"No" wrote in message ...
Hello - I bought a Vermont Castings VM400 grill at HomeCheapo. One reason
I bought it was because it was "field upgradeable" to natural gas. Well,
one year later I am looking for the parts. They no longer make available
the parts due to "safety reasons". What a pain. This particular model is
sold only through HD. Vermont castings dealers refer me directly to CFM
corp. CFM refuses to sell the kit, nor supply it to a gas installer. They
will not even sell me the complete guts for a NG unit.

My guess would be that another parts kit for a different model would work
fine. I have no idea which ones would work or not. Any clues? CFM
suggested talking to a gas man. I'm sure the gas man will say year, get me
the parts and I'll do it. The local high end BBQ place will do the install
if I give them the parts. They only have the parts for the high end ones
they sell. No comments from them if they may or may not be compatible.

I am very handy and comfortable doing this myself if I can get the parts.

Any suggestions?

Start at the beginning. Usually, when you buy a grill, or a water heater or
a dryer, they give you an extra set of orifices so that you can change back
and forth. I am thinking that you didn't get this when you bought yours.

You say you are handy with tools and such. Take the thing apart, and remove
the orifices. Take them down to the local Gas Supplier and see if you can
match them up. These things aren't rocket surgery, and maybe you can just
fine a helpful teknogeek that will find you the right thing. Look on the
Internet.

That being said, it MAY or MAY NOT be the simple fix. After the orifice
change, you will probably have to change your air mix adjustment, a simple
thing. That's the air mix baffle that turns around when you loosen the
Phillips screw and lets you get the yellow out of the flame.
You will have to put on a new supply hose.

NOW, if your manufacturer actually has different BURNERS for LPG and natural
gas, you might have to change the whole burner assembly. For that, you
would have to measure and see if you can get one from the supplier, or find
one to fit.

I have a Vermont Castings grill and really like it. Mine is propane. I did
see VC natural gas grills for sale when I bought mine, but didn't look close
to see if they had the same burners.

So, start taking it apart. It might be as simple as changing orifices and
the hose. If the propane orifices are smaller than the natural gas ones,
you might risk drilling out a set of them to the specs of natural gas
orifices.

As a last resort, you might consider leaving it like it is, and saving time
and money.

Steve