Natual gas vs propane, which is hotter

Theres a discussion on alt.home repair, about convertiung natural gas grills to propane. My experience is the propane contains more BTUs and seers steaks better.

A good friend works at sears and reports they hate selling natural gas grills, since so many get returned with not hot enough complaints.

So I would appreciate the experts here at the barbecue group to give us their opinions.

my opinion is that even with different orfices propane will be hotter thn natural gas.....

I would suggest that the difference in fuel is about 3% of the equation and the difference of design is 97%. You don't use the same orifice for both fuels so the results should be very similar.

The benefits of natural gas are summarized here:

For years I had a propane grill. In 2000 I switched to a Sunbeam natural gas grill. I love the convenience of never worrying about how much gas I have left. I have not had a problem with a lack of heat. In fact, I have never really had to use the high setting.

Hope that helps:) Chris

Agreed. If proper orifice is used for either gas, they "should" put out roughly the same heat. BTUs

When converting most common fueled appliances, such as Cooktops, ovens, & gas fireplaces, switching them to over to LP from natural gas actually lowers the BTU's.

Several years ago, we moved from a home with LP gas to one with natural gas. It turned out that it cost only about $25 to replace the orifices on our grill, so, rather than buy a new grill, we converted the old one from LP to natural.

Same burner. New orifices.

It burns a HELL of a lot hotter on NG than it ever did on LP.

I agree, I won't, and will never use a gas grill. Might just as well put the s*it in the oven inside.

Why would that be? LP gas has approximately twice the BTU content by volume as natural gas. Even if if the orifice was reduced by half, the heat content would be the same, not less.

This has nothing to do with which is hotter but rather a potential safety issue. In 2000 we had the flexible connection line fail on our propane GG and turned the tank into a huge blow torch that proceeded to burn off the back of the house because there was no way to extinguish the propane tank till it burned itself empty. That wouldn't of happened had I had a gas shut off as I do now with our natural gas grill. That's why I'll never own a propane grill again.

For example, re-jet a Viking gas cooktop for LP, and each burner's BTU rating drops by 500, as per spec sheet here:

I don't have the spec handy, but my gas fireplace rating is lower with LP than NG as well.

Wow.

That wasn't an issue for us. Since the house was heated with LP, I just installed a line out on to the deck, and ran the grill off the house supply. I had a shutoff right where the line exited the house (15' away from the grill), another shutoff inside the house, and of course a main shutoff at the tank.

Did you consider turning off the tank valve whilst this alleged broken line burnt your house?

I can't imagine getting near it if it was shooting out full blast. I think the new tanks with the OPD would shut off themselves in that condition.

How strange. Maybe the pressure is lower with LP gas?

Me neither. A garden hose couldn't have put out the flame, probably, but it might have kept the house from burning. But maybe he did do that and if not, it's easy to think of those things now.

Really?

The 20 lb. tank that caught fire also had a shut-off but with it spewing an

The OPD is a float that blocks the outlet. Thee is also a valve like the one on a tire valve that must be pushed in. If the OPD gets forced tot he top of the tank it will shut it off or severely cut down the amount of gas escaping. If you wee able to knock it on its side it would be even better as it is designed to stop leaks from a tank in your trunk that gets knocked over.

Sounds good. Is this the new design that everyone had to switch to over the last 6 or 7 years?

Yes, many state now require it. You can tell because it has a triangular shaped know on top