If you’re one of those people looking to convert their gas stove to propane and wondering how much it costs to convert a natural gas stove to propane, you’re in the right place.
Quite a number of people may be interested in converting their gas stove to propane but are often unsure of the costs and what kind of tools and parts they’ll need.
This article breaks down the cost for you, gives you a few advantages of switching to propane, and even shares a few other tips for your safety.
Before we delve into how much it would cost to convert a natural gas stove to propane, we first need to first define what the two gasses are, and also help you find out if your stove can actually be converted to propane.
First things first, though, lets first get to know each of these gasses:
Natural gas: Natural gas is a fossil fuel made up of various elements that include: methane, butane, pentane, ethane and propane. The largest element of natural gas is methane.
Propane: Propane, on the other hand, is a refined fossil fuel. A lot of the propane on the market is refined from either crude oil or natural gas, and is isolated and liquified through extreme pressure.
How to find out if your stove can be converted to propane:
Usually, many manufacturers will include the LP (liquified petroleum) conversion kit with your gas appliance. If this is the case with you, then the conversion is definitely possible and the appliance has been designed to work with natural gas and propane.
If the kit isn’t included, however, then it could be that the manufacturer does not recommend conversion to propane, or that your stove isn’t designed to work with propane.
You shouldn’t take the kit’s omission as a final verdict of whether the conversion is possible or not though, as some manufacturers might have skipped its inclusion for economic reasons or for any other reason.
If your stove doesn’t come with the kit, the best way of finding out if it can be converted to propane is by contacting the manufacturer and asking if your gas range is able to run with either gas.
How much does it cost to convert a natural gas stove to propane?
To convert a gas range from natural gas to propane, you need three main components: a new pressure regulator, new orifices and a new air mixer (if your stove’s mixer can’t be adjusted).
1. Pressure regulator:
Most gas ranges have a convertible pressure regulator that can be adjusted by raising a cap and flipping a plunger over, however, some appliances will need a new regulator set to the proper pressure.
A number of modern gas appliances have electronic pressure regulators, and users are able to adjust the pressure of their appliances via an electronic control board.
Costs: Depending on your stove brand and type, a pressure regulator can range from $30 to $110 on Amazon.
2. Burner orifices:
A burner orifice regulates how much gas reaches your burners. It’s usually a brass metal with a small hole on top.
When gas is released from the burner, it will mix with air to form a flame. The size of the hole in the orifice affects how much or how little gas is released to create the flame.
Because propane burns hotter and is delivered at greater pressure than natural gas, you’ll need an orifice with a smaller hole.
You’ll need to replace the orifices of your gas stove with those that have a smaller hole and are compatible with propane.
A good hardware store or an appliance repair store should be able to get you the right orifices.
Costs: Propane compatible orifices cost between $5 and $ 70 depending on the manufacturer.
3. Air shutter (air to fuel mixer)
Propane requires more oxygen to burn than natural gas, and so you’ll need a larger opening on your appliance’s air shutter to complete the combustion process.
This can be done for you by a professional.
Who should do the conversion?
While it might sound cheap or uncomplicated, you should remember that natural gas and propane are both highly flammable.
It’s for this reason that you should hire a professional to do the conversion for you.
The conversion must be carried out by a licenced gas fitter and in some States, the fitter is required to have a conversion endorsement licence too.
A few natural gas utilities or companies will do the conversion for free, so be sure to ask your particular gas supplier if this is a service they offer.
Conversion Professionals would charge anywhere between $150 and $300, could be more, could be less, however, most will usually charge between that.
Benefits of switching from gas to propane
Here are some of the reasons why propane is better than gas when it comes to cooking:
Efficiency
Although propane is a bit more expensive than natural gas, natural gas burns a lot faster and hotter than propane. To be more precise, it burns at a rate of two to one. This means that you’ll use twice as much natural gas to cook a given meal than propane.
Propane also burns hotter than natural gas (2500 BTU’s vs 1000 BTUs) so it’s a perfect alternative for foods that need more heat. In fact, more than two-thirds of grills on the market today use propane.
Environment
Propane is a clean gas and is more environmentally friendly than natural gas.
Given the fact that it’s more efficient than natural gas, cooking with propane is bound to reduce emissions as you’re going to burn less propane to cook a given meal than you would with natural gas.
Natural gas also has higher upstream emissions than propane. Unlike propane, the refining process of natural gas releases methane and other gases which only adds to the carbon footprint of natural gas.
Unlike natural gas, propane doesn’t release carbon monoxide, which is known to be a harmful gas if inhaled in significant quantities.
Propane’s carbon monoxide emissions are low due to the fact that most of the carbon in propane is released as carbon dioxide.
What happens if you use propane on a natural gas stove?
If you use propane on your gas stove without doing the conversion, the results could be devastating.
As earlier mentioned, propane burns hotter and has a higher pressure than natural gas.
Natural gas orifices have larger holes than propane orifices, and so if you burn propane through them, the result could be a very large flame that could lead to burns and even an explosion of your gas stove.
Using propane with your stove without doing the conversion could also result in pressure build-up of propane in the components of your gas stove, another factor that could cause explosions.
There’s also a higher chance of propane leaks which too could lead to explosions.
There’s a reason why propane conversion kits exist, and they usually don’t cost much as we’ve seen above, so there’s no reason why anyone should be tempted into using propane on a natural gas stove before doing the conversion.
Read more about the effects of using propane on a natural gas tove here.
Things to keep in mind when converting a natural gas stove to propane:
- Hire a licenced professional to do the conversion for you.
- Do not attempt to do the conversion yourself.
- If your range comes without a conversion kit, contact your manufacturer to find out if it can be converted to propane.
- Only purchase conversion kits and parts from certified sellers.
- The labelling of your range should be changed too to signify to anyone using or repairing it that it’s a propane stove.
FINAL WORD
The question of how much it costs to convert a natural gas stove to propane can depend on quite a number of factors.
You could spend as little as $15 for the conversion kit or as much as $300 to acquire all the needed parts.
In fact, in a few cases, you might even be better off purchasing a new stove altogether.
Luckily though, many modern stoves come ready with conversion kits and are already configured to handle the conversion process.
If you haven’t bought one, be sure to ask if the gas range is able to handle the use of either gas, so you can be able to do the conversion if you ever need to.
As you might have noticed above, the conversion process isn’t as easy as many make it seem, so be sure to hire professionals to help you out.
If you’re in the market for a new gas stove: here are a few other things you need to look at before making a decision.