A visual standard for lace, warp, and missing peaks. Why cleaning is not enough once steel is gone, and how plates differ from Weber bars and infrared emitters.
easyPT20MUpdated 2026-08-30
Repair vs replace — if the box is done, stop buying parts.Fig. — Firebox, top down: grates, flavorizer bars, burner tubes, electrode.
Heat plates, flame tamers, tents, and Flavorizer bars are one job with four names: sit over the burner, catch drips, shed them sideways, protect the ports. They are sacrificial. A clean lace plate is still lace.
Keep and clean
The V or tent is intact.
Ends still sit in the factory notches or on the tabs.
No daylight over the port row.
Fat is brown or black but the metal has thickness.
Use degrease and nylon. Do not season these parts.
Replace when you see
Daylight in the peak or the flat over the ports — that is a funnel onto the tube.
Missing ends. The plate shortened until it falls into the box or leaves rear ports naked.
Flattened warp. No peak means it does not shed. Fat lakes and ignites.
Tabs rusted off so the plate cannot sit where the designer put it.
Infrared / ceramic emitters cracked, collapsed, or oil-soaked through a broken tray. These are not tents. Do not buy open V-plates for those boxes. Search the exact model plus the emitter name on the diagram.
Use the finder to build an Amazon and BBQGuys search.
Compare the retailer photo to your photo. Return a short set; do not invent spacers.
If the plates are done and the tubes are perforated and the floor has daylight, do not stop at plates. The repair versus replace worksheet is the next page. Plates alone almost never justify a new grill. Plates as the third line item on a thin box often do.
Use the replacement-grill search above if you decided the cart is done.