Converting S460 to Propane & adding side burner


 
S

Sterling

New member
Thru a windfall I find myself with a free Weber Summit S460. A neighbor ordered one, and it arrived all dented up and the seller didn't want to pay the return shipping. It sat in my garage for 9 months while the seller and shipping company fought back and forth over the shipping claim. I kept it in my garage because the neighbor wanted to put it in the field behind is house, and didn't want it taking up garage space, so I offered to store it until the shipping claim was resolved on the condition it was mine and I would not modify it or touch it until everything was resolved.

The plan is to convert to LP and add the side shelf and side burner to make it a stand alone. I found a thread where there was a list of parts from the S470 to add the side burner to the S460, but the poster decided not to do it based on the $400 cost. Does anyone have a 470 they are or have parted out? I've found a few parts on ebay but not the whole set of stuff that I need.

Also does anyone have the specs for the LP jets?

I know my threads are M5x .5 but what is the factory orifice size? There is a lot of stuff on amazon but I want to make sure I have the right ones. Also does anyone have a source for good quality grates?

Also looking for the part number for the left side shelf if anyone knows it off hand.

I'm a long time weber owner, current grill is a Spirit 320 and always wanted a nicer version. I don't remember the version of the previous weber before the 320 but I had it about 15 years.
 
Sterling, you can download an owners manual and schematic off the Weber web site. Find your serial number, that will help. It should start with two letters and 5 or 6 digits after it. It is probably on a sticker and may be on the grease pan holder in the grill cabinet.
You can look up the parts and part numbers on the schematic.

Weber Grill Schematics | Weber Grill Models

Weber Schematics - browse product schematics and part lists by entering a serial number, description, or by selecting a product family.
www.weber.com www.weber.com
 
Sterling said:
Also does anyone have a source for good quality grates?
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That grill should come with Weber's 9mm stainless steel rod grates. It doesn't really get any better than that. As far as converting it to LP, I would get the proper Weber manifold for it and not mess around with trying to change the orifices.
 
You cannot convert it with a simple orifice change. Weber goes to great lengths to prevent people from this. The valves are different. If you tried it, you would never be able to get the burners to run as low as they should. It would be safe but difficult to use. If it was the other way around it would not even be safe to use let alone a PIA to work with. Sorry to bust your bubble. I know if you look you will find people who will tell you otherwise. Don't believe a word they say. If you REALLY want to use this grill on LP buy the correct manifold and fittings. Or simply install NG in your own home
 
Larry, is there a chance that grill uses the type of valves that can handle a simple orifice swap?
 
Bruce said:
Larry, is there a chance that grill uses the type of valves that can handle a simple orifice swap?
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You would need to disassemble them and see if they're fixed or continuous variable type. And honestly I've not seen enough of those Summits to know 100%. But, the surest way is to do a 100% conversion with all the proper parts. I mean hell, the grill is costing nothing to begin with so why not invest and just do it 100% correctly
 
Guy converts bbq from propane to NG. Guy eventually burns down his house. Insurance company investigates claim and discovers grill was improperly converted which resulted in the fire and destroyed home.

Question, will claim be paid by insurance company? Or did guy commit gross negligence in his conversion?

Discuss amongst yourself.
 
I've already gone thru the online schematics but most of the parts I want to buy don't have a price listed so you can't add them to the cart. I'm ok with buying a manifold set. Found a few places that have them @ $277 but holy hell. the 9mm grates cost more than the manifold set. I guess I'll call customer support about the other parts I've found
 
Hey, Sterling. I am not sure this would work for you, but it would be a great deal if it did. You could ask the guy to ship it to you and it would still be a good deal.

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Bruce said:
Hey, Sterling. I am not sure this would work for you, but it would be a great deal if it did. You could ask the guy to ship it to you and it would still be a good deal.

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that manifold won't work. The 460 has sear station, as well as a burner for the smoker box. Parts total is currently $1100, and still can't locate anyone that has stock for the left side table.

The grates may have been tossed with the boxes and packing material......

There is a S470 on FB market place for $900 complete. It would be cheaper for me to buy it, and buy a set of grates for this one and sell this one complete & not worry about a conversions.
 
