My 15 year old Weber still looks new and runs like a top, and I don't do any maintenance beyond the occasional crud scrape. I'd cut and run.

In all fairness starters don't last a lifetime no matter the brand. Three years sounds pretty good.

On the other hand, $200 bucks for one sounds like rape as does a 200 buck labor charge. Hour job including travel, tops.

I'd go talk to the store manager.

That grill is made by Nexgrill the same people that own Durocorp which makes the NXR.

Don't pour money down a rat hole.

JUNK it and get a Weber.

Webers are good. I love my Ducane, absolutely bulletproof.

All grills in the box stores are junk these days, compared to those made a few years ago. Compared to those made 15 years ago, they are worse than junk.

It's almost criminal.

Well, you can get a Weber at the big box stores -- and you will notice that they are heavier than just about anything else you might see. There is a reason they last. We got a new Weber this year -- replaced one we had for 12 years and we never hauled it in (except during 2 hurricanes), left it uncovered -- really didn't baby it. We could have kept it going, but the wood side shelves needed work and we wanted to upgrade to something larger. In 12 years, we replaced a set of rusted out grates, rusted out flavorizer bars (not unusual since we didn't cover and live in a humid clamate any way. The starter was about $50 in parts and an easy DIY. Total cost of all parts over 12 years plus a second tank under $200.

Are you sure about the cost of the parts and labor? If so, no question I would replace.

don't junk it. at least sell it disclosing the fault and I'll bet someone will roll the dice for the right price.

You may want to take a look at what I went through in 2008 with my 2 year old Jenn-Air Grill.

http://www.bbqsource-forums.com/invboard/index.php?showtopic=2949

Needless to say, Lowes took it bake and gave me a store credit, which I used to get a Weber S420.
I've had it for about 1.5 years and it hasn't had any problems at all.

Here is a link that might be useful: I HATE my 2 year old 720-0061-LP Jenn Air!

well, for edification I read fau's thread.

Seems to me parts should be free, but I think I'd take back my previous advice and junk it now.

N.B. - appears Lowes is not selling these this year in stores.

For what it's worth. A few years ago I purchased a
Ducane because of it's 'Lifetime Warrantee'. All was
well until last year when I needed some parts under
this warrantee. I was told that Weber now owns Ducane
and all previous warrantees are null and void.
But then again, that's my typical luck.

We bought a JennAir grill about 7 years ago from Lowe's. We absolutely love it. Usually grills rust out, problems with burners etc. This one has been fantastic. Yes, the starter died, very shortly after getting it. We bought a replacement starter but never put it in. We just use a long lighter, through the side hole, works great.

Our Lowe's even was testing the market for "Griddle-Q", an employee's brother started the company. We love it for cheese steaks, breakfast, tuna steaks. We have the size that completely covers the grill.

Here is a link that might be useful: Griddle-Q (Woo, we really got a good deal, I guess)

Go with a Lynx.

I also have had a great experience with the JA from Lowes. Mine is 12 years old and has outlasted my previous Weber gas grill. I grill about every other week and have never been disappointed in it. I had to replace the cast iron burners several years ago and since they have a lifetime warranty, I called JA and they sent new ones and I only had to pay the shipping cost. The vaporizer bars and grates are also covered by a lifetime warranty. I converted it over from LP to Natural Gas when we moved to the PNW nine years ago and it has worked flawlessly. I would like to buy a new grill but this one just keeps working.

I bought the Jenn Air 720-0061 LP in 2004 and it's still a GREAT looking grill that performs very well. I've replaced the heat covers twice and only recently replaced the 3 cast iron burners. The temp gauge quit working a while ago but I never used it anyway as I cook meats by feel to determine doneness. I couldn't be happier with this grill for the money and it gave me a very high end look which was important to me. The Weber came more higher rated but it's just plain ugly. Any grill, no matter the brand or cost, will require maintenance so take all negative reviews with a grain of salt. Some people think a grill should come without issues ever and that's just not the case.

I bought the Jenn Air 720-0061 LP from Lowes at least 12 or 13 years ago -- must have been around 2005(?) -- I remember that Lowes had a great promotion going on at the time. Anyway - I'm surprised to see the negative experiences reported here (not disputing them at all, just surprised). My own experience has been the opposite. I've had the grill outside in my backyard, and only bothered with the grill cover for part of the first winter. So this grill has lived outside in central NJ for about 13 years. It was excellent for the first few years, after which I noted that the max heat I could obtain seemed to be dropping a bit year by year. This grill actually became something of an fan item on BBQSOURCE-FORUMS.com 13 years ago: you can find threads I participated in back then under the username "Jon".

In discussions with others that I "met" on the forum, I learned about proper care of the grill, and a few of us actually got into "modding" the grill as well. The grill itself was made by NexGrill. Maytag owns the Jenn-Air trademark, and licensed it for use with Lowes to promote this product line. (how's THAT for confused branding???). Many many stainless steel grills in the US are actually made by NexGrill or another one of a tiny handful of factories in China that specialize in these. Apparently, the company in the US that sources these from the Chinese factories can spec out the grade of parts used to manufacture their branded product. A lot of the "stainless steel" in products sold here are pretty low grade stainless. For whatever reason, though, it turns out that the Jenn-Air 720-0061 LP from Lowes was built with all high-grade stainless -- and there are no enameled parts. This grill, sitting outside in my yard for 13 years, uncovered, used hundreds of times, has zero rust on it -- none at all.

