If you would think of the valve like a water valve (ball or gate) it just varies the flow from off till fully open. Think of the orifice as the nozzle or lack of one, you put on the end of the hose. The valve will regulate the flow but the orifice size will regulate the max coming out of it.
Not in this case. It is not fully closed (off). Therein lies the rub. You have no means to adjust the minimum opening, so as the pressure goes up, so does the minimum.
Just out of curiosity have you tried using the valves between high and off instead of high and low? I find that works on a lot of appliances.
Oh, no, Joe, I haven't tried to do a conversion with merely an orifice change, and I won't unless and until I can muddle my way through this logic puzzle. I know there are valves out there that are specifically made to use either LPG or NG and that typically includes a special bezel and/or an allen wrench to permit low setting adjustment. Otherwise, I can't understand how this can possibly work.
But to directly respond to your question, you are actually exploiting the deadband between wide-open and completely off. Gas valves are intended to give a fairly wide range of adjustment and by doing this you are effectively bypassing the valve.
Hi Newbie to TVWBB here but I understand everything discussed in this thread. Just to save me some time does anyone know the orifices to order from amazon for an older Genesis 330 w sear front control nobs, so I can drill out for a NG to LP conversion? Will the ones above for Genesis II also fit my older grill? And I see on grill-repair.com he states the orifices for the front burners will not fit in the side burner. If you know the side burner size as well it would be great. They're all 12,000 BTU burners but I guess the threads are different on the side burner.
Hi There. You seem pretty knowledgable on here. Any chance you could help me out with a question concerning buying orifices to convert an E-330? I posted it yesterday and here is what I wrote:
www.virtualweberbullet.com
You would not drill out for going NG to LP as the orifices in it now are already WAY too large to run safely on LP. I suggest you look for an entire manifold. This is the only safe and effective way to do it. As to whether or not the valves you have are stepped or continuous it's a crap shoot as it depends on which supplier actually made the valves in your grill. Weber simply puts a min-max flow spec out to various Chinese manufacturers and however they build them Weber puts them in. I hesitate to discuss more advice than this because if something goes wrong I'm the enemy. I would rather I'm the enemy for recommending a truly safe procedure than something "risky"
Thanks my friend
LOL. The horse is out of the barn already. Now I have to see if there's a horse running at the track named "risky". If so, double down. You would drill out an orifice for LP if you bought new orifices with .5mm pilot hole. I have a couple of BBQ's that people converted to NG and the manifolds and valves were originally for LP. And I have a couple of LP bbq's that people stripped the orifices out of. Got them from a weber dealer. So looking to just get cheap orifices to use to rehab them. Its very obvious when people convert to LP from NG and dont change orifices. After all the info thats shared on here about conversion I'm not sure why its an issue now. Im not even asking how to do it and what to do. I was just asking about where to buy orifices for a 2011 e330, and whether the genesis II threads changed ( because someone posted those 6mm orifices), and whether anyone knows if the orifice threads for the side burners on older 330's are different and if so what are the threads. Never asked about BTU's or orifice sizes. My questions was specific and not trying to put anything on someone. But OK. it appears the genesis II is 6mm and the older is 11/32-32 UNS. But Im capable of figuring it out. I thought I could get some help to save time.
Dan@Paulie NH The NG to LP conversions is a well discussed topic here, with some very valid warnings having been issued by members.
https://tvwbb.com/threads/how-to-gas-conversion.82839/ is a great thread to read.
As far as your specific conversion, you might want to start your own thread, with the specific details of your grill including the year.
The year can be found by looking up the serial number and using the date decoders found on this page.
How To Determine The Age Of Weber Grills & Smokers - The Virtual Weber Bullet
How to determine the age of Weber grills and smokers using the date code stamped or printed on the grill. Also, the C Club: Proud owners of first-year WSMs.
Start my own thread? I dont want to be the enemy!
Dan thanks for the info. That is a good deal but I have so many weber OEM regulators and hoses that are still good, so I was trying to get the cost of the orifice down as thats about $6 an orifice. Not a big deal for 1 BBQ. But times it by 10 and you can half fill up a truck at todays gas prices. Cant you guys grow more corn out there? And with the Ukraine debacle about to bump gas prices again we will be cooking cheerios on these grills.
Thanks Larry. I get it.
