I had not posted that I like the MHP grill. It will be a year this coming June and have cooked on it all year around. I have yet to empty the grease cup. There is nothing there due to the fact that the infra-red vaporizes the grease. I grew up in Antioch as a kid so Antioch was Charmglow country. I now live in Inverness and Palatine is on the other side of the Main street through here. Palatine is where Webber is located and now it is just the business end and the factory has moved a few towns West. I hated my Webber from the first day and over the last 11 years I spent well over $1,100 on that thing and I could never count on the thing to work when I was having people over. I never used it to entertain as it would not get over 350 or the Rotiss. motor would freeze and a Leg of Lamb would be toast and I was sending out for pizza or KFC in the dining room with sterling silver, fine china, and Waterford Crystal. The $1,100 was just for service calls and I replaced all of the guts in this 3 times with all of the SS replacements. It never worked in Chicago in the winter. The infra-red does not seem to be affected by temp or wind. It still maintains 1,300 to 1,400 degrees. The Webber reaches 550 to 600 no matter what you purchase. I don't have any idea what the sizzle burner is all about. I would just never purchase another Webber product. In my former home I think the grill was Broil-Master by Early-Morning. The people are still using it and that is 22 years old without a problem.

I checked my latest utility bill. Currently our natural gas costs $.62/therm for the first 19 therms, and after that $.81/therm. The baseline quantity of 19 therms is a summer figure, which will go up in the winter as the average household uses more gas in the winter. I believe the winter figures are about 60 therms. However, the cost per therm will likely also go up. For example, December 2001 rates were .67/.86 per therm. (December 2000 rates were nearly $2/therm, due to possibly illegal market/supply manipulation by Texas energy companies). In any case, it's nice to know that the wide price fluctations of 2000/2001 didn't happen last winter. In some areas, natural gas may be even more expensive. So, NG costing 1/2 of propane is probably a national average. Your figures look fairly reasonable considering the price of your natural gas. A plus of a NG grill conversion is that NG is inherently safer. It is lighter than air and will dissipate rapidly in an outdoor environment. LP, on the other hand, is heavier than air, and can pool in low spots. Of course, you lose portability with NG hookups. I have no plans to do an NG conversion any time soon, but I bought the conversion kit for my grill anyway, so I will have it ready when I do decide to convert.

It's possible but it depends on the control used, some can be some cannot. Find the model and serial numbers on the data plate and then call the manufacturer or a fireplace dealer that sells your brand and find out.

If it just has an adapter, you can remove it and be good to go. If it is built that way, I believe the jets, etc. have to be replaced. In other words, you may be out of luck :). You may want to post this in the appliance forum as opposed to here.