converting propane to NG for grill

[No]

Hello - I bought a Vermont Castings VM400 grill at HomeCheapo. One reason I bought it was because it was "field upgradeable" to natural gas. Well, one year later I am looking for the parts. They no longer make available the parts due to "safety reasons". What a pain. This particular model is sold only through HD. Vermont castings dealers refer me directly to CFM corp. CFM refuses to sell the kit, nor supply it to a gas installer. They will not even sell me the complete guts for a NG unit.

My guess would be that another parts kit for a different model would work fine. I have no idea which ones would work or not. Any clues? CFM suggested talking to a gas man. I'm sure the gas man will say year, get me the parts and I'll do it. The local high end BBQ place will do the install if I give them the parts. They only have the parts for the high end ones they sell. No comments from them if they may or may not be compatible.

I am very handy and comfortable doing this myself if I can get the parts.

Any suggestions?

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[Steve B]

Start at the beginning. Usually, when you buy a grill, or a water heater or a dryer, they give you an extra set of orifices so that you can change back and forth. I am thinking that you didn't get this when you bought yours.

You say you are handy with tools and such. Take the thing apart, and remove the orifices. Take them down to the local Gas Supplier and see if you can match them up. These things aren't rocket surgery, and maybe you can just fine a helpful teknogeek that will find you the right thing. Look on the Internet.

That being said, it MAY or MAY NOT be the simple fix. After the orifice change, you will probably have to change your air mix adjustment, a simple thing. That's the air mix baffle that turns around when you loosen the Phillips screw and lets you get the yellow out of the flame. You will have to put on a new supply hose.

NOW, if your manufacturer actually has different BURNERS for LPG and natural gas, you might have to change the whole burner assembly. For that, you would have to measure and see if you can get one from the supplier, or find one to fit.

I have a Vermont Castings grill and really like it. Mine is propane. I did see VC natural gas grills for sale when I bought mine, but didn't look close to see if they had the same burners.

So, start taking it apart. It might be as simple as changing orifices and the hose. If the propane orifices are smaller than the natural gas ones, you might risk drilling out a set of them to the specs of natural gas orifices.

As a last resort, you might consider leaving it like it is, and saving time and money.

Steve

[No]

Thanks - I am not inclined to start drilling orifices or anything like that. The burners are the same, I would assume a different regulator, orifices and and adjustment to the O2 entry would be required. I may do as you said and take the parts to my local high end BBQ dealer and see if they have parts from another that will fit. Of course I will need the flex line, regulator and such anyway. if I find what I want then its a trip to plumbing supply for some black pipe, fittings and a shut-off valve. No sweat there (literally).

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[hallerb]

the NG upgrade will degrade the maximum BTUs available since propane has more heat energy than natural gas....

if your into searing burgers it mau not work as well:( also check out this group...

they are friendly and helpful

[wayne]

Just call and say you have the NG version and movers borke it while moving you need to replace parts

No wrote:

[mm]

Excellent

If the model number is longer than just VM400, the end of it might say whether it is NG or propane, so be prepared. I forget if you know the full model number of the NG version, but you can either find it, or see the system they use by looking at current pairs of models.

BTW, this isn't Home Depot's fault afaict. It seems like no one is doing any better than they are because of some new regulation.