Gas Grill Problems

[PTRich]

I have a large grill that I have developed a problem with. When I first light the grill it is fine but quickly the flame gets very small. I put a new tank on and the flame got big again, then quickly got small and went out. The regulator is only a few year old, I replaced it. Also it is cold here. I thought maybe the regulator was frozen? The gas had moisture witch froze the regulator?

PTRich

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Since you said "it is cold here" I'm gonna take a stab and say you have a problem with the tank not being able to evaporate sufficient gas to sustain the flame.
Propane will not evaporate at -20 degrees.
Had a similar problem years ago with propane fired salamanders, we had to move the tanks inside the building to warm them sufficiently to sustain the fire.

 

[Egon]

How big is your tank and how large is your grill? Did you see any frost on the outside of the regulator or tanK?
If you start the grill off at low flame will it maintain this flame? What was the outside temperature?

Egon

 

[PTRich]

The tank is a 20lb, it was 20 degrees out and my grill has 4 cast iron burners. There was no ice apparent any where.

Thanx, PTRich

 

[ddl]

I'd switch to a Weber kettle using charcoal and you will not have these problems!!

Dan L

 

[Egon]

Is it possible to turn your tank upside down and then try it.

Egon

 

[Bird]

<font color=blue>Is it possible to turn your tank upside down and then try it.</font color=blue>

I don't think you want to try that. Remember you want it to come out of the bottle as gas; not liquid.

 

[RickM]

PTRich,
Yes, it could be moisture freezing up the regulator. That would be from contaminated LP gas, but since you said you changed bottles that tends to rule that out unless they came from the same place at the same time. What is more likely is the bottle's vapor pressure is dropping off to nothing if you are placing a high demand on it. From your description it sounds like you have a high output capacity grill. Are you using just one burner or all four? You could try placing the bottle in a tub of *warm* water. Not hot! Very important only 90 degrees or less a 1/2 hour prior to using. Never invert a propane bottle that is hooked up to an appliance. 20 degrees outside..... don't know what your fixin', but it must be good /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif.

 

[Egon]

Bird:
Figured that comment would get lots of response. It's not intended as a normal operating procedure but to check and see if the float is shuting off the tank. The regulator should not care if it sees liquid or vapor as the head differential for a foot or so of C3 should make little difference.

Egon

 

[JimmyO]

I would say that you probably have a frozen regulator due to moisture in a previous tank of propane. When a regulator typically freezes, the ice forms a restriction at the orifice. What you are most likely seeing is that when you initially turn the grill on, the grill is using the gas that is stored in the line between the regulator and the shutoff valves on the grill. What happens is that the restriction is not stopping the the flow completely and therefore once you shut the grill off the line builds back full pressure, but when you turn the burners on you quickly run out of adequate flow due to the restriction. The easiest way to solve the problem is to take a bucket of real warm water to the grill with you next time you go to light it. Light one burner then slowly pour the warm water over the regulator. This should melt your restriction and because the gas is flowing it will carry the moisture out past the burner. Whatever you do do not use any type of open flame to thaw the regulator. Most regulators use a rubber diaphragm and they are fairly easy to melt. When that happens the gas gets by at full pressure and the results will be that you will have a gas grill that looks like it was meant for barbecueing whole elephants. You can use a hairdryer to thaw the regulator but be extremely careful if there is snow on the ground. Good luck.

Jimmy

 

[gordon]

A few good comments here so far. The heat of the tank is key being able to vaporize at the lower temp. . So after you try the warm tank bit and it still doesn't work you have one or two other possibilities.

One is the regualtor, doens't matter if it's only a week old it could be bad. Or on the other hand it it might be frozen but a frozen regualtor will usually freeze open resulting in to much pressure or closed not enough pressure.

Make sure your regulator vent is facing down so no rain water can get in there and freeze.

One last thing it could be the excess flow check. If your pigtail requires a wrench to tighten up to the tank. Do this take the end of the pigtail and shake it in your hand. See if it rattles, that is where the excess flow check is located on the older style pigtails. It's possible that is bad as well.

New style tanks, the ones that you can hand tighten a tank on have the excess flow check inside the tank.

Hope this helps
Gordon

 

[BHarrison]

It is interesting that you mention that. I experienced that problem last night on my grill. It is a brand new grill by Farbourware(sp?).
It would flame up good for about 15 seconds, then dwindle down to almost nothing. I fiddled with it for a few minutes. ...didn't really "fix" anything, and it just starting working. I guess I may have had some ice in the regulator???

 

[looch]

I have a 100# tank that is hooked up to both my range and my gas grill. The regulator freezes about twice a year - usually when it's inhumanly cold (like -40). I trudge out there, disconnect it and bring it in the house for a few minutes to let it thaw. Reconnect it and we're back in business. Bit of a pain though.

 

[PTRich]

I replaced the regulator and it seems to work fine. The regulator was fairly new so I will just wait and see what happens. Thanks for your help.

 

[fishman]

This may not be relevant, but if you have one of the new tank connectors and you can't get any gas, it may be defective. Last year I was scratching my head 'cause my grill wouldn't light. Went to the local propane guy and he said that the new hand-tightened connectors go bad a lot, particularly the cheapies they sell with new grills. Replaced it for about $5 with a new one and the grill runs like a champ. Couldn't see anything wrong with the old connector, but it was definitely the problem.