# "Best Cost" Grill suggestions



## wenger7446 (May 10, 2014)

I am looking to purchase a new grill for a second home. It's only going to be used a few times a month. Does anyone have any suggestions for a quality grill that doesn't cost a fortune?

A small grill is okay (<400 sq in),  sideburner is not needed and while infrared burners are nice they are not necessary.

Basically, I'm looking for a simple quality grill. 

Thanks in advance.


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## heat seeker (May 10, 2014)

I have a 12 year old CharBroil gas grill. It stays outside, but under a cover. I've had to replace the burner twice over the years, but that's about it. Nothing fancy, but it does the job, and parts are inexpensive.


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## begreen (May 11, 2014)

Weber Spirit.


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## Warm_in_NH (May 11, 2014)

I have been grilling for 5 years on my "Char Broil Tru-infared". Got it end of year sale for under $200, I have replaced the grilling surface once ($50 +/-) I probably grill 3-4 times a week in the summer and once a week in the winter.

I've cooked on a variety of grills from Weber's and Vermont Castings, to no name $80 specials. At any price, I love my grill, at this point it owes me nothing but I think it's still got a couple years left in it. Burners are still great, grates are still good (second round), igniter still works perfect, and it still looks good.

Don't mean to ramble but I find it so hard to find anything worth spending money on these days, I'm happy to be able to share what I feel was a great product at a good price.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_404328-8221...=320011480000777150&kpid=50029234&CAGPSPN=pla


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## wenger7446 (May 11, 2014)

Thanks for the great replies. I am seriously looking at both the Weber Spirit and the Char-Broil options. 

The Char-Broil Tru-IR seems to really offer great bang for your buck.


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## fbelec (May 11, 2014)

at this point grills are so cheap it doesn't matter what you pick. i have been seeing grills that are in the 150 to 200 range that are stainless steel. i made the mistake back in o2 of paying 1100 for my ducane. it is to the point of needing a new lava rock grate but is still working fine. the cost is not much to fix but if you buy a grill that's in the 350 to 500 range it still needs parts every now and then and at the cost of parts the grill can be replaced for the same money. it's not that i don't like my ducane but they closed shop so the parts if you can find them are expensive. back when i bought my grill good one cost more. the best was at it's peak. when the day comes the say good by to the ducane it will be replaced with a cheap stainless 200 dollar unit. as long as it doesn't have 90 degree pieces of metal over the burner that some call flavorizer bars. the fry the burners and rot themselves.


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## begreen (May 11, 2014)

That is why I said the Weber Spirit. Built a little tougher for longer life. Cast iron grille and good parts supply chain.


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## Retired Guy (May 11, 2014)

I am a fan of the Weber Q grills. Have a Q300 home and a Q220 at the camp. Neither are good for indirect cooking though.


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## bassJAM (May 12, 2014)

I'll second (or third) getting a Weber.  I picked mine up for $75 used, and it's got plenty of life left in it.  I've know too many people who've bought brand new stainless steel grills, even well known brands, and they fall apart in a couple years, and never cook that evenly to begin with.  Webers cook evenly, and last.


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## Highbeam (May 12, 2014)

Here's mine. It was from lowes and still is available. I bought it several years ago, maybe 5, and it has needed nothing. I really liked the webers but the price of triple or more was just outrageous. Maybe next time.

Another odd thing is that the BBQs are now huge. I could probably cook 30 burgers at one time on mine and it is nothing special. You don't need to cook 30 burgers at one time very often.

I do own a weber Q for camping. It is smaller cast aluminum table top unit and has been wonderful. Really, the webers are that much better than the standard box store stuff but the cost is so high.


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## mustash29 (May 12, 2014)

I moved to CT in late 95 and got an el-cheapo for the deck at the apartment.  Mid 96 I moved it to my newly built home and replaced the rotted burners.  By spring 97 the burners were rotted again.  Complete garbage.

I replaced it with a Weber Genesis Silver A for 400 bucks.  It's a small grill with 2 stainless burners, reversible cast iron grates, aluminum tub, powder coated lid.  The cheap thin porcellean coated flavorizer bars rotted out after a few years.  I replaced them with 1.5" angle iron.

