Customer Reviews

AIR GRILL EXECUTIVE, Bellows For Fireplace, Fire Pits and Barbecues

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I stumbled on the AIR GRILL EXECUTIVE when I was looking for a small, simple bellows for camping. The price of this is less than most traditional bellows and it will fit in the backpack.

Posted 3/29/07
now that I have had it for less than a year it fell apart, the internal plastic gears striped, I Would NOT buy another

This looks like it's built like a tank with its cast iron base and copper tubed. But inside it is plastic. So mine worked great for two years of light use, but a gear finally give it up.

I emailed the company and they sent out a new one for S-H or $8 or 9. I thought that was outstanding product support.

Out of the box, this is a fairly good product in terms of function. It does make it easy to start or revive a fire. Also, it is a relatively small and attractive item to have around the fireplace -- as compared to a bellows or a gas powered leaf blower. To make this into a GREAT product, you just need to make one simple modification: extend the tube by about two feet. I did this by getting some thin-walled metal tubing at the hardware store, painting it dark green so it wasn't so ugly, and using a hose clamp to attach it in place of the original copper-like tube. Now I can blow right where I want to on the fire, without burning my hands or bending over.

Actually, I should have put all that in the past tense, because like so many other of these blowers (see the review for the red model as well), the gears have stripped. This product looks like it is indestructible from the outside, but if you take it appart (remove the handle and blow tube and it opens like a clamshell) you'll see that the drive mechanism is nylon gears spinning a plastic fan. These gears muliply the velocity of your hand cranking by huge number. That also means that they multiply the inertia of the gear train NOT moving by a big number, so you put a lot of strain on the gears when you first start cranking, and sooner or later the gears will get stripped.

I have emailed the Air Grill company twice to see if they will just sell me a new gear, and so far I have not heard back.

This blower is essentially the same product as the Camp's Hand Tornado that was sold by Restoration hardware several years ago. They have added a copper nozzle, but functionally its the same.

I've hade the executive for about two years now. It works great when trying to restart a camp fire from a bed of coals, you can get past the point of the wood smoking to flames erupting very quickly. I do wish I could extend the length of the air tube by about 3' so I could stand and use it when camping, the knees are starting to go.

I was looking for the perfect birthday gift for my dad, who seems to have everything. Sadly, arthritis is getting to him and with the cold weather bringing on fireplace season, its been harder and harder for him to get down to blow air in to start the fire. Now that he has the executive, its super easy for him to get the fire started and keep it going and Mom even let's him keep it on the mantel--because it looks nice...and is a great conversation piece as we start to get holiday visitors!!

An update to my post from 2 years ago: we use our Air Grill Executive to stoke flames every night in our fireplace. This product still works great! I love the the Air Grill Executive and still highly recommend it to anyone looking for a high-end product to help get fires started.
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I bought the Blower a few years ago... it works great and I wanted something a bit nicer for above my fireplace. So I bought the Air Grill Executive in 2006... it's a great tool for getting fires started and keeping them going. The company was also very responsive when I inquired about shipping. Highly recommended!

I purchased one of these in February 2007. It worked like a dream until it broke after three months of normal use. The gears on the inside stripped and it stopped blowing. I contacted the seller, who didn't reply. Save your money and go with the $10 model, or buy an old-fashioned bellows without as many moving parts. This one is prettier than the cheap model, but it seems to have disposable insides.

We used this for a couple dozen fires and charcoal grilling sessions, then the little handle broke off. It was great while it worked, but really bummed they use some cheap pot metal that fails quickly for the crank handle.

i bought it , cause it looks really good , but the mechanism is too weak , after useing it like 2 days

the mechanism broke down , and the internal weels started to slip , so the power after that was useless.

i am just telling what happend to me , maybe i am just to strong in turning that little wheel.

things should be designed so an adult can't over crank an item, cause then its just to weak.

This is our second purchase of this item. Unfortunately the first one only lasted a year. I wish it didn't have plastic gears in it, but we still really like it. We are hoping this one last longer. While it works, it is great!