Barbecue gas regulator UK: match both mbar figures

You still have the patio gas cylinder from the last grill, and the new barbecue is on the paving in pieces. Stop and read two labels before you open the valve. A barbecue gas regulator UK outlet states a pressure in millibar, and the data plate states the pressure the appliance was set up for. Those two figures have to be the same.

Products Compared checked Calor’s 37 mbar propane regulator page, the GOV.UK account of UKCA and CE marking, the BSI record for BS EN 498:2012, and the Schickling manual notes, in October 2026. We did not measure a flame in a lab, and an amazon.co.uk listing is not a data plate. A qualifying purchase through our links can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.

In short

The regulator outlet and the appliance plate have to state the same pressure. Calor’s screw-on propane regulator is one example at 37 mbar, and a PremioGas XL manual line of I3B/P at 50 mbar is for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Hungary. If the labels disagree, a specialist changes the jets, or you do not buy that gas model.

Barbecue gas regulator UK: two numbers that have to match

Millibar is the unit on both labels. A figure of 37 mbar on a regulator means that outlet supplies gas at 37 millibar. A figure of 50 mbar on an appliance plate means the burners and jets were set up for a 50 millibar supply. Feed a 50 mbar barbecue from a 37 mbar regulator and you have a different setup from the one the plate describes. The reverse mismatch is the same fault from the other side.

You can run the check before any flame. Find the data plate on the body, a cart panel, or inside a door, and write down the pressure and the gas category. Read the outlet pressure on the regulator that belongs to your cylinder, then put the two numbers side by side. The same figure means you can move on to a sound connection. A different figure means you stop with the valve closed.

A longer hose does not edit either number. The hose carries whatever pressure the regulator supplies, so length only changes where the barbecue can stand. If the regulator has no pressure printed on it, do not guess 37 from Calor’s page. That page describes one product, and an unlabelled outlet is an unknown supply.

Keep the cylinder upright and outdoors while you read. A match of numbers lets you connect that regulator to that appliance. A correct pressure still leaves a garage, a tent or an awning as the wrong place to light the burners.

What the standard and the mark do not tell you

BS EN 498:2012 is the British Standard record for dedicated liquefied petroleum gas barbecues for outdoor use, including built-in models. A carton that names the standard still has not told you whether the jets are for 37 mbar or for 50 mbar.

The marking regime answers a different question. GOV.UK’s product-marking account says that in Great Britain a product may carry UKCA or CE. In Northern Ireland the route is CE, or UKNI together with CE. Those marks show the marking route. The jet size and the supply pressure stay on the data plate and on the regulator.

Your patio gas cylinder may be years older than the cart. The plate on the new cart and the outlet on the old regulator are the pair you compare, because a logo on the carton does not update the fitting in the shed. If the listing is silent, ask the seller for a photograph of the data plate.

None of these sources prints the millibar figure for the barbecue in your garden. If the plate is missing, painted over or too worn to read, you do not fill the gap with the standard’s title or the logo. Unknown pressure means the valve stays closed.

A worked example from a German manual

Schickling is a useful worked example because the material does not give every model the same pressure. The PremioGas XL manual states I3B/P at 50 mbar for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Hungary. I3B/P there is the gas category printed beside that pressure for those countries. It is a destination line in that manual, and it does not mean every Schickling cart is jetted the same way.

Henry and Hermann are the boundary inside the same brand. Their pages in that material do not print a millibar figure. If you own a Henry or a Hermann, or if your own plate is silent, you do not copy 50 mbar from the PremioGas XL manual. Ask the seller for the plate on your unit, or treat the pressure as unknown until a specialist can read the appliance.

A Weber gas barbecue can carry a different plate again. Our Weber gas barbecue comparison separates format, stated heat and price, and it does not publish one millibar figure for every model. This site has no scored Schickling page, so the plate fixed to your own unit is where you finish.

What you may connect yourself

You may connect the supply yourself when the labels already agree. The work is a reading job, then a connection the regulator maker already describes. It becomes specialist work the moment you would have to alter the appliance so the numbers agree.

1. Read the data plate and note the pressure in millibar and the gas category beside it.
2. Read the regulator that fits your cylinder and note its outlet pressure.
3. Connect that regulator only when the two pressures are the same figure.
4. Keep the barbecue outdoors, with the hose clear of the hot body.
5. Open the cylinder valve only after the connection is seated as the regulator maker describes.

You may replace a perished hose with a hose suited to that same regulator and that same pressure. A new hose does not convert 37 mbar to 50 mbar, or the other way round. Changing barbecue jets is a different job, and this article does not give orifice sizes, drill sizes or a kit sequence. A specialist changes the jets. If nobody competent will do that work on the model, you do not buy the gas barbecue.

A patio gas cylinder you already own is usable when its regulator’s outlet matches the plate. It is not a universal fitting for every cart. Read the plate in the shop, or ask for a photo of it, before you pay, and add the cylinder and regulator to your sums using the guide to what to budget for a garden barbecue. Do not light the burners to test an unmatched pair.

When to stop

Stop when the numbers differ, when the plate is missing or unreadable, or when the regulator has no outlet pressure printed on it. The next act is a specialist, or a different purchase. Until someone competent has matched the supply, or you own an appliance whose plate already matches your cylinder, the valve stays closed.

Stop if you smell gas and you cannot shut the cylinder. Shut the valve if you can do that without staying in the gas, then get a specialist. A forum thread, a video comment or a conversion kit from another country is the wrong place to finish that situation. Leave the barbecue unlit while you wait.

If a seller says the CE mark, the UKCA mark or a mention of BS EN 498 means the jets already suit your cylinder, ask them to show the plate. The plate names the pressure. A matched regulator also does not make a gas barbecue safe in a closed space, as carbon monoxide from a barbecue in a closed space explains.