Currently the propane grill is undoubtedly much more popular than the natural gas one. For those of you who have been wondering for a while about the difference between those two types of gas, we invite you to make yourselves familiar with the whole article where we have compared natural gas and propane.
Propane vs Natural Gas
Despite a growing number of people gradually choosing natural gas, propane is still the uncontested winner. It is becoming more common for manufacturers to offer both versions of grills to choose from in order to adapt to the clients’ needs. What to choose ? Both options come with their pros and cons, take a look at our stance on the topic and make your own decision on what will be better for you.
Remember that you can’t run a natural gas grill on propane or the other way round.
Natural Gas Pros
Convenience – After plugging it to a natural gas line, you no longer have to worry about running out of gas. You will never run out of gas in the middle of cooking which would force you to replace the tank with a new one that you would probably have to drive to the store to get. All you have to do is plug the line to the grill once and you can forget about ever having to plug a tank in. Sadly, it is more difficult to install natural gas, but all grills that offer a version adapted to natural gas come with all the necessary step-by-step instructions on what to do in order to properly plug the grill to a natural gas line. Of course, if you don’t have a ready natural gas line in your backyard, you need to contact the right person at a gas company to have it plugged for you.
More money left for you – In a long run, natural gas means more money saved in the wallet. If you don’t have a gas line installed, you will first have to pay some money to a gas company for having it plugged for you. It is a little costly operation at first, but if you really cook a lot on the grill, you can be sure that you will soon notice that you have more money left in your wallet than if you were to buy propane tanks. Natural Gas, depending on where you live, can be even 20-30% cheaper than propane.
Natural gas is the cleanest grill fuel, propane is slightly less clean. If you care about the environment and want to limit your contribution to the global warming and exhaust emission to the minimum, then it’s an argument for you. When burning, it is incomparably cleaner and more efficient than charcoal for example.
Natural Gas Cons
You can’t move the grill around the backyard as you please. A natural gas powered grill depends on a natural gas line. It means that it has to be around the line if you want to cook. In fact, the grill should always stay in the same place as the gas line. It also depends on the natural gas line which is why it’s not a grill to travel with.
In order to start the grill you need a special professional natural gas line installation, which might be a huge expense if you don’t have one and want a gas company to have it plugged for you. It is a complicated procedure, which is why it’s important that it is performed by someone experienced.
Natural gas grills are slightly more expensive than propane grills and not all manufacturers offer two versions of the same gas grill that run on different types of gas.
Propane Pros
Mobility – that’s the greatest advantage of propane, the power source needed to start the grill is always a propane tank. Tanks can be brought along anywhere you want, so you can freely move the grill around the entire backyard and more. Stores have small gas tanks available that work great when traveling away from home thanks to being lightweight. That’s why there are portable gas grills that run on propane from small, lightweight and convenient tanks. It is a great option for those who spend a lot of time in places like camping grounds, beaches or anywhere away from home where you could cook food on a grill.
Propane Cons
The price – Propane is always more expensive than natural gas, not to mention smaller tanks are even more expensive which means that in a longer run a propane grill will cost about 20-30% more than a natural gas grill in terms of fuel.
The amount of fuel in a tank and replacement – Another downside compared to natural gas is having to monitor the amount of gas in the tank. Nobody would like to suddenly run out of gas in the middle of a party or cooking. Of course, there are several simple ways to prevent this. First of all, check the propane level in the tank before each cooking ( most of grills these days have this option ). Secondly, keep another spare tank around, that way you’ll be able to quickly replace the old empty propane tank with a new full one.
Conclusion
Therefore, when giving an opinion in the Propane vs Natural Gas debate, we can’t give a clear answer to which is better. It all depends on your needs and conditions, on whether you have a natural gas line, or if you simply want to have a mobile gas grill.
The decision is up to you, analyze the above pros and cons, and then think about what better suits your life style and environment.