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This may have been addressed before, so sorry if I'm asking something already answered.

When it comes to gas grills, if the lid is non-magnetic and has the black/dark grey finish (not stainless), does that mean it is cast aluminum or could it be some other kind of low-grade steel? If it is aluminum, do you usually separate the lid from the frame when taking it to the scrapyard? And can anyone give me a rough estimate on what a grill with the aluminum lid would bring as opposed to what a stainless one would bring.

Thanks in advance for any help. I have several grills I can scrap and was trying to get a basic idea how to prep them for scrapping.

Ireland_925 wrote:This may have been addressed before, so sorry if I'm asking something already answered.

When it comes to gas grills, if the lid is non-magnetic and has the black/dark grey finish (not stainless), does that mean it is cast aluminum or could it be some other kind of low-grade steel? If it is aluminum, do you usually separate the lid from the frame when taking it to the scrapyard? And can anyone give me a rough estimate on what a grill with the aluminum lid would bring as opposed to what a stainless one would bring.

Thanks in advance for any help. I have several grills I can scrap and was trying to get a basic idea how to prep them for scrapping.

More on selling a grill for scrap metal:

The grill lid is cast aluminum/pot medal. (low grade steel is magnetic) You need to separate it from the frame to get payed cast price for it, which is definitely worth it. There are two ways to do it. There are usually two pins that hold the top part of the grill on, and they have snap rings securing them. Pull off the snap rings, and hit the pins out, and the top part of the grill just falls off. The bottom of the grill is usually held on with some bolts or what not. These may be a pain to get out as they often are rusty, ect.

The other way is to just hit it with a 5 pound hammer continuously at the connection points until the cast breaks off. This usually leaves a little bit of cast on the steel frame, but generally is much quicker.

As far as price brought in, every grill is different. I'll tell you what to pull off though!

The gas regulator that is part of the gas line between the grill and the to the tank is cast zinc/brass. My yard pays close to dirty brass price for it. The regulator knobs are brass, so take the time to pull those off. If it is a higher end grill, it will have stainless on it, but sometimes it is so little that is ends up being more of a hassle to take it off then it is worth (thin stainless sheeting).


You can only scrap the tank if you drill a hole in it or cut it in half/open.

I love gas grills. It seems spring is the best time to find them. I found six in about 3 weeks without even really looking. I carry zip ties to keep the top from opening and spilling the lava rock and other nasty stuff all over the back of the truck. The last one I found has about $32 in it. It was a Ducane. Cast top, stainless frame.

The best part of old gas grills for me is most people leave the propane bottle still attached! I pick them up all the time.

Are propane bottles worth anything? What makes them special?

They hold propane.


The yards here will not buy LP tanks or bottles or gas tanks.

No matter how mutilated they are.

Thogey wrote:They hold propane.


The yards here will not buy LP tanks or bottles or gas tanks.

No matter how mutilated they are.

My yard regularly buys all of the above, and scrap grills so long as they are cut open/big hole cut in them, ect, to ensure they are not under pressure.

Just wanna make sure that when someone says 'the best part is they still have XXXX' on something that I know about it too!

So if my yard would buy them it would just be steel- okay just making sure.

Robarons wrote:Are propane bottles worth anything? What makes them special?

Yeah! Like Thogey said, they hold propane! Usually they are more than half full, so, you get free propane! I use it a lot in my roofing business when soldering sheetmetal together.

Then, I wait for the price of propane to drop and fill them all up again. Usually once a year.

I admit it, I am a propane hoarder.

Are you the kid of guys that would hit a garage sale and see a 5 gallon tank for gas 1/2 full for a $1 buy it and drop it in the car?

If you do your truly a realcenter!

I didn't mean grills with the bottle. I wouldn't scrap the bottles. There is around a $15-25 spread when you go to buy a new LP bottle if you bring in an old one. I'm sure you could CL used LP bottles (modern ones) for $5-10 each to people looking to exchange for a full one. Yeah, if you find one use any LP in it, use it up for sure, but don't scrap the bottle. It's worth way more in exchange than in scrap value.

Robarons wrote:Are you the kid of guys that would hit a garage sale and see a 5 gallon tank for gas 1/2 full for a $1 buy it and drop it in the car?

If you do your truly a realcenter!

Yeah, man! Best gas buy was a 40 gal. tank of propane I bought for $10 bucks! It was full!

No, I don't scrap the tanks. I hoard them and refill as needed. I even trade them sometimes.

The cast aluminum off the grill is great, but around here it pays less than pop cans.

I got my first all steel gas grill the other day. The gentleman called me to come and get it and a few other things. Oh well, scrap is scrap. Some money is better than no money.

Then on my way home yesterday I saw a big one. Looked stainless, but had rust in spots. I took it anyway. Turned out to be about half stainless, half simulated stainless. Still a large chunk of weight of more valueable metal on there. I loaded it, turn the corner toward home, and there was another one. This one all cast. I had to go dump the first one to make room for the other.

Got a gas grill last night. The lady came out of her house to let me know that the ignition button was broke. I said thanks, no problem. Took it home, hooked up the tank, replaced the battery in the ignition button, fired right up. Think I'll keep this one!