Decided to make cheeseburgers on the propane grill this evening.
5 inches of new snow on the ground, temperature has held at 20 degrees all day.
Propane bottle is 3/4 full, and I used it last about 2 weeks ago when the temp was at 50.
I could not get anything but a low flame on the barbecue. It has three settings, and I usually cook up two burgers, on high, in ten minutes. Tonight, I stood there for 45 minutes, and finally gave up and ate them rare.
My question. I know that propane expands on a hot day. Does the opposite occur on a cold day? Does it freeze up in the bottle? It just seemed like it didn’t want to deal with the cold air. Any thoughts?
Propane should be good at that temperature. It really doesn’t get wonky until you get down around zero. (The previous being my experience with camping stoves in the winter.) But if you didn’t have a heat reflector around your grill, you were probably losing all of your heat around the grill. But you said you had low flame, and in my experience, that is unusual for propane at that temperature.
Hmmmmmmmmm…
All I can suggest is trying agin with warmer temperatures just to make sure it isn’t a feed problem. If it works fine then, try storing the canister indoors in the winter.
Next time try on the driveway, just inside garage door. With the garage door open, of gourse. If you have a garage, that is.
I learned this in Wisconsin. Cold as hell, for me anyway, and all those suburbanites BBQ’n in their garages and running back and forth to visit. Crazy folks, Back East. Good burgers, though.
If I’m reading this pressure/temperature chart right, and it’s the right chart, your propane tank should be running at about 320psi when it’s 50° out, and only 170psi at 20°F. Your regulator should take care of the difference, but regulators are not perfect.
I don’t know if all gas grills have this. My Weber has a safety device that prevents a full flow of gas if you open the tank while the burners are open. It can be triggered if you don’t open the tank slowly. The device stays tripped until you reset it.
Here’s how. a) Close the tank and open the burners, b) Disconnect the tank and close the burners, and c) after 3 minutes, reconnect the tank. Now, you’re ready to go.
Remember, when you shut off the grill, always close the tank first, then shut off the burners.
You could try using one of those battery blankets that are supposed to prevent low starting power in car batteries by keeping them warm. Maybe wrap one around the tank and plug it in?
I experenced this, the tank starts to freeze up and if enough humitidy is in the air frost appears on the tank. Simple solution, pour water on the tank, problem solved!!!
We discourage it because of what can happen. Example: A fellow bought a grille with tank, took it home, assembled same, used it and put it away, then left to run some errands. Upon returning home, he entered the garage and flipped on the light switch. A mile and a half away at the firehouse, we heard the KFB. (Ka-F@&$ing-Boom). His half of the side-by-side duplex was reduced to rubble, and the guy was wandering around with ~ 30% 3rd degree burns.
I Bar-B-Q in the snow pretty often. Things cook a little more slowly when it’s cold, but they still cook well. A strong wind is a bigger problem than a few feet of snow.
Good burgers, though.