Looking for some high altitude advice


 

Robert Novak

New member
Hi - I'm looking for a new gas grill for use at 7500' elevation. I'm specifically looking at the new Gen II LX. My in-home gas cooktop specified a high altitude kit (larger orifice?) for use at this elevation and I also notice that some of the other gas grill manufacturers also have an available high altitude kit, but Weber does not offer one (not sure why not?).

I have a couple questions:
-Will a Weber gas grill produce enough heat at this altitude (without modification) to grill most foods within a reasonable time?
-I have the ability to hook up to natural gas as opposed to propane. I'd like to go this direction because of convenience but I don't know if there is any significant difference in heat output between the two the two at this altitude?

Thanks...

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Welcome to the forum Robert. I live at 5600 ft. in Arizona and have both NG and LP grills. The NG grills do put out a little less in BTUs compared to LP. All of my grills are standard Weber grills with no modifications. They work fine and I really can't tell any difference, as a mater of fact one grill a LP I brought from a sea level location to here and really no significant difference in performance.
Being you are 2000 ft. higher I would expect some drop in performance.
I love the NG grill the bottle never runs out, but with the higher BTUs of the propane grills you might get better results with that.
I would give Weber a call and explain your situation and see what their response is with LP vs. NG at your altitude.
Good luck
 
The BTU's are the same between LP and NG. If the grills are set up and performing to spec there is absolutely no difference in performance between the two. So Rich I would be checking to make sure anything that affects performance is addressed as if a grill is 36k BTU it's 36k regardless of the fuel used
 
Thanks for the replies. I had contacted Weber and they told me:

Thanks for your interest in Weber! I'd be happy to help you with this. We start to see the grills getting effected at elevations of 5000 ft. or higher. While we don't have "high altitude" grills, I do have some tips:

1. Your overall preheat and grill time will be extended. This is similar to cold weather grilling.
2. Every time you open and close the lid you will have longer recovery times.

I was hoping for some real life examples so I would know how much effect 7500' would have on the grill performance. I would think that if it was really bad Weber would offer a high altitude mod similar to other manufacturers:confused:...
 

 

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