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sfhc21

Propane Question

sfhc21
12 years ago

Got a propane line coming off the back of my house - directly on the other side of the gas fireplace inside the house. Pictured here:

{{!gwi}}

I'm trying to hook a banjo cooker to it so I don't have to re-fill any more 20 lb propane tanks. Went to Home Depot and purchased a natural gas line kit in the grill section - they didn't have any propane line kits.

Hooked it up and it worked. But the flames were pretty weak compared to it being hooked up to a 20 lb propane tank.

Could it be that the size of the hole coming out of the gas line is the cause of the weak flames? Pictured here:

{{!gwi}}

Natural Gas is on the left. Propane is on the right.

Comments (6)

  • sierraeast
    12 years ago

    You should be able to pick up the right line at your propane supplier. Will no doubt be a tad pricier than the big box, but you dont want to mix natural gas components with propane applications. You might try a plumbing supplier as well.

    My guess about the diameter of the hole is that you are correct. I believe the smaller diameter propane fitting would actually increase the pressure but you could run that by your propane outfit as well.

  • ionized_gw
    12 years ago

    What pressure does the regulator for your banjo cooker deliver? IIRC, the standard pressure for a tank-top regulator is 10 psi. The banjo cookers often have 20, 25 or even 30 psi regulators. I don't know what the pressure is in permanent residential piped installations is.

  • ionized_gw
    12 years ago

    The other thing you might consider is that the pipe and connection is probably for a gas grill. In the olden days, gas grills made a lot less heat than the milliongrillion-btu models available today. That supply might not be enough for you burner. People here, that know a lot more than I, might be able to evaluate that if you post the btu output of your burner. LIkely you propane supplier can help as sierra suggested, but they need the information as well.

    Beware that you may also be over capacity of the line if you run the fire place and burner at the same time.

  • sfhc21
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    @ionized
    The pressure regulator that came with the banjo cooker was 30 psi. And the banjo outputs 210,000 BTU's.

  • randy427
    12 years ago

    You need a different regulator, though some regulators can be modified with a different internal orifice. Residential natural gas runs at about 1/2 PSI, quite a difference from your bottled gas.

  • ionized_gw
    12 years ago

    He does not have natural gas

    I don't know what pressure is used for propane distribution pipes in a home, but I bet it is 10 psi and not 30 psi as supplied by the banjo regulator. That is probably the problem.

    There is another potential problem though. The pipes need to be sized correctly for the fireplace and grill, OP, you ought to be able to look up the pipe requirements for your fireplace and grill, on a btu basis. I don't know them.

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