Converting Gas Grill (LP) to Natural Gas

[BHarrison]

Has anyone had any luck converting a standard gas grill to run on natural gas?
When building my house, I stubbed out a gas line on the back porch for a grill, and I'm now getting around to playing with the conversion. Has anybody ever done this?

What I'm really curious about is the new valves that their putting on new propane tanks. (3 spoke handle)
I think they have some type of regulator, or something inside of them. I may have to find one of the older style propane bottle valves.
Does anybody know how these new valves are built.

 

[Knight9]

I have a propane barbeque also and had natural gas put to my deck at our new place. I looked at the "conversion kits" for my barbeque and decided I'd just wait until it died and then buy a new one with NG. I only paid $200 for the barbeque several years ago and would like to ultimately get a larger one anyway. NG on this one seemed a bit of a waste the more I thought of it. Now if it was an expensive barbeque I might have followed up with the conversion.

Check with the maker of your BBQ and see what kits they have. Also, some barbeques are NOT to be converted. I'm not sure why but the guys at the store I talked to said that kits are not available for all models because some are not constucted in a manner that allows NG. I have NO IDEA what that means! /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Good luck.
Kevin

 

[Egon]

Gas Grill:
Lots of grills are hooked up to natural gas. Also some fireplaces have natural gas to start the wood on fire.
Your utility should have a regulator and meter at "plot edge" prior to your appliance piping. The regulator will be running at only a few ounces pressure so no further regulators are require for gas appliances. The propane grill has smaller orfices than a gas grill as propane has a higher BTU valve. On some you may be able to change orfices. Some people just drill the gas orfice a little larger which may be illegal or void insurance policies. If you have a stub already it should be relatively inexpensive to have a certified technician hook you up and make the modifications. This may be a requirement anyway depending on the local regulations. As an aside; the propane grill will work on gas but not deliver as much heat.

Egon

 

[therrien]

I would be leary of converting my grill because of the cost.

Too many times to mention, I left the grill on after cooking to burn off remnants of dinner.It only happens after putting a fresh 20# tank on the grill.
20 pounds of propane/ meal= Terrible mileage.
The wife has done it too, so when I do it I don't hear about it for long.

 

[Bird]

Yep, Egon, over the years we lived in 3 different houses in town; the first one was an older house we bought and it had a small natural gas grill at the edge of the patio, so when we bought a new house, I just called the gas company to come install a new gas grill, along with gaslights in both front and back yards. And when we bought the last new house, I called the gas company again and they came and installed the biggest gas grill they had at the time.

 

[Boner]

Well, I finally made it work.
My grill has 2 main burners, and 1 side burner. I took one of the jets from the main burner (56), and put it in the side burner(66). This gave me about equal the flame I had with LP. Then I punched 1/16 holes in the other jets, and put them in the main burners. After removing & bypassing the LP regulator it works like a champ. **Now We're Cooking With Gas**
The only stone left unturned is whether or not that bottle valve is restricting flow. I'll find out tomorrow.

Thanks to all

 

[RickM]

boner,
Here is a link for gas grill conversions <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.grillparts.com/howto/conversion.htm>http://www.grillparts.com/howto/conversion.htm</A>. They seem to have decent prices too. A properly burning flame will have a dark blue core and light blue feathered edges. There should be little if any yellow. Wavy yellow flames indicate improper fuel/air ratio and will produce black carbon powder deposits on the food or utensile. Most of all be careful /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.