Barbeque Safety Tips

Great weath­er often cre­ates an urge to spark up the bar­beque! Before you do that, it is a good time to review safe prac­tices!

If you are buy­ing a new bar­beque choose care­ful­ly and insure it has a CSA, ITS or ULC label. Read and fol­low the oper­a­tor instruc­tions, and if nec­es­sary have it ser­viced and assem­bled by a trained pro­fes­sion­al.

If you are con­nect­ing to the nat­ur­al gas source from your home, make sure the fit­ting was installed by a cer­ti­fied gas fit­ter, gas con­nec­tions are not a Do It Your­self project. Make sure the bar­beque is designed for nat­ur­al gas rather than propane.  When you con­nect the hose to the fit­ting have a 50/50 soap and water solu­tion ready to check for leaks. Brush it onto the joints, if you see bub­bles form­ing you have a leak. Nev­er light a bar­beque until all hose con­nec­tions are tight and leaks sealed.

When using a propane bar­beque, note that portable propane tanks have a 10 year expiry date.  Check the age of your tank, if it’s over 10 years it will have to be recer­ti­fied to be filled.   Propane tanks should be trans­port­ed in the upright posi­tion. They should be stored out­doors in a dry place, away from extreme heat sources, on a non flam­ma­ble prod­uct i.e. con­crete, and nev­er under­neath the work­ing bar­beque.

Check the con­di­tion of your bar­beque before light­ing. Remove debris and inspect the burn­er. If it is cor­rod­ed, replace it before you light the bar­beque.  The bar­beque should be a min­i­mum of 1 meter (3 feet) away from build­ings, away from wind and flam­ma­ble mate­ri­als. Nev­er use a bar­beque indoors, doing so caus­es a build-up of poi­so­nous car­bon monox­ide gas. Check the flex­i­ble hose. If you find cracks or dam­age replace the hose before using the bar­beque.  Clean the tubes under­neath the burn­er – insects and debris can accu­mu­late inside these tubes.  If your bar­beque con­nec­tion area has an “o” ring, check it every time you con­nect the cylin­der. Replace miss­ing, deformed, cracked or dam­aged “o” rings.

To pre­vent the build-up of gas when you are light­ing the bar­beque, have your ignit­er (match or elec­tron­ic spark­er) ready to go before you turn on the gas. Light the burn­er imme­di­ate­ly after turn­ing on the gas.  If for some rea­son you are delayed, turn off the gas and wait a few min­utes for the gas buildup to dis­si­pate.  Nev­er have your face or skin near the burn­er when light­ing. Keep chil­dren well back from bar­be­ques at all times, espe­cial­ly when light­ing.

When you are fin­ished cook­ing turn of the burn­ers and shut off the gas sup­ply. A cov­er will pre­vent cor­ro­sion.

Have a Hap­py and Safe bar­be­quing sea­son!