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How Many FF does it take to install a BBQ grill?

Melensdad

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
So our old BBQ died. Its been on life support for a few years, been keeping it alive by swapping out replacement parts, but as the company went out of business a few years ago the parts are pretty much impossible to find.

So I picked up a new BBQ grill.

My old grill is a "post mount" natural gas BBQ grill.

So my new grill is a different brand but is still a "post mount" natural gas BBQ grill.

Looked over the instructions and it says to slip the new grill over the pre-installed post. The grill has a stainless steel sleeve that slides over a 4x4. OK, well there is a post, the problem is the old stainless steel sleeve is STUCK on the 4x4 post. No bolts, no screws, no nothing but the swollen wet wood inside that is holding the old stainless sleeve onto the post.

I dug down all around the post, CAREFULLY so as not to fracture the buried natural gas line! I don't think its prudent to apply flame to dry out the wood, given the natural gas line!!! I'm considering taking a grinder with a cutting wheel on it to slice the side of the existing stainless sleeve but figure that there will be a LOT of SPARKS near that natural gas line. Not sure how good of an idea that is.

Any thoughts on how to get the sleeve off the wood post so I can slip the new grill onto the post?
 
Disconnect the gas line obviously. Is the old post cemented in or anything? I would think key is lifting straight up.

I would probably try lifting with your loader providing the old grill is not bolted into the sleeve someplace. Lifting may pull your old post out also. Not sure that would be such a bad thing.
 
I was lucky when I replaced my grill head. The SS pipe was concreted in the ground. I bought just the head only, no new post.
 
Disconnect gas line, open valves and vent for 24 hrs. Hook FEL to lift STRAIGHT up (probably the most difficult part). Apply heat to SS sleeve (plumbing torch) to expand and loosen metal. Lift with FEL to remove.
 
I am very sorry to hear of the passing of your old barbecue, it kept me company, along with the dogs when I nipped outside to have a smoke. Not sure how to remove it from the wet post though, perhaps wait till spring until the post dries out, surely you won't want to be barbecueing(?) this weather?
 

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Ice Queen said:
I am very sorry to hear of the passing of your old barbecue, it kept me company, along with the dogs when I nipped outside to have a smoke. Not sure how to remove it from the wet post though, perhaps wait till spring until the post dries out, surely you won't want to be barbecueing(?) this weather?
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If Bob stops grilling because of a little snow, rain, wind and cold, he is going to have to cut off a corner of his man card.
 
Well we BBQ year round so I don't want wait until spring.

As for hooking the post up to the front loader and lifting up, that will be tough. The post is located next to a small patio, I'd have to drive the tractor up onto the patio, but that is up a couple steps and tight to the house. I have thought of that as a possibility. Can't tell from the photo Ice Queen posted, but the patio level is just about even with the top of the fence that runs along the woods, and there is no way to get the tractor up to the post from the back side.

I think going down to the basement and switching the gas valve off down there, then opening the valve at the grill to vent the pipe is a good choice. The back side of the post is spot welded, I'm thinking after I vent the Natural Gas I may get out a cutting wheel and cut the spot welds to see if that will release the grip on the wood.

Just replacing the grill head and using the existing post is not an option because they are different brands and not compatible.

But its a busy week this week, I was hoping to get it done quickly. Got to leave in a few minutes for Melen's school for a Fencing meeting. Tomorrow she goes to the hospital for a diabetes check up. Then Wednesday & Thursday we both go to Fencing. Friday we all go to Wisconsin. Melen is one of 2 freshmen on her Fencing team who will be participating in a mid-west (5 or 6 state) high school Fencing tournament.
 
I wish you the best of luck with your barbecue and very good luck to Melen with her fencing activities. What a busy life you folks lead. Life is very dull here most of the time, apart from lorry activities occasionally. It is nearly a year since I was with you all in America and hopefully one day I will have the opportunity to return. I am looking forward to welcoming you to Wales.
 
Sawzall with a good fine tooth blade will cut it like a zipper without all the sparks. shut off the gas downstairs and turn it on for 5 minutes and you will be OK.
 
A small hole drilled in the top of the Stainless Steel sleeve , Inject gas, plug hole with fuse , light match , run....