Bought the near perfect Summit S470 on FB market place. It had been professionally cleaned and is ready to cook on. I was planning on picking it up later this evening and he texted me if I was real, and showed up with cash I could have it for $800 as he was tired of the scammers blowing up his inbox. Went by on my lunch with some tools to take off the side trays. Fired it up to test it and everything works. took off the side tables and load it up in my SUV. Just unloaded it and added the side tables back.
 
Brett-EDH said:
Guy converts bbq from propane to NG. Guy eventually burns down his house. Insurance company investigates claim and discovers grill was improperly converted which resulted in the fire and destroyed home.

Question, will claim be paid by insurance company? Or did guy commit gross negligence in his conversion?

Discuss amongst yourself.
Click to expand...
Full disclosure: You're an insurance agent, right? What do YOU think is the answer to your question?
 
Chris Allingham said:
Full disclosure: You're an insurance agent, right? What do YOU think is the answer to your question?
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I think the owner who made the conversion may have a problem with the claim.

The insurance policy covers perils. If the peril, fire in this case, was found to be man-made and not naturally occurring, example being the diy conversion, you’ve given the insurance company enough leverage to deny the claim.

The fact that the parts installed were not intended for the model they were used in could be an act of gross negligence.

If it was and could be determined (it will be determined. Trust me on how investigations work), the installed parts caused the actual fire which burned down the house, you might be (highly likely) self-insuring the loss.

There’s a reason Weber doesn’t sell conversions. It’s product liability. Weber cannot oversee and guarantee a proper conversion, thus is why they don’t sell and offer such conversion, and it is assumed such conversion(s) are dangerous and not advised.

If Weber sold an actual conversion kit, they could be held partially negligent and liable for the house/grill fire. That’s why, IMO, they don’t sell such parts.

As a reasonable person with average skills, I wouldn’t do this conversion because it would leave me fully exposed, liability wise, for all results, intended and unintended.

So I think the conversion grill represents a serious danger. I think the risk doesn’t outweigh the reward.

And who TF wants to fight an insurance company on any claim? Best of luck to you.

I’ve seen some gnarly claims over the years, both covered and not covered losses.

Product liability is a serious issue. I wouldn’t swim in those waters. Especially to save $1500? That would be stupidcide.

Note, I was trying to compel the forum members to hash this out to see how average, ordinary people act and make decisions. Humans are very interesting to me.
 
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Why is it then when you buy a gas range or cooktop they supply the orifices to convert from NG to LP and they show you how to do it?
Is it Weber that makes it so hard or are all gas grills the same.?
 
Odds are unless things looked REALLY suspicious likely not at all. Think about it. Using the above analogy (which I FULLY get to a point), ANY repair you undertook on a grill i.e. replacing a burner(s) with perhaps "non oem" or a gas regulator with "non-oem" would fall within this type of thing. IOW putting in parts not made by or for the specific product.
Also if this was the case why then would so many other companies even go so far as to include items to perform this type of service? And every DIY project you do would be under severe scrutiny.
Or take my own home. IN my case a so called LICENSED electrician did wiring in my house that would not even pass the amateur sniff test. And likely in many more homes in my sub as I can show you at least SIX different homes that had severe electrical fires in the walls due to slip shod workmanship. If an adjuster were to see these things how is a homeowner supposed to prove THEY did not cause it?
Yeah, I'm sure in SOME cases where things are blatantly caused like this i.e. using a deep fryer in your garage in burning your house down when you drop in a whole frozen turkey.
And likely then you'd be in danger for ANY DIY project you under took.
 
timothy said:
Why is it then when you buy a gas range or cooktop they supply the orifices to convert from NG to LP and they show you how to do it?
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I think it's because other than the orifices themselves, the gas valves are the same no matter LP or NG. I think it's pretty clear in all the cases of Weber gas grill conversions gone wrong that it's not the same case with these Weber valves.
 
But it could be. Also even with that. If all you need do is simply order a manifold from them and the hose I'm sure most people would do it if they needed it. Another thing is to think about the small number of folks that actually need something like that done.
 
Weber going out of their way to try and prevent you from purchasing a new manifold to do a conversion is taking it too far in my opinion. If they were that afraid of liability, the mere act of changing your burner tubes would terrify them. I can easily picture someone screwing that up.
 
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