How easy to convert this propane to natural gas

I purchased a propane fire pit and would love to connect it to my natural gas line on my deck. I know this is designed to be used by propane tank but I can't find anything in manual about converting to natural gas. I added a couple pics of the fittings and was hoping someone could tell me if it's a fairly cheap simple process or not.

Cheers,

Justin

I found a similar natural gas model online and it contained this diagram for conversion that mine does not come with however I'm curious if it will work the same way?

call the company

Geofd said:

call the company

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I tried, the cust service person had no clue

Justinjtm said:

I found a similar natural gas model online and it contained this diagram for conversion that mine does not come with however I'm curious if it will work the same way?

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They don't appear to be similar units if yours lacks that venturi tube setup.

Do you have the required orifice for the natural gas?

As already mentioned, you should definitely contact the manufacturer of the unit you have. Tell the customer service person you want to speak with someone that can answer technical questions. Such as their engineering people.

I don't think that they are all made to be easily converted.

Called again, they apparently don't manufacture the pit just resell. But I found another schematic of a pit very similar and I'm thinking that maybe I could just switch out the office connector from the propane type to natural gas without the air mixing holes if I can order one the correct size. It appears the same as mine.

Perhaps just get a generic propane to gas conversion kit. It isn't all that hard it is all about gas flow but no one is going to bless a conversion that isn't factory made since it is a safety issue.

https://www.amazon.com/Cal-Flame-089245002352-Conversion-Stainless/dp/B07NLWZNK7

Justinjtm said:

Called again, they apparently don't manufacture the pit just resell. But I found another schematic of a pit very similar and I'm thinking that maybe I could just switch out the office connector from the propane type to natural gas without the air mixing holes if I can order one the correct size. It appears the same as mine.

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Yes I was thinking that may be the case. Don't you have a manufacturers name and model number on it?
Some of those conversion kits come with natural gas pressure regulators, but make no mention of the specs for pressure regulation. Of course not all residential gas pressures are the same but typically are within a low range. I'm guessing they provide the regulator, not knowing if it's actually required, just in case it is. As they don't know what your pressure is for sure. You must already have a pressure regulator on your gas service, I hope.
Personally, I would try to contact the manufacturer first.
Also, in the meantime, it wouldn't hurt to know what your delivered natural gas pressure is, how far from the fire pit, what size line would be feeding the unit and the BTU rating on the unit, if it exists.

Worse comes to worse, one of those manufacturers engineering dept could likely tell you what diameter orifice would be required for a particular BTU requirement.

None of the pics you posted have anything to do with the orifice. They are all just the gas connectors. If there is anything on the pit that you can see which has the orifice you might get help.

Found the model. Contacted the manufacturer who sells the conversion orifice. No regulator needed and while they said a local plumbing supply place would likely sell a similar piece I should use theirs. I don't mind as it's only $28 for the orifice however and additional $20 to ship it.

It is very important that you don’t modify any device outside of the manufacturers recommendations, unless you know what you are doing, and ready to defend anything you do.

If you modify it in any manner not approved by the manufacturer, you void the UL listing. If you have any kind of incident, and burn down the house, your insurance company will step, blame you, and refuse to help you in any way.

FishScreener said:

It is very important that you don’t modify any device outside of the manufacturers recommendations, unless you know what you are doing, and ready to defend anything you do.

If you modify it in any manner not approved by the manufacturer, you void the UL listing. If you have any kind of incident, and burn down the house, your insurance company will step, blame you, and refuse to help you in any way.

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All good advice accept for the insurance part. This is a common myth. The truth is it is not against your policy to do dumb things. Your insurance carrier would have to go after you for "wanton contributory negligence" (basically saying you did it on purpose, aka insurance fraud). There is really no chance of them ever doing this in order to deny your claim. It is like leaving your car running with the keys in it and someone steals it. Yes, insurance still has to cover the theft.

Why don't you just return the propane one and then order the nat gas unit that you seen on the internet. Safest
Way......

The key thing is to make the modification within the bounds of "knowing what you are doing".
If you have some understanding of how combustion works and some common sense, you can figure out if it is working safely or not. The most likely problem you will have is that natural gas pressure is lower than propane. Most conversion kits not only have a different orifice but also there is a pressure regulator adjustment that has to occur. Sometimes there will be a replacement spring to swap out in the regulator to accommodate the pressure difference. Some systems have a piece in the regulator that you pull out and rotate. So, I am dubious that the conversion kit will work satisfactorily.

Combustion, whether NG or propane requires the correct air/gas ratio. With gas, it’s either right, or it’s really wrong. Get the specific conversion kit for your unit.

Per OP..."Contacted the manufacturer who sells the conversion orifice. No regulator needed"

From the pictures I can see no burner tube. Just a direct line in. Is this just a "fire pit" ?
LP gas is at a much higher pressure than your homes "natural gas" so there's a regulator to lower the pressure.
If there's a burner tube with an brass orifice, you can just drill out the existing orifice a little bit at a time until you get the flame you want, or get a larger brass orifice. Outside of having a valve to regulate the gas flow I can see no other problems. Just like a set of gas logs, there's no "burner tube", just a valve to supply the gas, and a pipe with holes in it.

House Doc said:

From the pictures I can see no burner tube. Just a direct line in. Is this just a "fire pit" ?
LP gas is at a much higher pressure than your homes "natural gas" so there's a regulator to lower the pressure.
If there's a burner tube with an brass orifice, you can just drill out the existing orifice a little bit at a time until you get the flame you want, or get a larger brass orifice. Outside of having a valve to regulate the gas flow I can see no other problems. Just like a set of gas logs, there's no "burner tube", just a valve to supply the gas, and a pipe with holes in it.

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I agree with the above. But I must ask why does the propane sometimes require the air mixture hole, while the natural gas doesn't?

Of course there are typically regulators on both propane and natural gas. And typically the difference in the regulated pressure(or the requirements of the appliance) is approx. 7" wc for natural gas and 11-12" wc for propane. Not a substantial difference.

LP gas comes in a pressurized tank that needs the regulator to step it down to a usable pressure or you would have a "flamethrower" when opened. Natural gas is regulated at the gas meter for the house.
A burner tube gives you the ability to "tune" the flame at the burner so the flame at the burner is most efficient. With a firepit you're not looking for efficiency, just how "cool" it looks.

House Doc said:

LP gas comes in a pressurized tank that needs the regulator to step it down to a usable pressure or you would have a "flamethrower" when opened. Natural gas is regulated at the gas meter for the house.
A burner tube gives you the ability to "tune" the flame at the burner so the flame at the burner is most efficient. With a firepit you're not looking for efficiency, just how "cool" it looks.

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Thank you! I was speculating it may be something like that.

Yeah, typically natural gas to your house is regulated at the meter BUT not always. You must of heard about the incident we recently had in my area of Mass. where the gas company accidentally connected a high pressure gas line to a low pressure system. The customer on the low pressure system did not have or need regulators due to the low pressure.
They are still working on the fixes.
https://time.com/5395932/gas-explosion-lawrence-andover-massachusetts/