Natural Gas

[jars]

Hi there...Was wondering if any of you knew where I can find a Natural Gas Smoker. I have been searching and cannot find one. My budget is under $500...thanks!

 

[cowgirl]

I do not know enough about it to be helpful, but I was under the impression that you could change a propane smoker to natural gas by changing out the regulator.
Hope someone who knows will help you out.

 

[richtee]

Ditto- and stop in Roll Call and intro yerself :{)

 

[glued2it]

Converting A Propane Smoker or Grill

Some manufacturers provide modification kits for LPG to NG. (Liquid propane gas to natural gas) If you'd like to convert yours, contact the manufacturer to see if a conversion is available.


NG Smoker and Grill Manufacturers

Manufacturers of natural gas grills and smokers include Weber, Ducane, Fire Magic, Viking, and KitchenAid. These are but a few of the many brands available.

 

[ds7662]

Not gonna see many if any "smokers" made for natural gas. Takes away the poratbility.
If this is what you want then best bet is to Do as Glued said and get a conversion kit, and convert propane one to natural gas.

 

[packplantpath]

Look up the afterburner brand, they have a conversion.

http://gassmoker.com/dual fuel.htm

I don't have one, but several people on here have the afterburner.

 

[farqart]

Smoke Vault (by Camp Chef) has a natural gas conversation kit for their propane model. Kit costs around $70 and with the price of the smoker (18" model - $200.00 and 24" model $250.00), it still should fit well into your budget.

The Smoke Vault is pretty well liked in this forum. It's heavier than the GOSM
and it is has a stainless steel box.


FARQART

 

[graybeard]

If you can drill a hole you're set and it won't cost nuttin. Call your gas company and they will tell you what size bit you need. Drill the orifice and take off your regulator and fire it up!

beard

 

[smokeguy]

Not really what you were wanting, but to me it was interesting. You get more power (2.4 times more) from propane so you use less, but the cost difference comes out with natural gas coming out ahead based on this site's cost numbers.
http://www.propane101.com/propanevsnaturalgas.htm

I had a natural gas grill that came with the first home I bought and it worked great until it rusted out. I turned heavily to charcoal after that so never replaced it until I got a propane grill with a side burner a couple of years ago when Rita came through so that I could have a "turn it on and cook or boil water" backup.

 

[petesque]

Smoke guy

You ain't boiling ribs like Babba?


Pete

 

[smokeguy]

Yyyyummm, boiled ribs.....

Naw, no boiled ribs for me. I didn't have a smoker back in the 1st house. Didn't even know what one was unless it was me and a Marlboro! Glad I quit that crap (of course, I need to lose weight now lol).

Now, here's a story you reminded me about when I did boil meat! One day when I was back in school sharing a house with my best friend I went out squirrel hunting. Up to that point my mother had always cooked them up for me.
Now I was on my own. Kill'um I got to cook'um.

Great trip it was. Couldn't find my clip so out I go with a .22 that I get to reload one at a time. Not easy. Never been to the spot but long story short, I end up with 3 fox squirrels; my first 3! Always greys up to that point. So, I get back and my neighbor comes over to watch me clean them. First time he's seen that.
So, for lunch it's going to be fried squirrel. I know that fox is a big tough sucker, so yep, I boil them. It worked and they got tender enough to fry and add seasoning to. That part worked well. It was the gravy that didn't. A few cups of flour and add some water. Didn't work for some reason. You could stand a "whatever" in the middle of it and it would continue to stand.

So, I ended up with pretty good boiled fried squirrel, but no gravy.

 

[gene45]

I wanted a natural gas smoker and could not find one. I was also told that (in Canada, anyway) it is illegal for the dealer to convert a new one. I bought a propane one and converted it myself. Not very hard.

You need to know the heat rating of the propane burner, and drill out the orifice to the correct size for the heat value of the gas. You might find a chart by googling, or your gas company might tell you.

It is true that you need about 2.5 times the volume, but if you have natural gas in a pipe it is probably less expensive than propane, and it does not run out.

 

[nascar2163]

any one have any good chuck roast recipes

 

[smoking gun]

If you're going to do the conversion yourself you need a set of number bits. I have the size charts if anyone needs to know what size drill for what BTU rating. Also you can run the natural gas burner without a regulator as there is a regulator on your gas meter but to be sure of your firing rate and gas pressure I would install a regulator on the line coming into the smoker. You can get one pretty cheap at a plumbing supply store. The pressure on the house side of the meter can vary due to other appliances and the load on the line.

 

[adsway01]

Thanks, I would love a copy of that chart. I'm fixing on changing my dual fuel Masterbuilt pro two door, and I'm having a heck of a time getting any info. Your post was by far the most down to earth and informative.

Thanks,

Andy 

 

[footfault]

CampChef Smoke Vault 24 is convertible to natural gas.  You can down load the instructions from their web site.  Amazon and others have the Smoke Vault 24 and the conversion kit available.  The instruction are pretty good, but if you have questions, CampChef folks have a good online chat process.  I had a problem finding a #51 drill bit, but finally found it at Graingers.  The conversion is simply drilling the valve orifice out and connecting the supply hose from the kit.

 

[jazzlstnr]

Has anyone successfully converted a Smoke Hollow 44" LP gas smoker?

 

[-c0de-]

Has anyone successfully converted a Smoke Hollow 44" LP gas smoker?

I am sure someone has. It should be no different than converting an LP grill to NG. You need a different regulator, and then you need a larger nozzle sized burner. Some people simple drill out the holes on the burner after adding the correct regulator.

 

[jburkholder]

I've converted my BBQ to NG. Works great. I'm looking to convert my Smoke Hollow unit too to NG. The main and only difference is the gas flow. Propane burns only slight hotter than NG. It's the amount of flow and pressure that's reduced by a jet and regulator. I'm not a gas expert, but after tearing apart a couple of older systems I've found that all that is necessary is to increase the jet size (hole) in the valves.

I've opened up my new Smoke Hollow unit and low and behold there's a valve with a typical tiny hole for a a jet. I'm looking to do with it as I did with my BBQ grill and drill it out about 3/32 which should allow more fuel. But before I do that I'm going to test it with the typical Propane value and setup because in theory that should be less volume; resulting in lower tempature at the lowest setting. So my theory is that should become really loooooow and slooooow.   I'm gonna try it for a little while and see how it works out. But from all my plummer and gas buddies I know they say the only difference is volume of fuel because of pressure. 

-jeff

newbie to smoking here to learn more and cook slower. ;-)