Thermal Engineering Corp - TEC - Infrared Cooking Grates.

When the first concave cooking grates were used each six inch section weighed twelve pounds. The original barbecue grills used convectional and conductive heat to generate cooking temperatures so the grids had to be thick and heavy to conduct extra heat. With a barbecue grill that cooks hotter than eight hundred degrees -- minimum standard for restaurant quality searing -- the intense heat seals moisture inside the food for amazing flavor. Concave cooking grates allow initial moisture to vaporize back into the food and stops grease from dropping into the grill causing flare-ups that disrupt even heated grilling.

Infrared gas grilling generates over a thousand degrees of heat directly off the burner and cooking at the grilling surface without closing the hood. For this reason the concave cooking grates are fabricated of high-quality stainless steel of thinner gauge so the grates do not conduct heat and burn food. The difference in flavor with and without concave grilling grates is tremendous.

The original TEC cooking grates have a U-shaped profile. These U-channel cooking grates were and are very difficult to clean because of the u-shaped design. The cooking grates listed here are manufactured by Rasmussen Iron Works specifically for TEC grill models with a V-channel. The V-channel has been used on Solaire infrared gas grills for over ten years and makes grill cleaning much easier. The design allows the grates to be wiped clean front to back and to be scraped with a V-shaped scraper or the metal edge of a typical barbecue cleaning brush.


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tec infrared cooking grate grill parts

14.75" wide x 12.75" deep.

TEC Models:


Patio II.
Sterling II.
Sterling III.

The detail above is the cooking grate detail for the "V" channel grids made by Rasmussen Iron Works for the TEC Infrared gas grill models. The V-channel grate makes scraping grease and drippings out much easier. Rasmussen makes a scrapes that fits the V grid perfectly but even the corner of the metal scraper on a common grill brush can be used to run down the channel pushing out anything left after grilling.

Below is a detail of the TEC original U channel grate. The U channels are difficult to clean because there is nothing so small as to fit into the channel and clean the grids. The small holes in the front of the grate is designed for grease to drip through but if you have grilled with an infrared grill you know the grease does not roll around as a liquid like it does in a common barbecue becayse the intense infrared heat vaporizes the moisture almost instantly.

Almost any gas grill manufacturer who has an infrared burner for their grill models has some form of an concave cooking grid. The concave cooking grate was originally designed over a decade ago by DCS when DCS was the only gas grill capable of grilling at temperatures exceeding 800 degrees -- commonly accepted as restaurant-quality searing. Even some gas grills that do not have infrared burners but are designed to exceed 800 degrees (like the newer BroilKing models) will have a concave grid.

The concave cooking grate is designed to hold moisture when grilling at temperatures higher than 800 degrees. Instead of grease dripping through and causing flare-ups inside the grill and becomeing something that needs to be cleaned out at some later date the concave grates allow the greases to vaporize and become part of the added flaver cooking into the food on the grates.

Anyone who grills with an infrared gas grill knows this is a fast process as the infrared burners become very hot and usually the food is "seared" within a minute of placement in the grill. Once seared the moisture is locked in the food and cannot drip out. The benefit of infrared grilling is based on the intense heat that causes this moisture and flavor to get locked in to the food. In a typical barbecue where the burners do not get grilling-hot the hood must be closed to cook. Heat builds up insode the closed hood and the heat surrounds the food. During this process the meat will be dripping and it is easy to over-cook meats by losing all the moisture and flavor in the food. As a work-around we eat steaks rare and medium rare while they are still moist.

With infrared grilling I have grilled steaks medium-well and well and still eaten very moist and flavorful steaks because the moisture was locked into the food.

tec infrared burner solaire grill parts replacement

Infrared burners on right side of these images is the original TEC burner. The infrared burner on the left side is the infrared replacement burner installed.

TEC User's Manuals at Grill-Repair.com
TEC Patio II Manual
TEC Sterling II / III Manual
TEC Patio / Sterling Manual

This is the dimension of the infrared cooking grates that fit the TEC Patio II and the Sterling II infrared gas grills.

For many years TEC infrared gas grills were the best gas grill in the world and any TEC gas grill is worth the expense of repairs.

In this image it is not impossible to see the infrared burner tiles has begun to become convex. Over the course of grilling at extreme infrared heat the burner tiles will become convex. This usually takes more than 10 years.

As the burner tiles warp towards the grilling surface the convex design places more pressure on the seal around the infrared tiles. Eventually the burner can get a leak and the infrared burners will behave the same as if they had a crack. The pressure releases every once in awhile whie the grill is grilling and the infrared burners will go out.


tec infrared burners in sterling 2 infrared gas grill

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