Nexgrill heat plates are stamped inverted-V tents over each main burner. They are the first part on a 720-series cart to turn into lace, and they are the part people buy wrong. A search for “4-burner heat plates” returns tents for three firebox widths. The 720-xxxx stamp plus a tape measure is the search key.
Not affiliated with Nexgrill Industries.
What the tents are doing
- Fat hits the peak, runs to the sides, and should miss the port row.
- When the peak opens, fat hits the ports, the flame goes yellow, and the tube rusts through.
- If you have been cleaning ports every month, look at the tents before you buy tubes.
Done versus dirty
- Dirty: black, intact steel with thickness at the peak. Degrease on cardboard, nylon only.
- Done: daylight through the peak, crumbled sitting tabs, a tent that has flattened, or a tent that has shortened and fallen into the box.
- Surface rust on the sides with a solid peak can wait if the ports stay blue.
Measure, then shop
- Photograph the 720 number including suffix (H, A). 720-0830 and 720-0830H are not a promise of the same tent.
- Grill cold, tank off, grates off. Count tents. A 4-main cart should not get a 5-burner kit. A 720-0896-class 5-burner should not get a 4-piece set.
- Measure one tent length front-to-back and the width of the V. Write quarter-inches.
- Photograph how the tent hooks — slots, hanging tabs, or sitting on a rail.
- Search Amazon or BBQGuys for Nexgrill 720-xxxx heat plate, or Nexgrill plus the measured length. Compare the hook photo. We do not invent a SKU.
If a set arrives short, return it. A gap at the back of a 720 box is a grease waterfall toward the tank. Do not “make it work” with a washer stack.
Swap
- Gloves. Rusted tents cut.
- Lift straight up. If seized on a tab, work it; do not twist the firebox flange.
- Scrape the support tabs so the new tent sits level.
- Set each peak over a tube. Stand at the front and sight the port rows.
- Keep main tents off a separate sear or side burner. Do not invent a cover that blocks the electrode.
- Grates on. Confirm nothing shifted. Preheat and look once.
Aftermarket notes
- Porcelain-coated tents chip, then rust at the chip.
- Bare stainless lasts if the gauge is real. Read the return policy and the photo thickness.
When tents are not the only line
- Tents plus four tubes plus an igniter plus a rusted floor is a new cart.
- Use the repair versus replace worksheet and current search totals.