What Garland means by a grill
Kitchen staff use the word grill for two Garland machines. One is the XPress clamshell grill. It has a flat plate below and a heated platen that comes down on top. The other is the charbroiler, with open grates over gas burners. This page covers both. Plain flat-tops with no top platen are on our Garland griddle repair page.
How the XPress clamshell grill works
The XPress comes 12, 24 or 36 inches wide, in gas or electric. Each platen rises and drops at the press of a button. A quiet actuator on a single shaft does the lifting. The cook picks a recipe on a touch screen. That recipe sets the plate temp, the platen temp, the cook time and the gap. The gap can open as wide as two inches.
Heat is split into five zones. Three are in the lower plate and two are in the platen. Non-stick sheets clip to the platen so food lets go clean. Some models add Active Compression, which presses down with force on uneven items like chicken.
Clamshell faults we fix
- Platen will not lower or lift. The actuator, its drive board or a limit switch has failed.
- Platen comes down crooked. The lift shaft or hinge points are worn.
- Wrong gap. The unit has lost its calibration, so product is crushed or undercooked.
- One zone cold. A failed heater, probe or relay for that zone.
- Top cooks slower than bottom. A platen heater is out, or the sheet is worn and sticking.
- Screen frozen or dark. The touch panel or control board needs work.
- Gas model will not fire. The igniter, flame sensor or gas valve is at fault.
Release sheets are a wear item. A torn or baked sheet pulls at the food and slows the cook. Flip or replace them on a set schedule. It saves a service call.
Charbroiler faults and first checks
Garland counter charbroilers come in two styles. Radiant models have stainless tube burners rated at 18,000 BTU under cast-iron radiants. Briquette models use a 30,000 BTU cast-iron burner for each foot of width, with ceramic briquettes on top. Both have cast-iron grates you can flip. Ignition is by piezo spark.
A broiler lives in dripping fat, and it shows. Burner ports clog, so you get gaps in the flame. Radiants crack or burn thin and leave cold stripes. The piezo igniter stops clicking after enough grease and heat. Valves get stiff. We pull the grates and radiants, clear the burners and replace what has burned away.
For a clamshell, make sure the release sheets are flat and clean. Check that nothing blocks the platen, like a scraper left on the plate. Restart the grill from its main switch once. For a charbroiler, brush the burner ports with the unit cold. Check that the radiants sit in their slots. If you smell gas at any time, shut the supply and stop there.
What we charge for commercial calls
For a grill or broiler in a business, the diagnostic is $149. Once the grill repair is approved, we waive it. The grill quote is one locked number, shown first, with parts and labor counted. A down grill can stall a whole menu, so a same-day slot is the goal. The earliest grill visit is 6 AM. The latest one begins at 9 PM, weekends too. A+ is an independent company and is not tied to Garland. Grill techs are licensed and insured, and the repair carries a 30-day repair warranty.
Repair or replace a Garland grill
A clamshell grill is a costly machine. Actuators, heaters, probes and boards are all worth fixing. We suggest a new unit only when the plate is badly pitted or the frame is bent. Charbroilers are simpler still. New burners, radiants and grates can make an old one cook like new. Rust through the firebox is the point where we say stop.
Where we repair Garland grills
We work in Houston kitchens, as listed on our Texas repair page. Grill calls also come from Los Angeles, from Chicago, from Northern Virginia and from D.C. See our Garland service page and our grill repair page for more. For baking gear, see Garland convection oven repair. When you call about a clamshell, tell us what the screen says and which platen is acting up. On a 36 inch unit there can be three, and each has its own lift.