The Q is a portable with a small firebox and, on most years, a single burner or a pair. Ignition is a button and a ceramic clipped next to the tube. There is no Spirit-style collector under a side table. People still buy Spirit AA modules for a Q 1200. Those modules have nowhere to live.
Q 1200, 2200, and 3200 do not share electrodes, grates, or lids. Read the number on the plate under the box or on the rear flange.
Diagnose
Press the button with the lid open.
- No click / no tick. Piezo years: the button is the generator. Silent → piezo dead or not driving. Battery-button years: replace the cell first (often a single AA or AAA in the button body — check your year’s manual).
- Click, no snap. Watch the ceramic. Lead pulled off the button or electrode. Ceramic cracked from a dropped grate. Gap a half inch because someone bent the tip.
- Snap, no light. Gas. Q regulators trip on excess flow like any LP grill. Reset the regulator. Confirm the tube is on the orifice. Garage-stored Qs collect spider webs in a short venturi.
Safety
- Always lid up. Closed-lid lighting is how people get a ball of flame in the face.
- Tank off before you pull the electrode.
- Portable stands tip — work on a table or with cart wheels locked.
Replace the electrode
- Tank off. Lift the grate (and the 3200’s second grate if present). Note how the electrode clips.
- Photograph the gap. Short jump to the tube or factory tab, not to the lid.
- Pull the lead from the igniter body (thin spade on the back of the button on many Qs).
- Unclip the ceramic. If it is already two pieces, get both out.
- Clip the new ceramic at the same target. Bend the tip only if the new part is obviously long, and bend once.
- Reattach the lead fully. A half-on Q lead will click forever in a campsite and never light.
- Lid up. Tank on. Snap. Then knob to start. Wind is a Q problem — turn the box.
Button / piezo
- Ceramic new, lead seated, still no snap → button assembly is the part.
- Search Amazon or BBQGuys for Weber Q 1200 igniter (or 2200 / 3200). Match the photo. Cart Q 3200 panels are not 1200 buttons.
When the Q is not worth an electrode
- Cracked lid, rusted-through box, or a stand that no longer locks is more than an electrode.
- Q boxes are thin. One good electrode in a lace box is still a lace box. See repair versus replace.
Not affiliated with Weber. Official Q diagrams are on Weber’s support site by model.