Wow, that is a great set of photos.

I do have a concern about their design, though. Should there be ventilation to the cabinet of the grill? There are vent slots on the sides and back of the grill cabinet, and I assume these are to provide combustion air to grill burners, and also perhaps to vent out any propane leaks. It shouldn't be too hard to cut out tiles on the ends of the surrounds and insert vent screens...

Also, I probably would have provided some additional storage space in the surrounds. Shelving with/without doors. But that's a personal preferance. Still, their installation looks great, and thanks for posting the link.

Wow, what a beautiful job they did.

Ann.

I would agree with the vent issue if they were still running propane as it is lighter than air and would settle in the case of a burner going out. But, with natural gas, I don't think that is much of a concern.

Wow, nice job!

Sue

Bbsq,

Duh! I didn't think of that. I assumed they were keeping it on propane. So, you're right, gas leaks are probably not much of a concern. But I still wonder about combustion air. I guess there is enough air ingress at the front of the grill, behind the bezel that the knobs are mounted on?

Not only that but also between the doors and around the drip pan I think. I have actually played around with putting cardboard inside the cabinet on mine to block the air vents and it seems to perform better. One of the things I would like to control better IS airflow. I think that if you can control more of it, you can also control flare ups better. I am working on a gasket to fit between the lid and the top of the grill above the rotisserie. There is about a 1/2" gap there. I think that a high temp material like fiberglass or carbon packing material would make that area seal off better and retain more heat and control air flow better, but it's just something I am working on, as well as a slide mechanism to open and close the vents that are just above the rotisserie. More to come later on these. But if you can control these two areas better along with the vents and airflow from below, you could really slow smoke something even better than I already have been able to do. Just a couple of projects of mine, that's all.

Not to mention the big hole in the bottom from the propane tank.

Hmmm. That hole would be covered up by the tank if propane was in use. And in a built-in such as pictured, there may not be any air ciculation from below. Combine natural gas plus a non-built-in setting, and yes that hole would let in a lot of air.

I'm not sure that the best way to control flareups is to limit combustion air, though. A better way is to limit the fuel - that is, the fat dripping on the burners or heat shields. If you limit combustion air to limit flareups, I'd think you risk incomplete combusition of the propane or natural gas.

I agree that you do need some air, but I don't think that you would be at risk unless you were making it air tight. I would think that would be kind of hard to do though. You still get a lot of air in from the sides where the rotisserie holes and slots are. I think the best source of air though is, as you mentioned, through the front area and around the drip pan. I think that is adequate for combustion air below the burners, I think everything above the burners tends to let more heat out than air in. In looking at other grills like my buddy's Weber, there are no vents above the burners other than the two rotisserie holes in the castings. The only vents are below the burners to let in air. His grill actually heats up quicker than the Virco. I am sure this is mainly because the grill is smaller, but I can't help but think that this is also, al least in part, due to the lack of venting above the grates. I think this holds more heat in kind of like an oven. I have experimented with using some foil to cover up the vents above the rotisserie and was able to keep more heat inside the grill, but like I said, just experimenting.

Great Job! The only problem I see is that I now have to get of my duff and get mine done! Thanks for the post.

The pictures look great but is there a roof over that Grill?