This evening I will be replacing those angle iron bars again.  They were needing replaced anyway, should have done them last fall, but my GF recently melted the thin one.  She was supposed to burn the grill off, she lit it but got to BS-ing with her GF on the phone and left the grill cranked too long.  All the grease in the drip tray lit up, 3 foot flames shot out of the grates when she opened the lid.     I doused it with a spray bottle.  Other than ruining the well seasoned coating on the cast iron grates, the massive inferno did no damage.

Home Depot wanted 40 for the thin porcellean bars, or 70 for the thin stainless ones.  I picked up 10 feet of 1.5" angle iron for about the same price.  These should last another 10 yrs or so. 

The igniter has long been dead.  We just use a long lighter in the match light hole.

17 yrs and still cooking yummy stuff multiple times every week.  Pretty good service life IMO.


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## Jags (May 12, 2014)

One new requirement that I have for gas grills is N-S burners instead of east west.  Fantastic for indirect cooking and/or different levels of heat from one side to the other.  
They don't make my model anymore, so I am of no help to the OP's question, but if you are gonna buy a new grill, you might as well like it.


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## Adios Pantalones (May 12, 2014)

I have a Weber. It's under a porch roof, which I think is a significant help. Leave any grill out in the elements and it will cut its life short


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## begreen (May 12, 2014)

I bought the cover for it to keep it dry. So far no rusting, though that seems inevitable. High heat accelerates oxidation.


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## Warm_in_NH (May 12, 2014)

Never gave the north / south burners a thought til I got a grill with them and realized how much easier it was for indirect cooking. And the 5$ stand for the beer can chix is also well worth the investment.


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## fbelec (May 14, 2014)

isn't it funny for so many years of making grills they all put a hole or two for lighting it. it's like they know the sparkers are made like s--t but don't make a better one just put a hole on the side for when the thing fails. i don't know if anybody else had the same problem but when i bought my ducane i bought a cover. we were using the grill 5 days a week. in the winter the grill sits on our deck open to the elements took me a while to figure this one out but winter day the grill in the sun warms up the black cover the sun drops and the temp change made condensation between grill and cover and the thing would get stuck on top of the grill i had to get use to lighting the grill first then remove the cover.


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## wenger7446 (May 15, 2014)

Warm_in_NH said:


> I have been grilling for 5 years on my "Char Broil Tru-infared". Got it end of year sale for under $200, I have replaced the grilling surface once ($50 +/-) I probably grill 3-4 times a week in the summer and once a week in the winter.
> 
> I've cooked on a variety of grills from Weber's and Vermont Castings, to no name $80 specials. At any price, I love my grill, at this point it owes me nothing but I think it's still got a couple years left in it. Burners are still great, grates are still good (second round), igniter still works perfect, and it still looks good.
> 
> ...




Thanks for the suggestion. I purchased this grill from Lowe's on Monday. I take delivery on July 3. I'll be sure to post an update once I have a chance to play with it.


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## Seasoned Oak (May 15, 2014)

You just cant beat a charcoal grill for taste. My gas grill i think i used it twice in 3 years. Charcoal is king. There are other variations of grills such as "the green egg" and pellet grills allowing for custom pellets,hickory ,applewood ect.


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## Seasoned Oak (May 15, 2014)

Adios Pantalones said:


> I have a Weber. It's under a porch roof, which I think is a significant help. Leave any grill out in the elements and it will cut its life short


My 2 weber charcoal grills are out in the weather for 12 years plus. Still look new.


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## Butcher (May 15, 2014)

What is this gas grill you speak of? An oven maybe? Yuck.


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## jharkin (May 16, 2014)

begreen said:


> Weber Spirit.



+1  We just bought a Weber spirit 3 burner this year to upgrade from our well worn weber charcoal kettle.  Its a very nice grill, well made and tought for the price.  I love cooking on charcoal but this thing sears suprizingly well (much better than the cheapo gas grill we had when I was a kid) and based on the first couple weeks use an $18 tank fill is going to get me something like 10x the cooking time of a $15 bag of bricks.


