Again, no, it’s not a baby or a pet. It’s a new BBQ. We went with the Sovereign 70 from Broil King, Natural Gas version instead of propane, no side burner, and just because they didn’t have the model down from it that we wanted but could give us a decent deal to move up to this one, we have a rotisserie rack too. I won’t be surprised if I never use it, or try a roast or something once, but for now, it’s there.

The fun came when Andrea informed me as we were getting it that we needed to have it professionally connected. I didn’t know that. I just thought I’d be responsible for connecting hose to nozzle, and I wasn’t really thrilled about it. Some might be more annoyed with paying someone else to do it, but when it involves connecting a fire source to the natural gas feed that runs through the house, I’m okay with having it done properly by someone who theoretically knows what they’re doing, not by me after watching some YouTube videos.

Apparently though, nobody wants the business to do this. Andrea worked through 3-4 people (two or so private referrals, two or so businesses) and while I could understand the individuals not doing it, the businesses didn’t even want to phone us back. We’ve had the BBQ almost three weeks and there was still no joy.

Yesterday I called a fireplace store on Carling, and after a bit of scheduling adjustments, they could actually fit us in today or next Wednesday. We opted for today.

The install was relatively straightforward. They started in the house to look for shut-off valves, and that was a learning experience for me as I got to find ones I didn’t even know about or how to reach them. In the end, none of them were for the BBQ. So out to the back. Yes, as we knew, the line was there, and the shutoff valve is right there too. I confess I wasn’t as happy about that, even with the capping on the end. In theory, anyone could have toggled that switch at any time — me, landscapers, Jacob. No gas would have leaked because of the cap, but if the cap wasn’t perfect…

They connected the hose, tweaked the BBQ a bit, ran the gas, lit fine. Tested the hose and caps for leaks with soap and water, all good. We paid and off they went.

Except then you’re supposed to run the BBQ for 20 minutes to burn off any residue, and we couldn’t get it to light. We could smell gas, but no joy again.

Called the store, they called him, he called me, we tried a couple of things, nope, he had to come back. Turns out when he was testing for air leaks with the soap and water, he disconnected the one hose and when he put it back on, it didn’t go “all the way” on. Small tweak, fired it up again, and then Andrea tested it with success this time.

We burned off any grease and oily residues, and then cooked hams and hots tonight (hamburgers and hot dogs for those not up on tailgate slang). Worked great.

Although I find it a bit odd…this is the first BBQ in the history of every bbq that I have ever used that seems to have the “hotter” spot at the front of the grill. Sunday night it will be time for pork chops and steak.

Oh, and there was a small bonus in there. The guy is also a fireplace technician, so while he was there, we talked about our fireplace “problem”. It worked okay when we first bought the house, but then it stopped lighting. The pilot light was there, the fireplace would come on, and then it would go out. We’d reset, start again, it would come on, and then it would go out. We had it looked at a year or two ago, and they told us that it was a broken part, tried to get replacement, couldn’t, probably need a new fireplace. Not what we wanted to hear. But Andrea would like it working, and we figured if it went well with the BBQ installation, we would willingly consider them for our next business transaction. The guy thinks it could very well be the switch, and even though the company is out of business that made the furnace, he said they have a guy who custom adapts switches and things to fit out-of-business designs. Certainly worth a check anyway, so we’ll likely pencil him in before Labour Day (he told us they get crazy busy from October through December). Great service, working BBQ, what’s not to love?