larger grill tank?

[higgledy]

I saw these 100lbs propane tanks at Costco, I'd love get one hooked up to my grill then get regular service from my gas company. Is it within code for a plumber to connect a 100lbs tank to my grill?

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Sort of.

The grill must be made permanent by removing the wheels and lagging it down to something, like the deck or patio. Then it has to be piped properly. The tank must also be supported and cannot be confined, under a window, and some other code issues. Once in place, you have to find a dealer that will fill it. Some will not fill your tank, others will, so make a phone call first.

Since you mention "your gas company" do you have propane now? If so, they can hook the grill up to the existing tanks.

[DIMwit]

higgledy,

Here's something else to consider: where I live, BJ's wholesale club charges $12.99 to members to fill a 20lb tank.

I have a 200lb tank at my house that feeds my Hot tub heater and fireplace gas log; the propane company charges me $3.79 a gallon, plus a 4 buck delivery charge on top of that to deliver the propane. Other propane customers pay their suppliers even more. My next door neighbor got charged 6 bucks/gallon on his last delivery, nut he uses much less propane than I do.

Because you bring your tank in yourself, (the 20lb'er) you pay less. Are you looking to bring the 100 lb tank yourself to the propane dealer to get filed?

Bob

[Tom Kendrick]

[Mike Hartigan]

Not to go too far off on a tangent, but since you're considering a

100# tank, I'll assume that portability is not a requirement. > A 100# tank weighs more like 150-160# filled. I have a pair of 50#

[hallerb]

natural gas has fewer BTUs, newer grills espically may lack that sear effect of high temperature

I watched for friends and neighbors discarding old 20 pound propane tanks, available at no cost.

Then swapped them at home depot for new style valve tank. A couple tanks were pretty rusty, i cleaned the heavy rust off those and gave them some cheap white spray paint. so home depot wouldnt complain:)

I stopped after 6 tanks, dont really need that many. But hey basically free:)

Now i GET THEM REFILLED AT LOCAL GAS STATION, cheaper than exchange

[Mike Hartigan]

:

My NG grill has an infrared burner that the manufacturer claims=20 reaches 1500F in 5 minutes. I don't know if it'll do 1500, but=20 whatever it's doing is far more than I need for everything but the=20 good steaks :-) The 1/4" SS grates actually glow slightly when it's=20 pre-heated (no sear deficiency here!) But that's beside the point. =20 The Natural gas orifices are bigger, which allows the burners to=20 achieve the same BTU rating as they do with propane.=20

No question about that. However, while I don't have any numbers,=20 natural gas is still far cheaper than propane, even if the tanks were=20 'free'. And, as I said, WRT convenience, there's simply no=20 comparison.

[craigmharder]

Make sure it's not prevented by code where your living, I can use the smaller ones but can't have a permanet one. Craig

[hallerb]

te:

Ahh natural gas even with proper orfices has fewer effective BTUs......

A good friend handles return merchandise for Sears, and states they get back so many natural gas grills for poor performance because NG has fewer BTUs

To discourage purchase most models are now only stocked in propane.

Yeah natural gas is way more convenient and cheaper if its available in your neighbiorhood.

[ls1mike]

What am I missing? What is an 'effective BTU'? As I understand it, a BTU is, essentially, a unit of heat energy. This means that a BTU is a BTU, regardless of the source. Granted, there are fewer BTUs per volume of natural gas when compared with propane, but that's accounted for in the bigger orifices that are used with NG. A higher volume of NG is delivered to the burners so that the number of BTUs is approximately the same with either fuel.

I suspect that Sears gets back so many grills for poor performance because they sell so many poor performing grills. The natural gas thing is simply a handy excuse.

Most stores stock most models of most grills in propane because that's what most people want. It makes no sense to stock models that people aren't buying. If you want to buy a NG grill, it typically has to be ordered. Some of the higher end models come with a conversion kit - not unlike most kitchen ranges.

[George]

Its understandable, big box stores are typically clueless and would make a nonsense claim like "effective BTUs". NG is lower pressure and density and proper attention must be paid to piping.

Sounds like a typical clueless big box store.

[hallerb]

e:

No the total heat output of a NG grill is never as much as the same grill using propane.

check multi fuel engines, their horsepower is always more using propane

sears sells some very high end grills, costing over a grand. the trouble isnt design its heat energy in natural gas.

but since this came up I will ask some other groups, just to clarify things

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I just randomly picked a gas range for home use to see comparisons. From what I'm reading here, as well as when I bought our range some years ago, propane puts out about 1000 Btu less per burner than natural gas.

Take a look at the BTU specs on pages 15 and 16.

This may be a design situation when converting a range as compared to converting a grill, but the ideal is the same. Change of orfices and regulator on some, but burner remains the same. I was not able to readily find any mention of Btu output differences for converting a grill.

[Mike Hartigan]

ote:

That's interesting but irrelevant. We're comparing the BTU ratings=20 of gas grills.

I've seen some TEC grills at their Great Indoors - that's about as=20 close to high end as I've seen at Sears. (I guess it all depends on=20 how you define "very high end grills".)

That's why NG requires bigger orifices than propane. You need to=20 adjust the quantity of fuel delivered to the burners according to the=20 fuel you're burning. =20

[Mike Hartigan]

Here's a link to a chart listing the size of orifice needed for a desired BTU rating for each type of fuel.

(the numbers are drill sizes - a higher number indicates a smaller hole)

[ls1mike]

Actually, it's a combination of orifice size and valve. In most cases (at least on the higher end grills), the valves are adjustable. Combined with the proper size orifice, this allows a grill to be setup for whichever gas you prefer. This is why a grill's BTU rating is typically not qualified by fuel type. A grill rated at, say, 60,000 BTUs will deliver 60,000 BTUs whether you're burning NG or propane, provided that it's correctly configured for the fuel that you're burning. This means that they will be equally hot (or equally inadequate) when cooking. (And 60,000 BTU of NG has exactly the same heat energy as 60,000 BTU of propane. Look up BTU and you'll understand.)