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## bassJAM (May 16, 2014)

fbelec said:


> isn't it funny for so many years of making grills they all put a hole or two for lighting it. it's like they know the sparkers are made like s--t but don't make a better one just put a hole on the side for when the thing fails. i don't know if anybody else had the same problem but when i bought my ducane i bought a cover. we were using the grill 5 days a week. in the winter the grill sits on our deck open to the elements took me a while to figure this one out but winter day the grill in the sun warms up the black cover the sun drops and the temp change made condensation between grill and cover and the thing would get stuck on top of the grill i had to get use to lighting the grill first then remove the cover.



A lot of people don't bother putting a cover on their grill, they say it traps moisture and causes rust as opposed to preventing.  Makes sense to me, it's a similar concept to drying wood.  I'm lucky that I have a covered porch to store mine in, but if I didn't I think I'd just lay a piece of plywood over my grill as opposed to a full cover.


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## jharkin (May 16, 2014)

fbelec said:


> it's like they know the sparkers are made like s--t but don't make a better one just put a hole on the side for when the thing fails.



Thats one of the thing I liked about the new Spirit. It has a AA battery powered electronic ignition that works much better than those useless pushbutton piezo electric jobs did.   And for backup they include metal wand to hold a match to reach down to the burner, hangs on a chain inside the cabinet.


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## KD0AXS (May 16, 2014)

Highbeam said:


> Here's mine. It was from lowes and still is available. I bought it several years ago, maybe 5, and it has needed nothing. I really liked the webers but the price of triple or more was just outrageous. Maybe next time.
> 
> Another odd thing is that the BBQs are now huge. I could probably cook 30 burgers at one time on mine and it is nothing special. You don't need to cook 30 burgers at one time very often.
> 
> I do own a weber Q for camping. It is smaller cast aluminum table top unit and has been wonderful. Really, the webers are that much better than the standard box store stuff but the cost is so high.



We have one of those too. Exact same thing but ours must be the next smaller one because it only has 3 burners instead of 4. We also got ours from Lowes, IIRC it was $189. It's about 2 years old now and still works as good as the day we bought it. Very well built for the price.


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## Highbeam (May 16, 2014)

KD0AXS said:


> We have one of those too. Exact same thing but ours must be the next smaller one because it only has 3 burners instead of 4. We also got ours from Lowes, IIRC it was $189. It's about 2 years old now and still works as good as the day we bought it. Very well built for the price.


 
Really it's been pretty good. Mine does have a hotter area in the back center but I have actually learned to use that to my advantage.


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## Swedishchef (May 16, 2014)

Broil King. Nothing less. I don't ever cover mine and it has not rusted in 4 years. I purchased the Signet 20 model. Made in Canada. And it was $400

Andrew


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## area_man (May 17, 2014)

What are you going to cook?  Are you going to have time on your hands when you get to the 2nd house, or do you need to get things moving?  Will you be there often enough that mold and nasties won't move in to the grill on you?  Do you want to bring it inside when you leave the house?  Do you have the ability to store dry wood, bags of charcoal, wood pellets, all that kind of thing in a relatively permanent structure?  Is this a secondary cooking appliance that can not be used if you're out of supplies on a given weekend, or is this the main way you feed your family?  If somebody steals it while you are away, is that a big deal to you or can you easily order another from Amazon and set it up next week?  Do you have natural gas piped to this 2nd house?


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## Nelson (May 17, 2014)

Seasoned Oak said:


> You just cant beat a charcoal grill for taste. My gas grill i think i used it twice in 3 years. Charcoal is king. There are other variations of grills such as "the green egg" and pellet grills allowing for custom pellets,hickory ,applewood ect.



I agree. Started out using gas for about 8-9 years. Recently made the switch to charcoal and I won't go back. Get a chimney starter and prep time isn't that much more than a gas grill. Can't be the taste. Plus with a little mod, I've been doing some smoking on my Weber charcoal which is a plus...


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## Badfish740 (May 18, 2014)

wenger7446 said:


> Thanks for the suggestion. I purchased this grill from Lowe's on Monday. I take delivery on July 3. I'll be sure to post an update once I have a chance to play with it.



