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We recently bought a gas range and gas dryer from Lowes in Kona. They delivered it last week. We had our gas (LP) line installed today and were looking forward to our new appliances except that the appliances are set up for Natural Gas, not LP and require a conversion kit. We called Lowes and requested a conversation kit and requested them to install the kit on the appliances. They said they couldn't install them because of the "liability issue", and WE can install them but it will void the warranty!!
Has anyone here heard of anything like this? We told Lowes they could come pick up their appliances as we are returning them and will purchase elsewhere, they agreed and are coming on Wednesday. They could have cared less apparently.
What floors me is that Lowes told us that all of their gas appliances are sold set up for natural gas which we DONT EVEN HAVE on the island. Crazy!
Where on this island is a good place to purchase gas appliances and that will also install them (or at least do the LP conversion)?
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We had the same problem with a dryer from Home Depot. I think Hilo Propane did the conversion for us. At a charge, of course. I don't think they actually make appliances to run on propane, they always have to be converted. The alternative is to buy a used appliance, that's already been converted.
I heard that either now or soon we'll be able to get natural gas here, in large tanks, cheaper than propane. Wonder what it costs to have the dryer converted back?
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It isn't that hard to change out. I believe most of the owners manuals now give step by step. I did it for my dryer and two ranges.
Royall
Hale O Na Mea Pa`ani
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http://www.premierrange.com/faq-rangeconversion.php
"Life is labor, and all that is good in life comes from that labor..."
"Life is labor, and all that is good in life comes from that labor..."
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Thanks everyone, the appliances go back tomorrow. I am going to check out Home Depot tomorrow. I will also check out Hilo Propane to see if they can do the conversion for us.
And Delta9r, thanks for the link. I probably could have done the range conversion but was told by Lowes that it voids their warranty if I do it (but they wouldn't either!). Same with the dryer, which was more complicated and I don't know if my technical skills were up for that.
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quote:
Originally posted by HPPGuy
Thanks everyone, the appliances go back tomorrow. I am going to check out Home Depot tomorrow. I will also check out Hilo Propane to see if they can do the conversion for us.
And Delta9r, thanks for the link. I probably could have done the range conversion but was told by Lowes that it voids their warranty if I do it (but they wouldn't either!). Same with the dryer, which was more complicated and I don't know if my technical skills were up for that.
It's not particularly hard to do the conversion - in most cases, you have to screw out the NatGas jet for each burner and replace it with different sized jet for propane. I've never bought an appliance on the island that was set up for propane.
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It's odd they said it would void their warranty. When I bought my dryer from Sears the parts for the conversion were in a bag taped to the back along with instructions.
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quote:
Originally posted by Lee M-S
I heard that either now or soon we'll be able to get natural gas here, in large tanks, cheaper than propane. Wonder what it costs to have the dryer converted back?
Yeah, those new LNG tanks are spiffy. And they're only 40' long and only cost $100,000 each. Hawai'i Gas only needs $15,000,000 to buy enough of them to switch over from using Syngas, which only has half the heat energy of Natural Gas, which is why you have to change the jets.
IOW, don't count on it any time soon.
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Sears, Home Depot and Lowes all sell gas appliances as they come from the factory-- set for natural gas. Some appliances come with the orifices for propane. Others you have to order the parts separately. The distributors are not in the repair business so are not set up to do the conversions in their stores or warehouses. You have to hire someone to do the conversion if you don't want to do it yourself. Some are simple like cooktops. Some dryers are very complicated. Home Depot can provide you with a list of about a dozen repair people who can do the conversion for you. I have never had troubles with warranties because of converting appliances to lp.
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I Bet you could call Michael's Repair. 982-7557. Hr lives in lower HPP. He has mentioned to me that hr used to be an appliance repair guy. He does home repairs and that now. I bet he would do the conversion on sire for a reasonable price too.
Jon in Keaau/HPP
Jon in Keaau/HPP
