I’ve been using my Weber Spirit II E-310 natural gas grill at my country home for roughly two years.
However, when I decided to put my home on the market and move to a new home in a nearby locality, I had to convert my Weber natural gas grill to propane since I didn’t have natural gas installed in my new home.
Even though Weber doesn’t recommend converting their natural gas grill models to propane, I did the conversion by making a few modifications to the grill including replacing parts and adding a conversion kit.
Table of Contents
- 1 Why do You Need to Convert a Weber Natural Gas Grill to Propane?
- 2 Can You Just Hook Up a Propane Tank to a Natural Gas Grill?
- 3 Difference Between Natural Gas and Propane?
- 4 Can You Convert a Natural Gas Weber Grill to Propane?
- 5 How to Convert a Weber Natural Gas Grill to Propane?
- 6 How Much Does It Cost to Convert from Natural Gas to Propane?
- 7 What Does Weber Say About Converting Natural Gas to Propane?
- 8 Final Thoughts
Why do You Need to Convert a Weber Natural Gas Grill to Propane?
There aren’t too many good reasons for converting a Weber natural gas grill to a propane grill. The only reason one might want to convert is if the person has moved to an area that doesn’t have natural gas.
Another unlikely reason that an individual may want to convert a natural gas grill to propane is grill is the high cost of natural gas in their area.
Propane is in fact more expensive than natural gas, but on the flip side, natural gas burns much faster, so it may be more expensive if you use your grill often or for extended periods.
Furthermore, propane is also a cleaner-burning fuel than natural gas and doesn’t release carbon monoxide into the environment.
Can You Just Hook Up a Propane Tank to a Natural Gas Grill?
The short answer is NO because hooking up a propane tank to a natural gas grill could be dangerous, and here’s why!
Propane is high pressured gas compared to natural gas, therefore the drill size of its orifice is considerably smaller than a natural gas orifice.
If you simply hook up a propane tank to a natural gas grill, you will have an overflow of natural gas flowing through the orifice, which could be dangerous, and needless to say, will be a waste of hundreds of gallons of propane.
Difference Between Natural Gas and Propane?
Propane and natural gas are two of the most popular fuel options for grills, vehicles, and heating.
And even though the two fuel options are often used interchangeably, they aren’t the same, and there are several major differences between propane and natural gas.
Starting with natural gas, it’s a non-renewable, odorless, colorless, and non-toxic hydrocarbon. Natural gas is a gas mixture, which includes methane as its main component (70 percent to 90 percent).
Propane is also non-toxic, odorless, and colorless gas, but is compressed and stored in a liquid form.
Both propane and natural gas have a lot of similarities like being colorless, odorless, and clean-burning, but there are significant differences between the two types of fuel.
In terms of energy efficiency, prepone (2,516 BTUs/cubic foot) is 2.5 times more energy-efficient than natural gas (1,030 BTUs/cubic foot). Adding to this, propane costs less than natural gas, making it a great choice for people who frequently use their grill.
Both are clean-burning fuels, but propane is the cleanest burning fossil fuel, followed by natural gas.
When it comes to household use such as heating, grilling, and other types of cooking at home, the only difference between propane and natural gas is the delivery method, where natural gas is delivered via gas pipelines and propane vis propane tanks.
Can You Convert a Natural Gas Weber Grill to Propane?
You can convert a Weber grill to natural gas, but it does require a fair bit of skill, and safety consideration.
Another aspect to consider when looking to switch your propane grill to natural gas is if you move the grill to a different country because rules and regulations vary across the world.
How to Convert a Weber Natural Gas Grill to Propane?
What do You Need?
If you still want to convert a Weber natural gas grill to propane, there are a few things you will need such as a natural gas grill conversion kit.
Weber doesn’t sell these conversion kits and has in fact banned all their dealers from converting their natural gas grills to propane.
Speaking of conversion kits, you have to check whether there is a compatible conversion kit available for your grill model because buying a universal conversion kit from a shady manufacturer is a risky business.
Steps:
There are two parts to converting a Weber natural gas grill to propane—the easy part and the hard part.
The easy part is preparing your grill for the conversion. Before getting started, confirm that your Weber grill model can be converted to propane.
Next important thing to do is to turn off the natural gas supply both from the grill panel and the main line. Next, unscrew the top side, and locate the regulators or valves inside.
The challenging part of the conversion is figuring out the size of orifice you need based on your grill model.
Weber orifice sizes have changed over the years, and some examples are 3/8 inch orifice, 7 mm orifice, 1/4 inch orifice.
Since Weber doesn’t support converting its natural gas grills to propane, there’s a slim chance that this information will be listed in your owner’s manual.
Once you’ve figured out the right size orifice, remove the regulators, gas valves, and orifices that are currently fitted in your natural gas grill, and then replace the parts with the propane grill parts including orifices.
Now connect the propane tank to the pipe in the conversion kit. Lastly, tighten all the parts and reinstall any panels you have taken out for the conversion process.
Precautions:
If you aren’t familiar with your grill’s parts and components, I highly recommend hiring a professional to perform the conversion for safety purposes.
How Much Does It Cost to Convert from Natural Gas to Propane?
It will cost less than $50 for the conversion kit if you like to do the conversion task on your own. The cost for a professional to convert your Weber natural gas grill to propane varies depending on your area and expertise.
While it may sound easy to do the conversion yourself, you should remember that propane and natural gas are highly flammable, so ideally the conversion should be carried out by a licensed professional.
What Does Weber Say About Converting Natural Gas to Propane?
Weber doesn’t support converting natural gas grills to propane due to safety reasons, gas components, and complexity of the conversion process.
If you convert the grill to propane, and something goes terribly wrong, you not only risk damage to your health, but also may void the manufacturer warranty.
Final Thoughts
Even though the parts for converting a Weber natural gas grill to propane are easily available, take note that these are third party developed components, which is a big red flag in itself.
If you have a natural gas grill that you won’t be able to use in your new location, you can sell it on marketplaces such as eBay, and invest that cash in a new propane gas grill.
