Genesis 310 Conversion Issue

Hello everyone. A few years ago we purchased a clearanced Genesis 310 (this was the series before the current one, 2012-2016?). We got it home and were excited to grill but realized it was a natural gas unit instead of propane. I looked around to see what could be done and found a conversion guide. Ordered the new hose and orifice but shelved the conversion until just recently.

Replaced the orifice and put everything together. Did a test run but found the grill was burning too hot. It would get to the 400 or so range on the lowest setting with all three burners going, and over 600+ on the highest. Looked around some more and found a thread on this forum talking about the manifold itself possibly being manufactured a bit different for LP and NG and a conversion like mine might result in it running hotter. So I ordered a new LP manifold and replaced but am still getting largely the same results of it running hot.

I made sure both times to adjust the shutters on the burner each time to get a blue flame with occasional orange tips (at the moment the shutters are almost all the way in a close position. Opening them more results in the higher and non-blue flames).

Any suggestions on what I may have done wrong? I can't imagine needing to replace much more than what I have. The only thing I can really think that might be wrong is the LP regulator I purchased might be bad (I currently have the tank just barely open and am getting these results. And if I open half way or more, it burns hotter), or possibly the burner tubes? Though I don't think the tubes vary from LP to NG?

I'd love get this grill up and running and not miss another season.

Thank you for your help!

You mention "replace the orifice just exactly what orifice are you talking about? Being a 310 you have a 3 burner grill. So you have THREE orifices (one on each valve). So you need 3 of them each properly sized for 12000 BTU at 11" WC of LP. See this chart http://andersonforrester.com/conversion-chart/ I fear you don't have a clue what you're doing here and that is dangerous. In your case I would HIGHLY recommend you quit messing around with this and look for someone wanting to buy/trade an LP manifold for a NG manifold. Doing this is not rocket science BUT that doesn't mean just anyone can or should so it. Highly recommend you do what I suggested.
Some grills are actually made to be converted back and forth Weber's are not

I first purchased three predrilled oriffices for my grill. When that didn't seem to work, I purchased an entire new maniforld for an LP version of my grill. Followed the instructions to install. It wasn't difficult. Now I'm trying to diagnose what's wrong. Could the regulator be at issue here, releasing too much gas?

Well I am confused. Re-read your post you indicated you installed "an orifice". Now indicating you installed 3 than an entire manifold. So bottom line if you actually DO have an entire LP manifold and an LP regulator installed there should be no problem. If however you bought a manifold replacement say from Weber than they would have asked for the serial number which would have told them NG not LP and they would have sent a NG one instead.
Converting these grills is basically "easy" BUT you need to have a solid knowledge of gas (both LP and NG), what the differences are and why you need different flow rates and pressures for each type plus some good basic skills.
So honestly if you actually did install proper LP manifold and regulator there should be no problem. The only issue that may be present is perhaps a faulty regulator, so unless you have a manometer and know how to use it the only way to troubleshoot is to buy a new regulator/hose assembly, install it and try the grill. If it's still wrong than you have the wrong manifold perhaps

Your grill should get up to 600+ with all three burners on high. I just rehabbed an E310 and did a test burn. After about 15 minutes, it was up to 600. If you want lower than 400, try putting just one burner on low with the others off. You may have a normally functioning grill as it sits, but, listen to Larry and don't start mixing and matching and changing things without knowing what you are doing.

Thank you both, Larry and Bruce. That's pretty much what I'm seeing before and after my new manifold instillation. I think I was too focused on Webers official temperatures on their website being 250 and 550 with all burners on. Though they do somewhat confuse the issue by stating all burners and then follow it up by saying it'll vary and may require less burner use and a few other stipulations (I do now recall that when I wanted to cook ribs on my older, deceased, Weber Spirit, I did have to run it on two burners instead of 3 to get that sub 300 range). Looks like I may have purchased the new manifold and regulator without needing them. No big deal though. I'm still $200 under par and now have some replacement parts just in case

Thank you again for your help!

Alex, do the same for ribs on my genesis 1000. Even one burner on low will get me 200 degrees.

Sounds like normal temps to me, I've got a '14 EP310 and '16 EP330, I have to run only 1-2 main burners to get stable temps below 400F.

You should be able to get stable hood temp of 200F or less with one burner on though. Everything I grill below 400F is using indirect heat anyway, so shutting off burners isn't a problem at least for me.

Steve is right. Usually when you are cooking at lower temps, you want indirect heat anyway.

Yeah. That's actually one of the things I don't like about the 2014 redesign of the grills a bit. I love that they moved the controls of the side to the front as it gives you an entire new prep area, but I don't like that the burners are now vertical instead of horizontal. On my old Spirit I could kill the middle burner and do ribs and other things in between/below/above. I can technically do the same thing now but there's less space that way. So what I used to be able to do as a full rack before, I now would have to trim it (I believe the grill space is about 21x18?). I wonder if it would be an issue for them to do front controls but run some longer lines for horizontal burners?

Some grills do that which I think is a big benefit. I think it is something Weber should do to offset themselves from the throwaway grill market. It would be a good selling point.

I hear ya, Weber lost some functionality when they went N-S burners, wouldn't surprise me if they brought it back someday. But for ribs specifically you might be surprised with your E310. I've been able to do 3 full racks of St. Louie's (Costco 3-pack!) or 2 full racks of spares at once, set them running front to back on the left side with only the right side burner lit. Do have to rotate their position at least once though, cause the slab nearer the burner cooks faster. Good Luck!

I flipped my E310. I plan on sticking with my genesis 1000, but yah, I am sure you can do it with the N/S grills. I think it would be far less effective with a Rotisserie however.

That's the nice thing about my Wolf. From front to back it's bigger than a Genesis is wide. So doing ribs on it is easy peasy