You've been in the market for a new grill for weeks. You've done your research, you've compared models, talked with one of our lovely barbecue experts, and you finally know which barbecue you want to call "Honey" for the next 10 years. One thing though: you don't know if your current gas line will work with your soon-to-be new barbecue.

No, we're not talking about if your gas line is supplying enough power to your grill. You can read about that here.

What we are talking about is if your gas line has the proper sizing, parts and safety measures in place.

Starting on the actual gas line, new safety standards say that you need to have an external shut-off on the outside of the house that can turn the gas off should an emergency arrive. If you have an external shut-off in place, fantastic. If you don't have one, you'll need to have one installed to have your gas-line up to legal code.

Frequently older lines were installed without external shut-offs, as previous safety regulations didn't require them. Similar to seat-belts, as the times change, so do safety regulations.

Shut-offs often look like this, with either a yellow or red handle that can be turned to shut the gas flow on and off. This is because if anything were to ever happen at the barbecue, you have a secondary source in which the gas can safely be turned off.

Now that we're past the shut-off, the next line of business is to make sure your quick disconnect coupler is the right sizing to match your barbecue. Not all barbecues are equal, and you'll typically find one of two sizes, 1/2" and 3/8". Depending on what you currently have on your house, and what your new barbecue size is, you may need some work to make sure they're compatible. 

As you can see, the 1/2" coupler on the left is much larger than the 3/8" coupler on the right. 

Quick Tip: A 1/2" coupler is roughly the diameter of a toonie, while a 3/8" will be smaller, roughly the diameter of a quarter.

A lot of older barbecues are 3/8" as they didn't have the same BTU requirements as some of the newer fully loaded units. You'll have to check what size your line is currently set up to, and what your new unit will be, to determine if any work will need to be done.

If your sizing doesn't match, you can contact your local store and one of our parts and fittings experts can help run through the fittings and steps needed to get you up and running.

If you're not comfortable doing the work yourself, that's what we're for! We have licensed gas fitters on deck to get your gas line set up safely for you to grill. You'll just have to let us know if you already have a shut-off in place or not, or if you need a whole new gas line all together. This just helps our team know which service you'll need to get up and running. 

We have 5 locations across Canada. Three are located throughout the GTA in Burlington, Oakville & Etobicoke, Ontario. There are also our Calgary North and Calgary South locations in Alberta.