Converting BBQ to natural gas

[Aaron]

I've got an average propane BBQ grill, with a front and rear heat control. I went to go grill some burgers the other night, and I was out of propane. Nothing worse than wanting to grill and being out of gas. Well my HVAC room is in my garage, and luckily my grill sits right on the other side of the wall.

I shut off the valve to the water heater, and between the valve and the tank runs a flexible hose. I put in a T, and attached the flex hose, and on the other end of the T I ran a pipe through the wall to the BBQ, and put a ball valve, then ran fuel injection hose to the BBQ.

I tried running it, and as expected it wouldn't get hot enough to properly cook. Now natural gas costs about 1/6 as much as propane, but it has about half the specific energy so you need double the natural gas. Overall NG costs about 1/3 as much to use as propane. But the biggest selling point for me is reliability, it'll always work.

To deal with the BTU difference, I took apart the regulators inside the BBQ. They weren't very difficult to get out, and upon pulling the hoses off easily saw the brass restrictor. They are roughly 1/32", and need to be doubled, a 1/16" drill bit is common and sized right. Drilled both restrictors, and put it back together. BBQ works perfectly! I open the ball valve, turn the flow adjusters on, and use the factory push button lighter.

I'll put up pics in a week or so, but if you have a NG source near your grill, it's easy and relatively cheap to convert. I had to buy an iron T, some straight piping, a 45* iron elbow, brass ball valve, a brass nipple, and some fuel injection hose.

[Shaun41178(2)]

looking fwd to the pics

[The Dark Side of Will]

Put your Fire Science degree to practical use!

[Emc209i]

I love natural gas, and I prefer it to electronic elements for inside ranges. But there's something about grilling on a propane barbie. You can't replicate the smell or taste with natural gas. So good on your for being innovative. But I'll keep a propane tank attached to mine.

Pictures so I can scrutinize your backyard rig?

[Aaron]

I'd agree with you 100% if you said charcoal, but I haven't noticed any difference in the two gasses. I'll get pics next time I'm at home, maybe a week? Depends if my girlfriend dumps me or not.

[CincinnatiFiero]

What an incredibly strange caveat, but I wish you the best.

[Unsafe At Any Speed]

Call me lazy, but I would've just bought another tank. It generally lasts a long time.

[Aaron]

You're lazy.

There was another article in the paper today about how much higher propane has been this winter. 50% increase over last year.

[Unsafe At Any Speed]

Maybe I'm just jealous. I had a whole beef in Cheyenne I was grilling up daily, but since I've got to DC, no more grilling for me. Not again until after Afghanistan...

[Aaron]

I don't blame you, I love grilling! But there is nothing worse than running out if gas on Friday night with a rack of ribs on the grill.

You might not be going to Afghanistan, you'll probably be back babysitting missiles since everyone who is supposed to be doing that is cheating on tests instead

[Unsafe At Any Speed]

Yeah, true... I need to get out of the US ASAP...

I'll probably just get RIFed and kicked out of before then anyway. As part of the 25k they're cutting from the Air Force this year, 27 of the 62 eligible from my career field are getting cut.

[Aaron]

First picture is of the T I added before the water heater inlet:



Next is the pipe leading down along the floor and through the wall to the outside. The tank is an expansion tank for my house's heat system.



This is the other side of the wall, including the ball valve and the transition to rubber line.



And this is where the propane tank had the valve adapter, which is just cut the runner outlet from it and used a barbed connector to go from the rubber fuel line to the BBQ's rubber line. This goes into the jets.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Hydraunic heat? In floor? I didn't think anything new enough to have drywall used radiators.

[crzyone]

Outside my house is 4' of snow... Jelly.

[Shaun41178(2)]

Nice Crocs

[Aaron]

Hydraunic heat? In floor? I didn't think anything new enough to have drywall used radiators.

Ya radiant floor heating, it works pretty well. My only complaint is when I leave for a week or two I turn it down, it takes the system at least 12 hours to get from 50 to 70.

[Unsafe At Any Speed]

Nice Crocs

I was wondering who'd be first with that one...