Once I decided that it was worth trying to improve on the cooking temps I was getting with the several-year-old grill, I started by partially dismantling it, removing the stainless steel grids, the "flame tamers" (the deflectors that sit on top of the burners, but under the cooking grids), and the burners themselves -- which are made, btw, out of cast stainless steel.

I found that the cooking grids are discolored, but show NO pitting, rust, etc. These are virtually like new with some scrubbing.

I cleaned out the Venturi tubes that combine are and gas on its way to the burners: spiders tend to build webs in these, blocking air flow.

Once I pulled out the 3 burners, I upended them and tapped them on a large rock: years worth of corroded metal powder came out -- this is natural build up over a period of years, and had also apparently been blocking air/gas flow.

The flame tamers (thin steel sheet metal) are definitely corroded -- but usable for now (however, I address this further down in this note).

Finally - I decided to try improving further on the max heat situation (you'll see this discussed on the BBQSOURCE-FORUMS in my thread(s) and others). Anyone who knows gas burners already knows this, but I learned that the maximum gas flow is limited by a tiny brass valve orifice: this is a small brass cylinder with a tiny hole in the middle, threaded to fit into the gas line. When you turn the knob on your grill (not the propane tank), the gas flows from the valve and then through the orifice before it can get to the burners. Turns out that if you're a bit handy, increasing the diameter of the orifice every so slightly (we're talking hundredths of an inch increase), enough extra gas flows to yield a significantly hotter flame. I searched the web and found that among all the replacement parts available for this grill, I was able to order 3 brand new brass orifices -- undrilled -- for about $2.50 each (these things are tiny -- about the size of a Tic-Tac). I drilled them out with a hand held drill to a slightly larger opening than the original and then put them and all the other parts back together.

All in all, I spend about $7.50 on parts, and put in perhaps 3 hours of labor. In return, I had the original grill -- now several years old -- working better than new, achieving surface temperature of about 650 degrees F. Still all working just fine.

I just did another search (Nov 2018) by grill model number, and found that I can STILL get replacement parts for the cooking grid (stainless steel or cast iron -- I prefer steel, but don't need to replace these at all yet), the flame tamers ($60 will get me three of these in stainless steel), and the burners themselves: about $75 each for an exact replacement of the original cast stainless steel items.

If the igniters stop working, they can get replaced for $15 to $30 dollars.

In essence, my 13 year old grill is still working well, and for perhaps $300 I can replace the burners and flame tamers - which are the ONLY parts showing signs of aging - and make this like new once again. A comparable grill, out of the same quality stainless, would cost far more than that.

Admittedly, I'm handy, and like to fix things when I can rather than just trashing and replacing them. This may seem like a bit of a stretch to some readers, but nothing I did was especially difficult, and really wasn't very time consuming at all. Sure - a shiny new grill is always nice, but this one still looks excellent, and works just about like new, after 13 years, with only a small amount of maintenance effort needed. I might replace it -- but I'm wondering how much I'll have to spend to get something that works at least this well, and will last as long as this one has.

- Jon

Have learned since this thread that most of the parts on this grill are covered by a lifetime warranty so please call NexGrill directly before paying for parts through a third party vendor.

I purchased this same grill in 2004 and it still exists. the parts you replaced are under lifetime warranty and nextgrill has honored replacement of all lifetime parts to us multiple times. you need to look at your warranty when you purchase something - phone numbers and online contact info always provided

I just cleaned out my Jenn Air grill 720-0061 that I purchased from Lowe's in 2004. 2 of the cast iron burners have completely disintegrated in one section. It does appear that these are under lifetime warranty so I just emailed Nexgrill to see if I can get replacement parts from them. If not, I'm willing to pay as I've been pleased that this grill had lasted this long with minimal maintenance. I also have a problem with one of the ignitors. How do I tell if it's just a wire or the valve or both that need to be replaced? I know this will be at my expense. And I'm having trouble finding a youtube video in how to replace the ignition wire or gas valve as I'm slightly handy but only with basic things. Need to understand what's involved or if i should call a professional?

i just called (June 10th) and had them replace all 3burners, 3 flame tamers and all my cooking grids including the warming rack - call this number to get better faster service 866-601-5799. i have replaced all of these 3 times paying only the shipping. good luck with your getting your grill back to new condition.

I love this grill (purchased maybe 18 years ago). The lifetime warranty on the major parts just keeps on giving. I've had all the burners and tamers replaced for free 3 times already, and just got brand new cooking grates this time around as well. The stainless steel parts on the cabinet and other major parts is high quality - even if some parts were to fail that are not covered by the lifetime warranty, I would replace them rather than purchasing a new grill that will not last as long. . .

Great posts. i just refurbished our Jenaire grill, had since 2006 Nextgrill still provides burners, flame tamers and grills i needed a new warming tray and propane holder which i was able to sourch parts that worked on Amazon. The floor of the grill was also shot. i was able to have one made at a local metal shop. They dont offer this part and suggested having one made Nextgrill recommended using canned air to clean the orifices i also had the grill professionally cleaned It is working great! Even the ignitors are working—they had not worked for years. Grill is working like new, heats right up to 600. That had also been a problem. Appreciate all the posts We plan to keep using this grill for quite some time

I've owned my Jenn-Air for about 20 years, had the burners and plates replaced four times under warranty. Thinking about upgrading to the cast stainless burners. Also, thought about buying a new Weber but they're full of plastic, wheels, knobs etc.

I have had my --Air Since 1999 are 2000. And its still going strong. All I have changed out is a propane bottle the ignites still work. And it sets outside uncovered .and nothing has rusted out .A man could only wish they still made stuff this way anymore.