Gas Grill to Home propane tank

[Alan L.]

I have a 250 gallon propane tank for my tankless hot water heater. When they installed it, I had them run a line to my back porch for the grill. I am getting a new grill, but it will be designed I'm sure for a 20-pound portable tank. I am wondering how to go about connecting to the bulk tank instead.

I have read somewhere that perhaps I should remove the regulator that comes with the grill and that the big tank must already have a regulator on it. I recall when the LP guy came to hook up he was looking for a regulator. I called the plumber and he said there is not regulator as it is a low pressure system. They went ahead and hooked it up and my water heater is working fine.

Any ideas?

 

[LOOPHOLE]

It is possible to have a 1 or 2 stage system for your hot water. One on the gas tank and the other located close to the hot water burner. My tankless water heater is mounted on the exterior of house and regulator is just below it. Look at your tank under dome lid and ck color of regulator/ Brown or grey indicates low pressure and red will indicate HIGH pressure. If tank has a red regulator at service valve there has to be a low pressure reg somewhere downstream. If it has a brown or grey the pressure has already been cutback to the correct amount you will need for grill. I would advise when tapping on to that line to be sure to have a cutoff valve located between line and grill and mounted to a permanent location so line will not get damaged hooking up and unhooking. RED reg is HIGH pressure and must be reduced to low for grill by either tapping into line and using grill reg or tapping line after the 2nd reg. Above all be careful !!!!!

 

[kennyd]

Like LoopHole said, the are different systems. And without know exactly what kind of system you have makes it near impossible to answer your question accurately.

My system has 3 regulators, one High pressure at the tank (buried 1000gal.) One at the rear of the house that is set for 2lbs pressure, and the third at a manifold that feeds all the appliances, it's set for about 7-9"WC (water column)(= about 1/2 psi) as that is the pressure that most domestic appliances want to see at there inlet. My generator needed 12-14"WC so I tapped the line after the 2lb regulator and installed a new regulator just for it-even had to build my own manometer to set the pressure on it.

Most good grill company's sell a long hose kit and quick-connect fittings just for this purpose, or you can go to a RV dealer as they us should sell it also.

 

[kenmac]

not saying that there isn't a ''low pressure propane system". ( without a reg. anywhere) I have never seen 1 . All propane systems that I have worked on has had a regulator on the tank

 

[Alan L.]

I need to clarify. We built a new house and decided on the tankless water heat, then put in the 250-gallon tank just for that purpose. Since we now had the propane, I had the propane tank installer to run a line from the tank to the porch. There is no cutoff that I can see but a pipe sticking up out of the ground and he connected a rubber hose to that and left it looped on the ground beside the porch. The line that goes into the house does not have a regulator (although I'm pretty sure there is one on the tank itself). It goes into the wall from the outside, up into the attic, across the attic and down the wall to the tankless water heater which is on an exterior wall. There is no visible connection outside, although I might see the connection when I remove the access panel.

I'll take a look at the colors and report back.

 

[LOOPHOLE]

You may have a brown reg on tank [ a 2 stage combo reg] but that pipe sticking out of the grd w/hose on it and no cutoff valve must not be connected to system or cutoff valve is located where you do not see it,otherwise it would be leaking gas.

 

[Dennisfly]

I have a 100 gallon propane tank plumbed to a gas fireplace. The tank has a regulator on top. I plumbed in a BBQ that was designed for a 5 gallon tank but the BBQ wouldn't burn properly. I removed the requlator that was on the BBQ and now all works well.

 

[thcri]

This whole process is simple. Since there is a few diffferent variations of regulators and or piping being done on LP gas I would recomend having your LP company just come out and connect it. Typically they do this for free. In our area we are seeing a lot of high pressure piped right to the house and then then use a regulator at the house and a regulator at each appliance. This is being done in a lot of developments where they know natural gas will come in the next few years. But the majority of LP suppliers that we deal with will come out for free.


murph

 

[Alan L.]

OK, I called a local dealer about getting a Weber EP-310 grill, which comes either in the propane or natural gas versions.

The young guy I spoke to said that if I want to hook to my big propane tank (250 gal) I need to get the natural gas version. Said it comes with quick disconnect etc. and I can hook that to my propane line.

This does not sound right to me. Seems that to use propane you need different orifices and if I get the natural gas version it won't be right for propane.

 

[kennyd]

OK, I called a local dealer about getting a Weber EP-310 grill, which comes either in the propane or natural gas versions.

The young guy I spoke to said that if I want to hook to my big propane tank (250 gal) I need to get the natural gas version. Said it comes with quick disconnect etc. and I can hook that to my propane line.

This does not sound right to me. Seems that to use propane you need different orifices and if I get the natural gas version it won't be right for propane.

This is definitely BAD info!