Plus two on this.  After consulting the thread one last time I went to Lowes this morning and purchased one, assembled it, and cooked a dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, and corn-on-the-cob tonight.  My previous grill was an old cast aluminum shell Char Broil that was likely 10 years old-I had picked it up for scrap six years ago from the trash.  When I got it home I thought it didn't look all that bad, so I hooked up a propane tank and lo and behold it worked.  Six years later the burners were horribly rusted out and it charred everything no matter how low I kept the flame.  Until I cooked on this thing I had no idea what I was missing.  Hearth.com members wouldn't steer you wrong!

Duh...just realized that I didn't reference what grill I had purchased.  Wenger7446 had responded to a post about the CharBroil Tru Infrared two burner for $269 at Lowes.  Again, I'm very happy with my purchase.


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## area_man (May 19, 2014)

Retired Guy said:


> I am a fan of the Weber Q grills. Have a Q300 home and a Q220 at the camp. Neither are good for indirect cooking though.


 I have a 220 as my main grill, it's been in service since 2008.  I replaced the cooking surface this year and have had no other maintenance on it other than changing the grease trap from time to time.


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## Seasoned Oak (May 19, 2014)

Charcoal Grilling tips: Dont use petroleum starter unless you want your food to taste like diesel fuel.
                                   Dont use matchlite charcoal for the same reason.

Leftover Charcoal cooked food taste even better after a few days in the fridge as it absorbs even more of the smoked flavor.


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## Highbeam (May 19, 2014)

Seasoned Oak said:


> Charcoal Grilling tips: Dont use petroleum starter unless you want your food to taste like diesel fuel.
> Dont use matchlite charcoal for the same reason.
> 
> Leftover Charcoal cooked food taste even better after a few days in the fridge as it absorbs even more of the smoked flavor.


 
One more thing. There is wood is kingsford style charcoal briquettes. It's not coal. You may not need any more smoke than what the kingsfords will supply. After 15 hours over kingsford briquettes, my roasts have a significant pink smoke ring (pink on the outside, brown in the middle) and plenty of that smoke flavor. Don't overdo the smoke.

Gas is just so much faster for grilling.


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## Seasoned Oak (May 19, 2014)

Highbeam said:


> Gas is just so much faster for grilling.


If i don have much time i use the gas grill and add a bit of smoke flavored salt to the food.
If its the weekend and i have the time i use the charcoal.
If you just want a quick steak a george forman style indoor grill works great as it only takes a few minutes to cook. 
I also use the weber starter can to start the charcoal. With just a bit of paper or dry leaves the charcoal is ready in minutes.


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## Jags (May 19, 2014)

Seasoned Oak said:


> I also use the weber starter can to start the charcoal. With just a bit of paper or dry leaves the charcoal is ready in minutes.



You should see what a chunk of a Super Cedar does...


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## Highbeam (May 19, 2014)

Seasoned Oak said:


> I also use the weber starter can to start the charcoal. With just a bit of paper or dry leaves the charcoal is ready in minutes.


 
I use the chimney to get loads of charcoal going for the BBQ. I don't cook on the coals until they are all grey and no smoke is visible. That's not happening in minutes unless you mean 20-30 minutes. You don't want to eat any of the blue smoke.


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## Badfish740 (May 19, 2014)

Gas or charcoal, anything is better than cooking on the stove or using the oven.  My wife made salmon in the oven once -on the gas grill it tastes totally different.  Same thing with burgers and dogs-I can make them on the griddle inside but the flavor just isn't there.


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## Seasoned Oak (May 19, 2014)

Sometimes its all about the fat content. Lean cuts of beef are pretty tasteless no matter how you cook it. Only way to "fix" it is with a good marinade. Pork steaks are awesome, seared quickly either on the grill or a george forman type grill, again its the fat.


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## begreen (May 20, 2014)

Badfish740 said:


> Gas or charcoal, anything is better than cooking on the stove or using the oven.  My wife made salmon in the oven once -on the gas grill it tastes totally different.  Same thing with burgers and dogs-I can make them on the griddle inside but the flavor just isn't there.


My wife has a variety of rubs that make for very tasty salmon dinner, even when oven baked.


