will propane burner run on natural gas?

Have been wondering if anyone has tried it, and are the neccesary fittings hard to get. Since we can adjust the air inlet of the burners, that shouldn't be a problem, and it would save worrying about swapping tanks, since I have a heater close to where I boil...
Norm

The gas orifice on LP burners is really tiny and too small for nat gas. You could slowly drill it out larger but you'd be screwed if it doesn't work. I suppose you could plug it with JBweld and redrill.

Yep what Bobby said.

If its a standard turkey fryer type burner those run on 8-20 psi, where your natural gas is something like 8-10 inches of water which is very little pressure in PSI. In that case it would not work. If you have a low pressure propane burner you might be able to get it up and running ok, but then again you might be better off shopping around for a gas burner, seems like last time I looked at some of the monster burners out there they were in the 50-100 dollar range.

yeah, I knew there was very little pressure in the nat gas system, but I might have some fittings, that can be drilled out... Will keep you all posted, unless you hear a loud boom!!

p.s. I also thought about cruising the neighborhood on a Sunday night looking for a thrown away gas water heater, that could yield a lot of fun items to recycle!!

i would personally look for the correct hardware, play it safe, esp when it comes to fire.

Here's a natural gas unit but it'll set you back a few coins $316 I think.

http://www.tejassmokers.com/newproducts_page4.htm

I don't see any reason building your own out of an old water heater burner wouldn't work. If you know what you are doing or have somebody build it for you if you don't but that'll probably cost as much or more than the above unit with considerably less BTU's.

If the tanks are a problem consider getting a large stationary tank they come in 125 gal. 250 gal. 500 gal and 1000 gal. They also make portable tanks larger than the ubiquitous 20 lb. tanks I think they also come in 40 and 80 lb. tanks

abracadabra said:

Here's a natural gas unit but it'll set you back a few coins $316 I think.

http://www.tejassmokers.com/newproducts_page4.htm

I don't see any reason building your own out of an old water heater burner wouldn't work. If you know what you are doing or have somebody build it for you if you don't but that'll probably cost as much or more than the above unit with considerably less BTU's.

If the tanks are a problem consider getting a large stationary tank they come in 125 gal. 250 gal. 500 gal and 1000 gal. They also make portable tanks larger than the ubiquitous 20 lb. tanks I think they also come in 40 and 80 lb. tanks

Click to expand...

I have wondered that myself. Where I am currently working, I spotted a "graveyard" of salvaged water heater parts several of which were the burners. I am going to help myself to a couple of those and when I have the gas redone (converted to flex pipe) I'll have the man make up a couple of extra outlets when he makes the manifold.

I need to rig up a bracket.

JW

Bobby_M said:

The gas orifice on LP burners is really tiny and too small for nat gas. You could slowly drill it out larger but you'd be screwed if it doesn't work. I suppose you could plug it with JBweld and redrill.

Click to expand...

My local natural gas company will drill out any orifice you bring in to them for free, you might try that.

I think there was a thread on here about it a couple of weeks back, and someone with a professional career in natural gas...or stove repair, or something jumped in and said it was dangerous..but don't quote me on this...Use the search function and double check. I'm just going from a dim recollection here.

As has been mentioned, you can convert from propane to NG. You need to increase the orafice size to compensate for the lower pressure of NG as compared to propane.

I converted my grill to NG last summer. You need to find out what your NG supply pressure is in W.C. and what the output of the burner (or grill) is in BTU's. From there you can use a chart to determine what size hole the orafice needs to be. You will need a set of wire gauge drill bits to drill the proper size.

My house pressure was 7" W.C. The regulator on a standard propane tank drops the LP pressure to 11" W.C. Hence the need for a larger hole when going to NG.

http://www.grillparts.com/howto/btu_guide.htm

Please don't attempt this if you do not feel comfortable in your ability to understand what needs to be done.