Full Gas Tank - Grill Won't Light?

There are several possibilities for why your grill will not light on a full gas tank, but two common ones are: the excess flow valve on your propane tank has tripped, or the gas regulator on your grill is not tightly seated in the gas tank valve. The valve on the top of grill propane tanks has an excess flow valve inside. It is a safety feature that prevents the tank from discharging gas to rapidly. For example, if you open the tank valve while it is not connected to anything, no gas will come out.

Sometimes this valve trips by accident and prevents gas flow from the tank to the grill. Charbroil has posted a WEB site with the remedy to this problem.

http://charbroil.com/help/gas/no-gas-flow

The second possibility is one that I just discovered. Inside the threaded, female coupling of the valve on top of the gas tank is a rubber gasket. Difficult to see in the photo below.

If the gas regulator on your grill is not tightly seated against this rubber gasket, the tank’s excess flow valve will trip and prevent gas flow. I recently had two tanks from a popular gas tank exchange company located in a big box store that were not properly refurbished. Their rubber gaskets were damaged. I was told by my local propane dealer that one of the major companies that swap empty tanks for full ones is cutting corners by not properly refurbishing them. For fear of legal repercussions, I do not name that company. If you suspect this is the problem, inspect the rubber gasket or ask your local propane distributor to inspect it.

NOTE: The collar around the valve on top of tanks has the tank’s manufacture date stamped on it. Tanks can be refurbished for up to 12 years, if done properly. Pictured below is an out of date tank (October 2004).