Carl's Grill Talk

Many people buy LP gas grills and wish to convert them to natural gas. The market is saturated with LP grills which are usually cheaper, while natural gas grills are fewer and usually more expensive. 

Sometimes the manufacturer will provide a conversion kit or have one available to order.Converting the grill to natural without a factory kit could violate the warranty and failure to carry out the procedure in a safe way could result in a fire and injury.

If you haven’t done this before you must research the procedure and be certain of the safety before beginning.If you search for “gas grill conversion” on the web, you’ll find numerous sites with kits and some by individuals who have successfully converted their grill from LP to natural gas.

Converting your grill from  LP to natural gas requires changing the orifices (jets) on each valve, Most valves will work with LP or natural but some are made only for one or the other. The oldDucane grills will likelyrequire changing the valves if converting from natural to LP.

All of the holes in the valves are larger for natural gas than for LP, which is why its harder to convert from LP to Natural. You might also find that in converting from LP to natural gas the low flame setting results in little or no flame, but you can adjust for that by simply setting your low flame slightly closer to the medium setting.

Converting to natural gas usually doesn’t require a regulator but sometimes when the pressure is more than 7 inches a regulator might be needed. The LP regulator won’t work for this and you’ll have to get one from a heating supply store.

Since the orifices and other openings in the valves are smaller for LP you might be able to drill out the orifices without further adjustment.

The steps for converting a Home Depot Ducane Stainless steel grill, from LP to natural gas,are as follows. 
 

1. Purchase or borrow numbered drill bits(you can use the conversion chart to just buy the drill bits you need) You’ll need a hand held bit driver or you could use a pair of vise grips to hand drill the orifice.. An electric drill could easily break the small bits or damage the orifice.
2..Use the LP-Natural gas BTU to numbered drill conversion chart to determine which drill bits you’ll need for each orifice. If the grill spec plate doesn’t show the individual BTU output per burner you’ll have to do more research or guess using the total output of the grill. The spec plate for the Home Depo Ducane grill shows each burner rating.You’ll have to use the drill bit that gets closest to the BTU output listed.

3. Starting with the front control panel remove the two screws on each side and pull the panel carefully away from the front of the grill. Remove the burners form the main cooking area of the grill. You can actually drill out each orifice by placing the hand held drill bit holder with the correct bit from the inside of the grill through the burner hole to drill the orifice.

It is possible to drill the orifices without detaching the control panel but you can’t easily see the orifice and you can’t remove the burners in the Ducane without removing the control panel.

4. Drill out each orifice using the numbered drill bit with the handheld bit holder.

Side Burner Orifice

5.The orifice for the side burner is under the side burner shelf in front of the burner venturi and will have to be removed carefully with wrenches to allow drilling.

Get to the rotis burner

6.To get to the rotis burner you’ll have to remove screws on the back of the grill and inside the grill holding the rotis burner in place. You’ll have to remove the orifice from the burner in order to get the drill bit in place.

 Reattach all orifices

7. Reattach all orifices and any gas lines disconnected duringthis process. Be sure to check all fittings for leaks with the grill valves off but pressure on from the gas line. Also check the connections in the gas lines opened with the grill valves on and burners lit.

8. Before putting the flame tamers back in check your main burners for the correct flame which should be blue and lit as soon as the gas exits the burner. Use the air shutter if the flame is yellow by opening. Closing the shutter will make the flame yellow and slower.

 
9. When you’re sure you have no leaks and the flames are consistent you can put the grill back together and you’re ready for use.

10. REMEMBER! Converting your grill to natural requires opening gas lines and safely reconnecting them.Failure to safely do your work could result in fire and injury! If in doubt, get an appliance tech to do the work.