Natural gas from house for turkey fryer?

[JayD]

Is there a way to use the natural gas from my house (just bought/moved in, so not sure of the plumbing for it) for my turkey fryer (brewer)? I know the Bayou Classic 32Q I have is for propane and I know they aren't directly interchangeable (if at all). I know there are natural gas fryers.

My question is more of, what is the plumbing like that attaches to the house? Right now all there is is a pipe sticking out of the wall (maybe 1/2") with a metal screw on (pipe) cap.

 

[likwidbliss]

I know people that have connected grills to natural gas. from their house. Personally I would ask someone that is in the heating trade that has some familiarity with this. If you aren't connecting the fitting correctly there might be trouble.

 

[malkore]

At my house its all thick copper tubing (1/2"? 3/4"?) that ran to where a grill must've lived at some point.

I haven't done this myself but many homebrewers here have. All you need is the right fittings, and a burner meant for natural gas. Both the regulator and the holes in the burner are different.
If you're gonna be there a while I think its worth getting a couple estimates. You could have an easy quick connection out there and just roll a brew sculpture out when needed.

 

[outdoors76]

It would require you changing all the propane fittings (jets) to natural gas fittings. I have never tried this but my first step would be, looking up the manufacturer of your frier and seeing if they have the replacement jets. If not check with you local grill store they might be able to find the jets for you.

 

[Bubba_Mustafa]

From a safety point I have read that NG is safer then propane. Something about flash point and or air/fuel saturation levels or something like that. (forgot the details, just remembered the results)

But brewing outside should present a prob. Unless in a garage on those rainy days.

 

[KCBrewer]

Like the others have said, it would require a change of the jets. It may be cheaper/easier to pick up a natural gas burner. I plan to use these, Natural Gas Burner, for building my AG setup which will be run on NG.

I would suggest adding a ball valve to that pipe sticking out of the wall for easy shutoff. You could then add a flare fitting and use a flex line for a gas stove to the burner. The flex lines typically include the flare connectors for each end. Easy to connect/disconnect. And keep a cap on it when not in use so nobody "accidentally" turns it on.

edit:

Here is a list/links of the parts that would get you connected, assuming that is a 1/2" pipe you have.

1/2" Gas ball valve

Flex gas line with flare fittings

3/4" x 1/2" bushing (for connecting 1/2" line to 3/4" input on burner)

Teflon paste (for sealing the threads on all connections)

Natural Gas Burner

You will also need to do some calculating to figure out if that 1/2" line is sufficient to run that burner, such as the distance from the meter & btu's of other appliances connected. Here is a nice link to help calculate this. Natural Gas Pipe Line Sizing Chart

 

[Wellshooter]

The natural gas jet has bigger hole in it than the propane jet. All that is required is a little research on the proper hole size and a drill bit of the appropriate size. I converted a kitchen stove from propane to NG many years ago. Worked fine. But you can't go the other way without purchasing a new jet. Conversion jets were available at some hardware stores back in the day.

 

[TRainH2o]

I thought you could just change out the orifice on a propane burner to make it work with natural gas.

 

[KCBrewer]

Looking at the bayou website, they do not offer a natural gas conversion/orfice. Like wellshooter said, you could drill out the orfice, starting small and moving up until you get the right flame.

Personally I would spend the $40 to get the ready to go NG burner and have double the btu.

 

[Wellshooter]

Here is a link that will get you started.

http://www.mobilehomerepair.com/article18gasgrill.html

 

[JayD]

Wow very helpful information, everyone. Seems like best would be as stated above to just throw a NG burner into the Bayou I just purchased (ie, replace the whole burner). Then (separate step of course) prepare the house so I can use the natural gas line that appears to be present off my back porch.

All very helpful info. Thanks!