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## bassJAM (May 20, 2014)

Seasoned Oak said:


> Sometimes its all about the fat content. Lean cuts of beef are pretty tasteless no matter how you cook it. Only way to "fix" it is with a good marinade. Pork steaks are awesome, seared quickly either on the grill or a george forman type grill, again its the fat.



Agreed.  I've pretty much given up on getting pork and beef from larger chains like Wal-mart and Kroger, at best I end up with an "ok" steak.  My local IGA has great cuts at reasonable prices, and hopefully by fall I'll be getting a 1/2 beef from my brother in law's family.  It's hard to beat locally raised and slaughtered meat!  Either on the George Foreman in the winter or the propane weber in the summer, good cuts turn out good!


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## Seasoned Oak (May 20, 2014)

Best beef i ever ate was those(white face herefords) i raised myself with help from local farmers. After that store bought stuff is just poor substitute. Must be old milked out guernseys at the local meat market.


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## Ashful (May 20, 2014)

Seasoned Oak said:


> My 2 weber charcoal grills are out in the weather for 12 years plus. Still look new.


Ditto.  I can't understand why you're even allowed to call cooking on propane "grilling."  Might as well cook indoors!


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## begreen (May 20, 2014)

A grille is a grille, be it outdoors, indoors or underground. Is a pizza oven outdoors still not baking a pizza?


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## Ashful (May 20, 2014)

Indoors vs out of doors is not the issue, but propane vs charcoal.  I argue that if you're using propane, you might as well broil it in your oven.  Same thing, same (lack of) flavor.

1/4 SuperCedar and a chimney is all I use to get the charcoal going.


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## begreen (May 20, 2014)

I don't eat steak so I don't qualify with any form of expertise, but apparently 90% of steakhouses prefer gas grilles according to this article.
http://amazingribs.com/BBQ_buyers_guide/grills/charcoal_grills_vs_gas_grills.html
I prefer gas grilling for chicken and salmon. I think each have their strengths. Kind of like a PC vs Mac deal. Some seem to agree. 
http://www.wired.com/2013/07/gas-grilling-is-objectively-scientifically-better-than-charcoal/


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## Ashful (May 20, 2014)

C'mon begreen, you know better than me that popularity is almost never a measure of what is good or right.  Must I post the stat's on Milli Vanilli album sales?  

Propane has several advantages, such as easier control of temperature for an inexperienced operator, and obvious start-up convenience.  However, for taste, I'll take charcoal or wood over propane, ten times out of ten.


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## Jags (May 20, 2014)

Agreed that by taste alone a charcoal/wood grill is far superior.  On that note - there can also be no denial that after a long work day, the convenience of gas has its merits.  Thats why I have both.  Actually a couple of both.  Actually, 3 gas, 3 charcoal, and two smokers, but who is counting.


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## Highbeam (May 20, 2014)

I too have an oven that broils, a gas grill, and a weber charcoal grill. A gas grill is different that broiling or baking because the drippings are designed to drop down and burn to create a smoke that adds flavor. My gas grill smokes, my oven does not. The same thing happens with charcoal of course but the added smoke from the combustion of wood brings more flavor to the table.

So I say boo to the theory that a gas grill is the same as an oven.


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## Seasoned Oak (May 20, 2014)

Its all good. Gas grills are supposed to flavor with the fat dripping down and igniting. My gas grill smokes quite a bit depending whats on it. ANd a cold beer goes good with em all on a hot day. We can all agree on that


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## maple1 (May 20, 2014)

Highbeam said:


> I too have an oven that broils, a gas grill, and a weber charcoal grill. A gas grill is different that broiling or baking because the drippings are designed to drop down and burn to create a smoke that adds flavor. My gas grill smokes, my oven does not. The same thing happens with charcoal of course but the added smoke from the combustion of wood brings more flavor to the table.
> 
> So I say boo to the theory that a gas grill is the same as an oven.



Boo from here too. I likely wouldn't claim gas gives as good a taste as charcoal - but no way in heck is it the same as an oven.


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## Badfish740 (May 21, 2014)

You guys all beat me to it.  I mean, I don't want this to turn into dogpile on Jotul but...


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## fbelec (May 22, 2014)

time for the lock


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## begreen (May 23, 2014)

Case closed.


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