Converting BBQ to natural gas
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 10:18 am
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.
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.
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...
