Preferred way to convert Genesis Gold C from Propane to Natural Gas


 
J

Jay_G

New member
Hi all, New to the forums!

I recently purchased a barely used Genesis Gold C (3290001) for $60, love it so far but I wanted to ask what is the best way to convert it from Propane to Natural Gas? I recently moved to a new house that already has a natural gas hookup and want to use it.

I was told by an employee at Ace hardware that all I would need is a conversion kit, he sold me one made by Blackstone: Conversion kit

I also purchased a NG regulator on Amazon.

However, after reading several posts on the internet; it seems that it is not always as simple as just swapping out orifices and gas hose on some of the Weber grills. Not to mention that the orifices in the kit may not be the exact size required as it was designed for a blackstone grill.

I want to keep the ability of reverting back to Propane; so I saved and labeled the original orifices for the main and side burners.

Will I have to purchase a new manifold? or can I get away with how I converted it with the kit. I remember reading that sometimes it depends on what style control valves were installed.

Thanks for your insight!
 
Welcome to the forum Jay! This topic is one of the most debated ones on here. It sounds like you already did your conversion. You may get lucky and it works the way it's supposed to, meaning there is a definite low, medium, and high setting on the flames. The only recommended way of doing a conversion is swapping out the manifold. So the real question is, did you already convert it and does it work properly? Did you take note of the flame pattern on low, medium, and high before you converted it? How does it compare now? If you aren't sure then post pictures of it in action and we'll be able to tell if it's OK or not.
 
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In the simplest sense, the preferred method is to change the manifold. It’s a CYA move by the Weber legal pundits to avoid liability and litigation. However, you can safely and properly perform many conversions if you are knowledgeable, mechanically capable, and have the correct parts. Knowledge starts with education and it appears this is where the OP might’ve put the cart in front of the horse here. Buying and installing an off the shelf conversion kit for a Blackstone at the local Ace Hardware because the employee said it would work wasn't the right thing to do even if it turns out to be just fine in the end. Since it sounds like the parts are already installed, the capable side of things seems to be covered. If you are armed with a correct model number like the OP has already determined, a phone call or trip to BBQ fuel conversions (bbqfuelconversions.com) will provide you with the proper parts and some very nice printed detailed installation instructions on how to put them in.
 
The issue at hand is this. SOME not ALL valves can be simply and safely converted from one fuel to another by simply switching orifices. BTW you should NOT NEED a NG regulator unless your NG supplier is one of those that supply NG into your home at very high pressure and expect it to be regulated at each appliance. You will know this is the case if your NG is supplied through thin copper line (typically 3/8"). If you have black iron pipe, or CSST tubing this is not the case. If you don't know the difference you should not be playing with it. As for the employee at ACE frankly he's a nincompoop for recommending wholesale what he did. Period.
The problem is you will NOT know for sure what valve you have in your grill. Though typically if the grill has "stepped" valves (High, Med, Low) your conversion is likely NOT safe. On Weber LP grills the low/medium internal orifices do not pass enough fuel to keep the burners fully lit all the time when used with NG. This is due to the operational pressures (LP is 11"WC and NG is 7"WC) unless you have one of those homes I mentioned previously with high pressure NG. Again if this is all strange to you then you should NOT be attempting ANY work on a gas appliance.
Bottom line get an actual NG manifold if you truly want to be safe.
At issue is due to the differences in the valves and operational pressures, on a low or med setting your grill MIGHT partially flame out. Allowing gas to accumulate. Then it could either all ignite on it's own with a big WHUMPF possibly doing damage OR when you open the lid to check on the food, it could cause a big WHUMPF in your face. So BUY A MANIFOLD AND DON'T USE A REGULATOR
 
My two cents:
1. Always save the old parts to put back what you did (seems like you got this covered)
2. If it has wheels (particularly bigger ones) or you can pick it up, it should run on propane. Everything else should run on natural gas. Here we will have to agree to disagree.
3. Gas is dangerous like surgery - don't mess with it yourself unless you really truly know what you are doing.
4. Too many times, the natural gas hookup at a house is by the house, and grills end up either too close to the house and potentially catching the siding on fire, or attached by a silly hose that interferes with what would otherwise be a nice walkway. If the gas line comes off your meter and runs underground somewhere, be aware of this as well so you don't ever dig it up.
 
Thanks everyone!

@LMichaels , I appreciate your directness, I want to grill not to be grilled! I actually saw your post about the differences in the valves and verified that I have the valves without the detents. it just has one at high with variability all the way to low. I have added photos for you to verify.

I do have iron pipe to the quick disconnect so I can verify that it is low pressure service. The reason I added a regulator was to make sure that I had a uniform pressure to properly choose a correctly sized orifice. it is the same 1/2PSI unit that BBQfuelconversions sells in their kit: Kit in question

The Blackstone Kit came with a jet size of 2MM (0.0787) for the main burners and 1.39MM (0.0547) for the side burner which may be incorrect. However, I mainly got the kit for the hose, orifice tool and the thread check gauges. I have no problem throwing the rest out and putting a McMaster order in for the proper sized drill bit and blank brass/ finding suitable replacements.

I have tried it once and it seems to operate great, nice blue flame from the burners when grilling a burger. I was concerned about potential control and complete combustion at low hence why I am posting here.

However, if the consensus heavily leans to swap out the manifold I can do that as well. is there a cross-reference guide to see what the equivalent manifold?
 

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Replace the manifold!

tvwbb.com

HOW TO: Gas Conversion

Over the past few years, we have seen more and more people refurbishing vintage Weber gas grills, and along with this comes an increasing number of questions about gas conversion between liquid propane (LP) and natural gas (NG). In the old days, Weber would sell you the parts needed to convert...
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