Greetings! Bought a used Genesis I thought was LP...


 
Jamieson Olsen

Jamieson Olsen

New member
Hi everyone, first post new user here. I've been the owner of a Genesis Silver A LP grill since 2005. It's still in great shape, all the usual stuff replaced along the way. But I wanted something a larger and with more power.

Found a good price on a Genesis Special Edition, probably would call this an S-320. No sear station but has side burner. It was sold as LP. 2014-ish but in great shape. Did a quick test before buying it. It fired right up and I thought all was good.

Got it home yesterday and connected an LP tank. Some oddities appeared:
  • No cutout for the tank in the bottom of the cabinet
  • There is a spring loaded "tank gauge" on the inside of the cabinet, pointless as the tank is resting on the bottom of cabinet.
  • My these flames look BIG and YELLOW.
  • This thing heats up REALLY fast.
Hmm... check the label on the inside. Yup, you guessed it. It's a NG model. I think the previous owner just stuck an LP regulator and hose on there and sold it as LP. I think the orifices/manifold/valves may still be NG as those flames were big puffy yellow.

Overall I like the grill and it was a good price. My grill, my problem. A couple of options here:

1. get the proper LP manifold and switch it over to LP. It's a bit trickier to find this manifold because it has side burner but no sear burner. so a 330 manifold will not fit and 310 manifold does not support the side burner.

2. return it to NG. I'm comfortable running black pipe and it doesn't look like it will be that hard to get a line out to the deck. Not lugging LP tanks around to get refilled has a certain appeal.

Thoughts? Recommendations?
 

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Welcome @Jamieson Olsen

My thoughts are to move to getting it running on NG will be best in the long run. Not having to schlep propane tanks is a win, and NG is less costly to run than LPG.

If your guess is correct that the previous owner just changed the regulator, then reverting it to NG might be as easy as replacing the regulator hose with a natural gas hose.

Do you have a place you can test it before running pipe?

Another thought is to remove a valve, take it apart and post pics of it.

I'm presuming you will have NG valves and it will look like the one on the right:

1723141918635.png

DanHoo

Thread 'E330 NG and LP manifold and valve side by side comparison'

I finally found an original 2016 Genesis E330 LP manifold for a fair price. AR date code.

Last year I converted my E330 NG to LP using orifices and a regulator as I could not find a manifold in stock anywhere. It is also a 2016 AR date code.

I have the original NG orifices and hose from my E330NG. I had given them away but they were never used so I have them once again.

My plan is to compare the two manifolds and valves and orifices side by side including the internals.

Notes:

1. There is already an excellent post documenting valve differences. There is a great deal of...
  • Like
 
I switch my 300 over to NG . Ran the gas line from the basement out to the deck . This was an easy decision no tanks to witch out. I use mine most nights so changing out was a hassle. I found a source online for a custom made gas hose with quick disconnect so I can easily disconnect and roll it out of the way when needed..
 
@Jamieson Olsen,

if you confirm you have NG valves, then checking the orifices will confirm your assumption that they did nothing else but swap in a regulator

I didn't take very good pics of the orifices, but I have this one.

orifice on the left is LPG orifice on an LPG valve body.

I think the orifice in the center was the aftermarket conversion orifice to run LPG with a natural gas valve.

I think the orifice on the right is an OEM NG orifice. NG is a larger diameter opening than LP


1723142124257.png


If you can take a good closeup of the orifice and post it , I'll pull an NG valve out of the garage and take a picture to confirm the size.
 
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When I built my deck back in 1997 we had a NG line installed along with a line to the detached garage for heat. Got a NG grill and never regretted it. Never had to get LP cylinders refilled.
 
DanHoo said:
@Jamieson Olsen,

if you confirm you have NG valves, then checking the orifices will confirm your assumption that they did nothing else but swap in a regulator

I didn't take very good pics of the orifices, but I have this one.

orifice on the left is LPG orifice on an LPG valve body.

I think the orifice in the center was the aftermarket conversion orifice to run LPG with a natural gas valve.

