If you're planning on putting your barbeque in self storage during the off season, it's worth investing a little time in preparing your equipment for storage. While cleaning up your barbeque does mean that you can get grilling straight away when you bring your barbie home again, the preparation you'll do now also helps avoid problems with your self storage unit and the other possessions you store in it. What should you do before you store your barbeque and its equipment?

Clean Your Barbeque

It really is worth giving your barbeque – and its tools – a really good clean up before you store it. This will save you time later when you next throw a barbie, as your equipment will be clean and ready to use once it's out of storage. However, this also helps keep your self storage unit hygienic and helps protect any other stuff you store in there.

If you don't clean your barbeque before storing, it may contain old bits of food, grease and those nasty burned on bits that seem to hide in inconvenient places on your grill. All of this kind of stuff could be a magnet for pests and vermin who may come into your self storage unit for a free meal if they smell a dirty barbeque. Once they've eaten what you left them on your grill, they may move on to mess around with other stuff you've stored in the unit. Even if you've nothing else that is edible stored in there, unwanted visitors can chew through your boxes and use your clothes for nests.

Deal With Anything Flammable

Typically, self storage units won't allow you to store anything flammable or combustible in your unit. If you use a gas barbeque, you should make sure that your gas bottles or tanks are empty before you store them. You also shouldn't store spare gas or fuel supplies in self storage.

Tip: Bear in mind that some self storage units won't allow you to store even empty gas bottles, so you should check on your facility's rules on barbeque fuels before you leave bottles or tanks in your unit.

Finally, it's also worth putting a cover over your barbeque or closing its lid when you put it in your unit. While your barbeque won't be exposed to the elements in self storage, it may get pretty dusty; covering the barbeque at least means you won't have to clean off the dust when you take your barbeque out of storage.