# Gas grill in bypass mode won't light?



## Artfuldodger (Nov 21, 2018)

Today I cooked on my Weber grill. I turned off the gas to prepare some more food. Then I tried to re-light it and it wouldn't light. The little pilot burner would light but not the whole burner. I was using a butane grill lighter, not piezo.
Put on a new tank and it still wouldn't light. I figured it may have been related to the cold weather somehow.

Was looking on google and ran across that there is a safety valve that shuts down most of the gas from the regulator if it thinks there is a leak. Looks to be more or less a check valve that shuts if downstream pressure is too low.

Was reading to close all the burner valves and open the tank valve. Then wait a few minutes to let the pressure force this bypass(check valve) back open.
I haven't tried this yet as I just researched it tonight.

I found this precedure;
*How To Reset The Regulator When In Bypass*

Turn off all the burners and close the tank valve.
Wait 60 seconds.
Open the tank valve fully and wait a few seconds for pressure in the regulator and *gas* hose to equalize.
Open the *grill* lid, then open one of the burner control knobs and light the *grill*.
May take longer than a few seconds in cold weather after opening the tank valve.

Wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem. Maybe I turned the tank valve off before the burner valves. Maybe I left the burner valve on too long before lighting it. I must have done something that put it into "bypass" mode.


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## Artfuldodger (Nov 21, 2018)

From Weber;
You may have inadvertently caused your grill to go into what’s commonly called “bypass” by activating the gas control safety device on the regulator. 

I probably did but how?


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## hopper (Nov 21, 2018)

Thinking you cut the tank before the grill. I have done that but never kept my grill from lighting only cause a low flame. Reset for me was just unhook tank with all off and re hook tank. Webber must have a fail safe. Good luck frustrating for sure


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## treemanjohn (Nov 22, 2018)

You can open the tank too fast and the regulator will shut down. You probably have to reset the tank. Shut off the tank, disconnect the line from the tank., open all burners to high and walks away to a couple of minutes. Then close off the burners and slowly open the valve to pressurize the regulator and lines. Open it wide once it's loaded with gas


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## Artfuldodger (Nov 22, 2018)

treemanjohn said:


> You can open the tank too fast and the regulator will shut down. You probably have to reset the tank. Shut off the tank, disconnect the line from the tank., open all burners to high and walks away to a couple of minutes. Then close off the burners and slowly open the valve to pressurize the regulator and lines. Open it wide once it's loaded with gas



That may have been my problem. This video shows what you are saying. I never knew to open the tank valve slowly. I'll try this reset procedure the next time it does it.

I just went out and lit it without doing any resetting. I guess over enough time it will equalize and reset itself.
Frustrating though when it happened in the middle of a cook. Now I'll know what happened and what to do.

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## Artfuldodger (Nov 22, 2018)

hopper said:


> Thinking you cut the tank before the grill. I have done that but never kept my grill from lighting only cause a low flame. Reset for me was just unhook tank with all off and re hook tank. Webber must have a fail safe. Good luck frustrating for sure



Thanks, probably what I may have done. That and then opening the tank valve real fast. 
Learn something everyday.

I do prefer charcoal but can't beat the convenience of gas.

I like to put my discada directly on the grill to cook bacon. For some reason it gets too hot in one spot on a burner. Such as that of a wok. It's suppose to by design. Great for other things but I'm using it as a griddle for the bacon so the gas grill way works better.

I guess a flat griddle would work OK on a gas grill. The thing I like about the discada is all the bacon grease goes to the center. I can move the bacon around and out of the grease easier.


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## Gregfosterid (Nov 11, 2019)

I just read about your problem and I have a question.
Now I use a combo grill with the ability to cook on coal and gas. I always preferred to cook on charcoal, but sometimes I used gas. Since I rarely used gas, of course I had no problems. But it became interesting to me, those tips that you gave to correct mistakes - are they applicable to all gas grills? Why am I still interested - because we are getting ready to move and I'm not sure that I will take my old grill to a new house. I already choose a gas Weber grill. Therefore, any information on correcting such errors is welcome. By the way, I will also be happy with the recommendations for choosing a Weber grill.


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## JustUs4All (Nov 11, 2019)

I did what you did once and it reset properly following the instructions.  My latest adventure was a situation where the burners would light but would only burn on very low flame.  That turned out to be a regulator that needed to be replaced.


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## tad1 (Nov 12, 2019)

I’ve had the same issue before.  I too ended up just turning everything off, unconnecting/ reconnecting propane tank, and was back in business!


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