Can't get temp up.

GK59

Did pizza again today. Only problem was I could not get temp above 350* for the longest time . Added some briquettes to try and raise temp quick.Maxed out at 400*

The egg was in the rain for almost 3 days . Early this afternoon I pulled rings and cleaned out very damp ash. Started a small fire and let that burn for almost 3 hours. Added more lump , PS and pizza stone . Vent wide open and top off. Took over an hour to get from 350 to 400* after adding coals between pizzas.

1st pizza was on 35 minutes 2nd about 30. Neither one had a  crust to my liking. I also noticed that there was small yellow looking droplets bleeding at the chimney then later from the whole dome.

Any ideas???

Thanks ahead of time

lousubcap

At the risk of the obvious-if you have fuel (good lump) and light it, then the only temperature controller is air-flow.  So with your description of actions taken I have no idea unless your BGE was about saturated and you needed to drive out the moisture which is not out of the realm of possibility.  Never experienced that phenomena but I would fire it up again as that appears to be the only plausible explanation to me.  Perhaps others will be along-good luck.

Baysidebob

"Added some briquettes to try and raise temp quick"

Did he say "briquettes"?

If you want hot/fast and haven't done so for awhile pull the fire ring and fire box.  Clean it all out.  It takes like ten minutes.  Pull the daisy wheel, go with a wide-open bottom vent.  Get the fire going however you choose.  Go ahead and put in the platesetter and grill and whatever else you'll use.  You'll be at 600 in less than two beers.  Pinch off the bottom vent to stabalize.  If you're looking for 500 or so no need for the daisy wheel.

dweebs0r

lousubcap stated this may be the obvious solution.  I took out all of my old lump, removed the fire ring and firebox.  Cleaned the dust and grime off of the fire ring.  Cleaned the firebox very well, inspecting each of the air holes and making sure they werent clogged up with ash and lump.  Removed all ash from bottom.  Carefully lined up the firebox with the draft door.  Filled the firebox halfway up with new lump.  Used the old lump to fill up the rest of the way to the top of the firebox.  After all of this I lit the Egg like normal, walked away for a little while and came back to an Egg that was >1000 degrees (oops!).  I now try to clean the Egg out pretty well every couple of weeks.

Canugghead

...Started a small fire and let that burn for almost 3 hours. Added more lump , ...

any chance the fresh lump was suffocating the already lit lump buried underneath? did you notice glowing red underneath the lump grate? it happened to me ... dome temp was struggling to go up while the bottom was like a blast furnace. 

the_alchemist83

Cleaning out the egg is a definite possibility.  I rake the lump with the ash tool to free up any ash/dust prior to filling with new lump and actually will probably be using the shop vac to get the ash out of the bottom instead of just scraping.  Always scrape out the bottom as well.  I did pizza last night and to ensure the temp remained high, I used 5 starter cubes, 3 in a line across the middle & 1 on top & 1 on bottom.  Help 650 F, with the bottom sash at approx. 3 1/2" & the DFMT at 50 crescent or so.