Hey guys - This old shut off valve was in my basement but not in use (it had a plug on the right side). I needed a gas line for my grill so I removed the plug and ran the new 1/2" pipe you see to my grill. But the grill isn't getting hot enough. It gets gas but it's not nearly as hot as it used to be at my old house and it takes much longer to heat up. So I am troubleshooting. I’ve already checked for leaks and haven’t found any…

Does this shut off valve look right? Is it supposed to turn 360 like that and keep spinning? To open it fully do I need to spin it several times or just turn 1/4 turn like the newer ball valves?

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Thanks in advance for any advice you can give on my situation. At least let me know what you think of this valve that spins and spins

- Slugger



Edited 1 times.

The valve (handle) in the same direction of the pipe is fully open, seems like you had it correct
If all done in the carbon steel pipe to the grill depending on how long the run is should be sufficient btus
It is possible the handle is broken from the ball… seeing how easily it turns
I would start by replacing that shut off

ta ke a few minutes and switch back to using the tank. see if that makes a difference.

the tank is propane

the piping is natural gas (methane)


the grill 'should' need a different orifice if, repeat if, it is changeable at all

i don't think so, bern..
look at the second picture. there is a copper flared gas line up high. that would tell me his system is propane.

yep, you caught me again

but then again ??? in the picture he labels something " to main meter".
propane would not have a meter. they just keep refilling the tank/s as needed ?????

A flared joint is NOT a positive indicator of LP gas but the reduced flame is an indicator of firing an LP device with natural gas.

I thought Packy caught me in an error, but i was wrong ..... again.


Sooooooo, do two wrongs make me right ?




(i actually missed the label re: the meter)

Thanks a lot for the input guys! Sorry for the delayed reply. I am not getting emails from this forum for some reason… so I didn’t realize anyone had commented.

To clarify:

Everything is natural gas. And the grill was purchased as a natural gas grill (but maybe it can be converted?). I don’t think I’ll try to convert it…

But I might look into replacing that shut-off. It does work to a certain extent. Now that it’s in the on position gas does flow. But it’s just not enough gas getting to the grill burners. The grill never goes beyond 400 degrees. And the same grill used to get up to 600-700 at my old house.

Since I wrote the OP I have had the gas company come out. They were nearly worthless in helping me troubleshoot. But the did check the pressure at the meter and confirmed 7-8” water column is coming into the house…

I just ordered a cheap manometer. I plan to test the pressure at the 1/2” black pipe at the end near the grill. The gas company guy said that if I do that and get 7-8” WC that it means something is wrong with the grill/burners.

Do you guys have any recommendations for testing the pressure at the grill? I have the follow setup there:

1/2” Tee (installed for future use & it has plug I can remove to test pressure)
> 2 foot of 1/2” pipe
> 90 degree elbow
> 6 inch nipple
> new ball valve shut-off>
> 2 inch nipple
> female quick connect fitting purchased from amazon (linked below) because I accidently left the original QC behind at the last house
> grill flex hose with male QC end
> grill

Here’s the exact QC female end I bought on amazon:
[a.co]