Natural Gas to Propane Conversion

[hpinson]

I've just been given a really nice newer natural gas cooking range. The problem is that where I want to put it, has only propane.

Is conversion possible and safe?

If so, how would I go about this?

[MountainDon]

When you buy a gas range they often come setup for nat gas and have a little bag or envelope taped to the back with the orifices, sometimes called a spud, needed for propane use. The first thing I'd look for is a bag or envelope of small parts on the back. Propane orifices are smaller than NG ones.  IIRC on ours there was also a simple change of some kind I had to do on the regulator as NG & propane operate at different pressures; NG is lower. Plus an adjustment for air flow to get a clean burn. It was all covered in the owners manual; so also check online for a manual if one didn't come with the range.



The orifices should be available either from the manufacturer or some service parts vendor.  Google

[rick91351]

Here the propane jobber has to install the new orifices and set the regulator.  Some times I know they toss the included orifices because of elevation problems.  Or so I have been told.

[hpinson]

Good news. Thanks!

[Redoverfarm]

Might try to check whether the appliance is able to be converted.  There are some that are made specific to the fuel source and can't be converted. 

[rick91351]

On our appliance safari for the house everything from cook tops to ranges were 'duel fuel ' now days.  Or maybe it is no one handles them is they are not.  I do know we sure made sure of such.....   

[flyingvan]

Had to do this for the range we picked up on Craigslist.  It was a few years old, but the propane orifices were still in a little plastic bag taped to the back.  That was the good news.  Bad news was the burners are sandwiched onto the sheet metal top using two woodscrews made of a different metal than the burners, that got very hot and cold over and over---totally fused.  Out of 8 screws I broke all but one.  AppliancePartsPros had all the replacement parts in a kit so I ended up re-building the entire cooktop; still saved lots of money over new.
Altitude---starts being an issue over about 5000'.   You reduce the size of the orifice by 3.5% for every 1000' over sea level to lean it out.   Your propane supplier should have them for you, or you could solder and re-drill the ones you have

[Redoverfarm]

That is the one thing that is holding me up from getting a  free Washer/dryer (NEW) from my sister.  It is stackable Sears.  It was set up for Natural and my intentions were to install it at the cabin.  I have looked about everywhere I know to determine who actually made it to can see if it can be converted to propane.  No I don't see a little bag hanging on the back. 

[tommytebco]

the following links indicate that it isn't quite so simple anymore.  Other parts need to be changed and some are not convertible


http://www.findlocal-hvac.com/blog/hvac-equipment/converting-appliances-from-lp-to-natural-gas/
http://www.propane101.com/lpgasapplianceconversions.htm

[OlJarhead]

My stove was dual fuel -- just had to change the setting on the regulator and adjust the jets.

[MountainDon]

The three gas ranges I/we have bought in our lifetimes all were dual fuel and came with everything needed. So I'm only going by those experiences spread over decades.

[hpinson]

I should be able to see the back of the stove sometime in the next two weeks, so at the moment don't know if the jetting kit is on the stove or not, but I would think it could be acquired fairly easily, given all the people using propane around here. 7800 feet is pretty high, so regardless, I may have to get a non-standard orifice small.  The stove is a good deal bigger than I wanted but is hard to turn down as it is so nice.  If for some reason jetting and re-regulating is not possible I suppose I could sell it and go for something smaller -- 2 burner or maybe a very small 4 burner.

[rick91351]

Our propane jobber's tech comes with a wide assortment of 'stuff'.  They say don't sweet the small stuff.