment or are interested in buying one, you should get in touch with us right away!

The Benefits of a Charcoal BBQ

There are at least 6 benefits of a charcoal BBQ over a gas BBQ that cannot be ignored. Those benefits are: overall value, ease of transporting, lower repair costs, hotter burning, greater control over heat, and last, but by no means least – taste. A brief explanation of each benefit of a charcoal BBQ is presented below.

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Value – The price of a charcoal BBQ is much lower than for gas. This is a definite plus for the cost-conscious consumer. A charcoal BBQ may not have all the bells and whistles of more expensive gas BBQ’s, but they remain an excellent cooking apparatus.

Ease of transporting – You can transport a charcoal BBQ very easily. In fact, you can usually put your bag of charcoal right inside the BBQ and take off. There are no cylinders to drag around. You don’t have a bunch of racks to deal with when moving around. Freedom of movement can mean much in outdoor cooking settings.

Lower repair costs – A charcoal BBQ does not have any moving parts. You may have to replace a top rack or ash catcher, but that is about it. You will find replacement parts much cheaper than gas BBQs. This benefit is a major plus for charcoal BBQs.

Hotter Burning – Plain and simple charcoal produces much more heat than gas. More heat aids in the searing of meat to hold juices in. You can also cook more items such as vegetables.

Greater control over heat – When you stack coals on a charcoal BBQ, there are open spaces away from the direct heat. You can move an item being cooked closer or farther away from the heat as the item required. This type of flexibility in your cooking must be a great benefit.

Taste – While this may be a highly subjective claim, most BBQ enthusiasts will tell you the smoky flavour of a charcoal BBQ simply tastes better than anything cooked with gas or pellets. The proof is in the taste, compare for yourself. More than likely, you will find yourself in the majority of those favouring the taste of charcoal BBQ over gas BBQ. Home Fires provides a wide selection of quality charcoal BBQs.

Gas or Electric Fireplace?

Fireplaces have been in vogue for millennia. Even in the old days, every castle used to have large fireplaces around which people gathered for the sake of getting warm. Nowadays, fireplaces are added to homes for two particular reasons. The first one is to warm the place and the other is to enhance the home’s value. Fireplaces are seen not just as a way of heating the home but also as an interior décor item. This is part of the reason why the wood-burning fireplaces are slowly growing out of fashion. They can be difficult to deal with and aren’t available in many styles and designs. Gas or electric fireplaces have taken over as they are more versatile, flexible and cost-effective than wood-burning fireplaces. So, which of the two should you get? Gas or electric? Let’s find out.

Home Fireplace

Heat Production

You want your fireplace to be producing enough heat to warm the entire room. A gas fireplace does that effortlessly even at low settings. It can generate a lot of heat within a small time duration. You can easily warm a large room with your gas fireplace within minutes. While electric fireplaces can produce ample heat as well, their capacity for heat production falls well short to that of gas fireplaces. An electric fireplace might be a good option to use for heating a small room but it won’t be sufficient for warming up large spaces. With a gas fireplace, you won’t have to install multiple fireplaces in your home. A single gas fireplace would be enough to provide the heat you need.

Visual Appeal

Electric fireplaces are energy-efficient and don’t produce any harmful emissions. However, they don’t produce real flames. Since the electric fireplaces don’t combust a fuel but rather rely on generating heat using electricity, they look fake. You won’t get the same visual appeal with an electric fireplace that you can get with a gas fireplace. In gas fireplaces, natural gas is used as the fuel for combustion. This produces real flames and you can see them dancing inside the fireplace from far away. These flames can catch the eye of the people when they enter the home and garner their attention. Thus, if you are looking for visual appeal then a gas fireplace is the clear winner.

Fuel Availability

As mentioned above, gas fireplaces run on natural gas while electric fireplaces are operated using electricity. You will need a gas connection to get the gas fireplace working and supply of electric power for using the electric fireplace. While both fuels are readily available, natural gas is a more reliable fuel source than electricity. If there is a storm in your area and the power got cut, you will lose your ability to operate your electric fireplace. However, since gas supply doesn’t get cut during a power outage, you can still use your gas fireplace to warm your home. Moreover, you can even use propane gas tanks to power up a gas fireplace but you can’t operate an electric fireplace without electricity.

Home Fires is an established name in the residential and commercial heating industry in Australia. Feel free to contact us if you can’t decide between an electric and a gas fireplace.

Moving Away From Traditional to Gas Fireplaces

Fireplaces have been in vogue for centuries. People throughout history have been using them for heating their homes. However, these traditional fireplaces require special installation requirements and can cost you a lot. If you have a small home without a chimney then a traditional fireplace that uses wood as fuel won’t be a good option for you. However, there is no need to worry. There are other types of fireplaces that you can have installed in your home. Among them, the gas fireplaces are most suitable for a number of reasons. Here are a few of them.

Efficiency

Gas fireplaces are much more efficient than traditional wood-burning fireplaces. This is because of gas burns in a consistent manner, unlike wood. While wood-burning fireplaces might have a nostalgic feel associated to them, they aren’t that easy to operate. Gas fireplaces, on the other hand, burn quite readily and don’t create dangerous by-products like ash and creosote. Moreover, they provide you with more heat without consuming excessive amounts of fuel. This makes them more cost-effective than traditional fireplaces that usually use wood. You can easily heat a large room with a gas fireplace even if it is not working at full capacity.

Safety

Wood-burning fireplaces can be considered a safety risk. Traditional fireplaces produce ash and creosote which needs to regularly be cleaned out or it can cause sparks. These sparks can catch onto other furniture in the room, resulting in an all-out fire. This isn’t the case in with gas fireplaces. Since they utilize natural gas, they don’t produce ash at all. Thus, the chances of a spark happening in a gas fireplace are pretty much non-existent. This is why they are considered a safer option for people who live in apartment complexes.

Cost

From a cost perspective too, fireplaces are much better than tradition wood-burning fireplaces. For starters, the wood used for the conventional fireplaces isn’t readily available everywhere. Moreover, you have to keep it completely dry and store it in a separate place which adds to its cost and the space it occupies even more. This isn’t the case with gas fireplaces since their fuel is available almost everywhere nowadays. You just need to hook it up to a gas line and you are good to go. Moreover, you can turn on or turn off the gas fireplaces at will, making it easier and faster to adjust temperatures. This isn’t the case with traditional wood-burning fireplaces that need time to heat up or die down.

Home Fires offers a large variety of heating solutions to you. If you are interested in buying a gas fireplace then we can help you out.