Charcoal to gas conversion


 

Wayne Ficklin

TVWBB Fan
I see this grill on letgo just around the corner from me and just the red has me wanting to snatch it up. Then I read that its a "Red Weber charcoal converted to propane outdoor grill" (emphases my own). Does anyone know anything about this? Do I just need to be patient and wait on another, or do you have some questions I need to ask?

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Well to start with Weber never made a charcoal grill like that. Also it looks like a normal early three burner genesis. It's got the deep fire box so it's a series 1 or 1000 built before 2000. The deep box grills have 13 flavorizer bars vs. 5 for the silver models with the shallower box.
The shelf on the left that is on top of the other shelf is likely the flip up shelf that attaches to the rod you can see right below the lower shelf.
Those are really great grills I still have my green 1000 I bought new in 1999.
If it's under a $100 I would snag it. Looks like there isn't any rust on the frame that I can see.
 
Agreed, that looks like a regular Genesis 1000 series.

Is this it?

https://us.letgo.com/en/i/red-weber-propane-grill-w-2-tanks_ba5031bf-6b6e-4588-aba1-cd7993993b76

If so, the 2 tanks are worth $50-60, even empty, so at $100 I'd be all over it!

EDIT: If you can be in contact with the seller and want to be totally sure, see if you can get them to snap a pic of the nameplate label / sticker; usually on the right side of the burner knob panel. There should be a model and serial you can look up in the Weber database. But I'd betcha a steak it was propane right off the line.
 
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So is this just a case of the person listing it not knowing what it is? I'm not excited about a converted grill, but I didn't think they'd ever made a charcoal like that before. Xavier, that's the one.
 
It looks that way. Here's a pic from the 1993 Genesis Gasser Product Brochure - you tell me how it looks.

f90Niem.jpg
 
One other thing it may be - this is on LetGo, which is a relatively new competitor to Craigslist. One of the main things they are claiming over CL is that their "patented algorithm" makes selling your item as easy as taking a picture of it on your phone from inside their app, and their wizard computer determines what it is.

You take a picture and - - - Bleep Bloop <<<BLACK FLAT SCREEN TV>>> ENTER PRICE

SO, maybe the LetGo robot mistakenly identified this as a conversion. Either way, I'd go for it.
 
edit: If you can be in contact with the seller and want to be totally sure, see if you can get them to snap a pic of the nameplate label / sticker; usually on the right side of the burner knob panel. There should be a model and serial you can look up in the weber database. But i'd betcha a steak it was propane right off the line.

er517927 ?
 
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If I did that right, "Your grill: 352101 Genesis 5000 NG Maroon (USA)". Maybe the conversion was NG to LP ...and something got lost in translation.
 
Can't give you an answer to that but it definitely isn't a maroon 5000. Where did you find the serial #?. It should be a model 214001. The ER code is 1996 which would be about right for the start of the 1000-5000 series.
Here is where to look on the 1000-5000 grills

Genesis 1000-5500, Spirit & PlatinumTop
Located in the upper right-hand corner of the owner's manual.

Located underneath the control panel.
OR
Located on the right edge of control panel-near panel screws/buttons.

They might have replaced a panel part that had the 5000 serial #, but that would to have been removed from an existing grill to have a serial # not a replacement part from Weber. I wish I could be of more help but this one has me baffled.

Heres a picture of my 1000LX in a 3000 frame (same as the 5000 frame) you can see how much wider it is compared to the 1000 you are looking at.
DSCN2766_zpsdlq1fy9x.jpg
 
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Its mine now. Looks like it was NG and now is LP. I didn't realize that until I got it home. Can anybody tell me what precautions to take in that regard?
 
If all the previous owner did was put a regulator and hose on a NG manifold it will run extremely hot. If they actually put an LP manifold on it you're golden
 
So, with this grill, I got 2 3-ring binders. One has the serial I gave above on an owner's manual that says its a Genesis 1000 series Natural Gas Barbecue. I got another 3-ring binder with "ER 427829" as a serial number on a manual that says "Genesis 1000 Series LP Gas Barbecue". Weber's link above returns "No results found" when I enter that grill.