Houston ! WE have lift off!:yum::yum::yum::clap::clap::clap:
 
muleman said:
Sawzall with a good fine tooth blade will cut it like a zipper without all the sparks. shut off the gas downstairs and turn it on for 5 minutes and you will be OK.
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The problem I've had with stainless is unless the blade or cutting wheel is designed for stainless, you'll eat both up in a heartbeat, with plenty of spark.
There was a collar welded to the top of my post that had to be removed. The grinding wheels wore down in a few minutes without making much of an impact. The sawzall blades just got red and "poof" no more teeth.
 
OhioTC18 said:
The problem I've had with stainless is unless the blade or cutting wheel is designed for stainless, you'll eat both up in a heartbeat, with plenty of spark.
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And they are expensive ! I think I paid $14 bucks for the one sawzall blade I have .
 
You need to find the right blades. I cut stainless direct vent pipe with mine all the time. A good carbide grit blade will cut stainless,cast iron and just about anything you can imagine. Do you know any fire service supply places? They have some great blades for cutting some tuff stuff. A diamond grit wheel in an angle grinder works also.
 
Once the appropriate cutoff blades are procured, you could soak a piece of canvass in water and wrap the NG line, or cover it. It will quench any sparks before they can burn through the line and will keep any fumes from a leaky joint from being ignited.
I welded mounts for a flat bed on an old pickup that had the gas tanks mounted inboard of the frame. I covered the tanks with a wet canvass and welded right beside them with no problems.
 
I don't think natural gas is nasty enough to need major precautions here. You don't have it confined in an enclosure, which is what is needed before anything could explode. Worst case in open air, and I don't think it is likely, is that it would flare for a moment.

Just turn off the supply at the house and cap the abandoned outlet. Now there's nothing to flare.

Think of the flare you get while lighting the BBQ. You need the gas running at full volume to get that much drama, which won't be possible after the supply is turned off upstream.

Hey wheres OkeeDon? He knows all this stuff.
 
OhioTC18 said:
What brand did you get? I had a hard time finding just the head.
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American Outdoor Grill, got the one with the Infrared burner and rotisserie.
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thcri said:
Where in Wisconsin
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Waukesha, just west of Milwaukee. The Catholic Memorial H.S. Fencing Tournament.

California said:
Bob, would a couple of farm jacks lift that cap/sleeve off the post?
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Great minds think alike. But as the grill is off the edge of the patio and in a planter with soft soil around it there is little to support the jacks. And while it would be easy to lay some boards down there are now mounds of dirt built up where the boards would need to be.


I think I'm going to try to grind at the spot welds on the back side, I think attacking those would be easier than trying to run a slit up the side through the stainless.
 
B_Skurka said:
Waukesha, just west of Milwaukee. The Catholic Memorial H.S. Fencing Tournament.
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If you would have been more in the middle of Wis I would have tried to make a business trip and met up with you. I was in Waukesha a couple of weeks ago.


Keep your CCW at home. Wis from what I understand, especially Milwaukee area is not friendly to iron.
 
Actually, my sister is up there - she works in Appleton and most of her in-laws are near Medina.
 
thcri said:
Keep your CCW at home. Wis from what I understand, especially Milwaukee area is not friendly to iron.
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Yup. Typically when I travel into occupied foreign lands like Illinois or Wisconsin the gun sits in a safe in the car, unloaded, in the luggage area until we get to the hotel room. Its legal, even in those states, to have a gun in the hotel room. The federal safe transport laws allow for a gun to travel in luggage, unloaded to your destination but cannot be accessible to the driver during transit.

This trip will be pretty short. Got Fencing Team photos on Friday after school, packing up the cars and then driving straight up to the hotel after the photos are taken. The meet starts at 8am on Saturday and we will drive back right after the meet ends. Other than my family in our car, we will have the only other Freshman fencer riding with us. We're friends with her family and will be taking her directly home on our way to our house.

With any luck, we hope to get back to Lowell before the end of the Semi-State football game between Lowell H.S. and Fort Wayne's Bishop Dwanger H.S. as we have tickets. We hope to get back in time to be there to watch the 2nd half??? If Lowell wins then we head down to Indianapolis next weekend. Lowell may be facing Dargo's Evansville Reitz High School team (again) in the State Finals. They beat us for the state championship a few years ago.
 
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