Gas cooktop question.

ncmoose

is one Smokin' Farker
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A bit off topic here but I wonder if anyone can answer this. I'm in the process of converting from propane to natural gas in my house. I have an LP cooktop that we are going to replace.

I was curious if I could repurpose this to a remote hunting cabin and run it off a 20 lb propane tank with an appropriate regulator added. I know the burn time may not be long (particularly if running more than one burner) but is this doable or practical?
 
Yes you can. NG burns cooler than propane. Normal feed is 10 parts O2 to 1 part fuel at sea level. You will need new orifices for the burners and a matched regulator to do it right. There are other ways to make it work but if you want it to last see if there is a conversion kit available.
 
You could use a lot of different regulators but 1 for a 3-4 burner gas grill would work well,you will be surprised how long a tank will last,A 100lb tank lasts me over a year on my 5 burner stove with oven,
 
I think I’d consider getting a larger tank out there - maybe depending on access to the site. If it’s remote and you will need to haul the propane back and forth you might be better with the 20
 
You can also tie two or more 20# tanks together like they do in some smaller travel trailers. When one tank runs dry you just move the lever to the other tank and refill the empty when you can.
Your current house LP system probably has a regulator in line somewhere and it will be removed for the transition to natural gas. Take it to the hunt camp.
 
A couple of things. I don't know if you need a high pressure or low pressure regulator, but you do need a high flow one. It is determined by the color of the plastic part that threads onto the bottle. Inside is a safety device, acme, that shuts off the flow if the flow rate goes higher that it is rated for, i.e. a broken connection or cut line. The lowest rating is black, the next green at 200,000 btu/hr, and red is the highest at 400,000 btu/hr. If you don't have a high enough acme fitting then when you turn on all the burners and oven everything shuts off. The old style connection that threads into tank fitting, instead of around it, does not have this safety device built in.

The second consideration is where your tanks will be located. If they are outside, and they should be, and it is really cold outside on 20 lb tank can freeze up. As you use propane it is converting in the tank from liquid to gas. This causes it to get very cold. If there is not warm around it to counteract this the liquid propane can freeze up and cut off your flow. You could get around this by using two tanks on a Y at the same time. You would be dividing the full rate between the two so in each tank it is not that bad.

I recommend you call these guys, they understand propane very well and have great prices. I have used them for parts in building my homebrewing equipment.

https://tejassmokers.com/
 
Johnh12 posted what I was thinking...

Your current house LP system probably has a regulator in line somewhere and it will be removed for the transition to natural gas. Take it to the hunt camp.
 
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