In those 3-ring binders I also found:
  • Genesis and Spirit Gas Barbecue Manifold Replacement Instructions
  • Burner Tube Replacement Instructions
  • Revised Steps for Continue Frame Assembly & Add Fuel Scale Assembly

If I'm understanding what I'm seeing, and what I've read above (and elsewhere), it looks like a previous owner of an NG grill did just about everything right to thoroughly convert it to LP. Am I right?

I haven't had time to christen it yet, but I don't see anything that needs to be replaced. The wood is in really good condition, there doesn't seem to be any structural rust, and the flavorizer bars, all 13, are in 85%+ condition.

For what I have invested in it, I think it might be worth upgrading the grates for the cast iron version. I'll determine that after I clean it up and after I've seen it light and burn.

Thanks for the guidance ...and stick around because I might be needing some more.
 
Wayne,
From what I've seen here, these folks don't leave anyone hanging!
Rich and Barb Dahl have helped me sort out what I will need for the restoration of my Silver B (Thanks so much)!
I've made a new friend in Scotland through this site, as well as many parts of the US.
It sounds like the previous owner went to the trouble of getting the official parts and instructions to do the conversion, I wish I'd been as lucky as you!
Everyone here has shown me the utmost courtesy and offered opinions (you'll get a lot of those!) on better ways to do things.
Friends will be made! Have a wonderful time.
Expecting more parts today! They are arriving with the first snow we have had since the third of the month! This puts my restoration project back for weather considerations but, closer for parts accumulation! Just a few more things to get, decide about new "rolling stock". Thinking about a tricycle arrangement and raising the height, stock height is about six inches shorter than my 6'2" stature is comfortable with.
Looks like Xavier owes someone a steak! Well, sort of, no it wasn't charcoal but it wasn't LP right off the line either.
 
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Wayne, you may have lucked out, from what I said earlier about the scale for the LP tank if he or she went to that much trouble to convert from NG to LP they probably did change out the manifold.
If you take out the FBs and fire it up and the flame looks more like a propane torch you still have an NG manifold if it looks like a gas stove flame it's probably an LP manifold.
See if you can get a picture of the flame on high and post it, I think we would be able to tell if it's right or not.
 
Wayne, you may have lucked out, from what I said earlier about the scale for the LP tank if he or she went to that much trouble to convert from NG to LP they probably did change out the manifold.
I have the directions for a manifold replacement as I mentioned earlier.
If you take out the FBs and fire it up and the flame looks more like a propane torch you still have an NG manifold if it looks like a gas stove flame it's probably an LP manifold.
See if you can get a picture of the flame on high and post it, I think we would be able to tell if it's right or not.
I didn't take a picture, but I did fire it up today. It took 12-ish minutes to get up to 500º+F. I cleaned it up and made sure fire seemed to come out of the burners evenly ...on high and low. It did. The flame looked like I expected, but I'll try to remember to get a picture and post it for you guys.

I still don't understand where the 2 serials came from, why the one that can be looked up seems to be from another grill, or why the one that makes sense can't be looked up. I'm also ok not knowing, as long as this grill seems to be what I thought it was when I bought it.
 
One thing is that a lot of the dealers would swap out parts on the new grills to give the customer what they wanted instead of ordering a new one. That could be the case here as a lot of the grills the serial # wasn't attached to the frame but to some other part that could be removed and swapped out with another grill.

By what you said I think you're good to go, enjoy it it's an excellent grill.

Post some pictures of your first cooks you know how we like pictures.
 
I cooked some REALLY small "upper blade steaks" yesterday because I just needed to burn something. 4 minutes of cook-time later and they were delicious. I took a before, but didn't have time for an after. (~1:1 ratio on cook-to-eat time.)

I'll try to find some place to host photos and share pics of cooks.
 

 

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