--- title: "Grill not getting hot enough" description: "DCS grill not getting hot enough. Everything works and nothing is hot, which nearly always means how much gas is arriving rather than anything inside the…" url: "https://dcsmiami.support/symptoms/grill-not-hot-enough/" date_modified: "2026-09-14" Appliance type: "bbq-grill" --- # DCS grill not getting hot enough ### What to do in the next ten minutes Preheat properly first: all burners on high, hood closed, fifteen minutes. If it is still not there and you are on LP, turn everything off, close the cylinder valve, wait a minute, then open the valve slowly and relight — that resets a tripped limiting device. On natural gas, check the wall valve is fully open rather than partly. ### Preheating is not a formality on this size of grill There is a great deal of metal here — grates, radiants, a heavy firebox — and it all has to come up before the cooking surface is at temperature. A grill judged after five minutes is being judged while it is still heating itself. With the hood closed and the burners on high, fifteen minutes is the honest number, and on a windy terrace in winter it can be longer. ### How the limiter fools everybody The device inside an LP cylinder valve is a safety feature and it is not subtle about what it does, but it is completely silent about having done it. A grill downstream of a tripped limiter lights, runs, and behaves like a grill with tired burners. People replace burners over it. The reset is a minute of doing nothing in the right order, and it is always worth trying before anything is bought. The cylinder's limiting device has tripped It closes down when it sees flow it interprets as a leak, including a valve opened briskly. The grill then runs gently and will not sear, with no other sign that anything is wrong. The supply collapses under load Pressure that is correct at rest and falls away with several burners running. Invisible without a gauge and very common on long runs under an island. The burners cannot pass their rated flow Ports restricted by carbon and grease along their length. The grill lights everywhere and delivers a fraction of what it should. How long was the preheat? With the hood down and everything on high. Under fifteen minutes on a grill this size is not a preheat, and it is the single commonest reason for this complaint. Is it worse on a fresh cylinder? If it started after a cylinder change, the limiting device is almost certainly the answer and the reset costs nothing. Do all burners fall short equally? Evenly weak across the grill is the supply. One weak burner among strong ones is that burner. Lights and runs, but will not sear What it usually means Give it a full fifteen minutes with the hood down before judging it A tripped limiter on an LP cylinder is the classic cause and resets in a minute A supply that is fine at rest can still collapse with three burners running What to do in the next ten minutes Preheat properly first: all burners on high, hood closed, fifteen minutes. If it is still not there and you are on LP, turn everything off, close the cylinder valve, wait a minute, then open the valve slowly and relight — that resets a tripped limiting device. On natural gas, check the wall valve is fully open rather than partly. Preheating is not a formality on this size of grill There is a great deal of metal here — grates, radiants, a heavy firebox — and it all has to come up before the cooking surface is at temperature. A grill judged after five minutes is being judged while it is still heating itself. With the hood closed and the burners on high, fifteen minutes is the honest number, and on a windy terrace in winter it can be longer. How the limiter fools everybody The device inside an LP cylinder valve is a safety feature and it is not subtle about what it does, but it is completely silent about having done it. A grill downstream of a tripped limiter lights, runs, and behaves like a grill with tired burners. People replace burners over it. The reset is a minute of doing nothing in the right order, and it is always worth trying before anything is bought. ### Does the wind make this much difference? On a terrace facing the water, yes. An exposed grill loses heat off the hood and the sides faster than the burners can replace it, and the effect on searing is real. It is one reason we ask where the island is before deciding the machine is the problem. ### Is a natural gas grill weaker than LP? They are engineered to deliver the same output with different orifices. What does make a real difference is a machine set up for the wrong one — it will run, and it will never be right. On outdoor equipment that is common enough that we verify it rather than asking. --- **[Read full article: Grill not getting hot enough](https://dcsmiami.support/symptoms/grill-not-hot-enough/)**