I think the orifice on the right is an OEM NG orifice. NG is a larger diameter opening than LP


View attachment 97723


If you can take a good closeup of the orifice and post it , I'll pull an NG valve out of the garage and take a picture to confirm the size.
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Hi Dan,

I have zero knowledge in this department. I just wanted to give you a huge shout-out for being such an incredibly helpful person on these boards. You take a ton of time to help people every time. It's all over the boards. Freaking awesome. I know there's a ton of other folks doing the same. Props to everyone. But you give incredibly detailed, helpful responses to every person here.

Dismounting high horse now 😀
 
As for testing it with NG, I don't think there is any way to connect this grill to my home NG line currently.

I've not had a chance to inspect the valves yet, but here's a gratuitous orifice pic. :oops:

Looks like it is sized for LP.
 

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Jeff Boudman said:
Are there any instructions or videos of replacing a NG Silver B manifold to LP? It would be a manifold swap.
Thanks.
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There is probably at least one video on YouTube that might be helpful. The process is much the same as replacing the burner tubes so a video for that would also be helpful. I have seen some pretty bad videos on the subject so be careful what advice you take. You are also going to need a tank panel and scale for the propane tank unless you're ok with just settling it on the ground next to the grill.
 
There are a number of things that can be causing big orange flames. One, prev owner likely slapped an LP hose on a NG grill, two, fell for the you tube dimwits who give "instructions" on doing it, three, the burners may need cleaning badly especially the spider guards causing it to breathe poorly
 
I think the orifices have been replaced with LP versions but the valve spools are the original NG versions. Will remove them this weekend to confirm. Turning the knobs from low to high doesn't make a big difference in flame height. Cleaning the burner tubes helped reduce the yellow/orange flame but it's still too high. Looks similar to the picture posted by @JoeRobinson.

The plan is to switch the grill back to NG. Will scope out the black pipe run in the basement/deck this weekend.
 

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Jamieson Olsen said:
I think the orifices have been replaced with LP versions but the valve spools are the original NG versions. Will remove them this weekend to confirm. Turning the knobs from low to high doesn't make a big difference in flame height. Cleaning the burner tubes helped reduce the yellow/orange flame but it's still too high. Looks similar to the picture posted by @JoeRobinson.

The plan is to switch the grill back to NG. Will scope out the black pipe run in the basement/deck this weekend.
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Yes good move. You will need to find some "blank spuds" and have them sized for your BTU needs and the pressure you intend to run
 
LMichaels said:
Yes good move. You will need to find some "blank spuds" and have them sized for your BTU needs and the pressure you intend to run
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I'm pretty sure "we" can find help find the proper size. I should have two sets of OEM NG valves with original orifices hiding in my garage, but it might take me years to find them at this point.

Also, OEM orifices have a chamfer. I recall reading about this somewhere and I vaguely recall @Ed P that mentioned it but the physics went over my head.

The aftermarket set I bought did not have a chamfer.
 
Jamieson Olsen said:
I think the orifices have been replaced with LP versions but the valve spools are the original NG versions. Will remove them this weekend to confirm. Turning the knobs from low to high doesn't make a big difference in flame height. Cleaning the burner tubes helped reduce the yellow/orange flame but it's still too high. Looks similar to the picture posted by @JoeRobinson.

The plan is to switch the grill back to NG. Will scope out the black pipe run in the basement/deck this weekend.
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I believe I have the orifices you need for NG. I will check when I get home. I could drop them in a padded envelope and ship them to you. I just vant recall if I pitched the NG manifold I have/had.
 
Steve Hoch said:
There is probably at least one video on YouTube that might be helpful. The process is much the same as replacing the burner tubes so a video for that would also be helpful. I have seen some pretty bad videos on the subject so be careful what advice you take. You are also going to need a tank panel and scale for the propane tank unless you're ok with just settling it on the ground next to the grill.
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Thanks for the reply, Steve. Is there somewhere on the NG Silver B to mount the tank panel? Also, I’m going to change the burner tubes while I’m swapping manifolds. Should I buy the Weber OEM burner tubes or buy aftermarket tubes?
Thanks again, Steve.
 
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