Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

To use feet or not to use feet with a table, that is the question

Options
Retired RailRoader
Retired RailRoader Posts: 975
edited May 2012 in EggHead Forum
My friends wife has sent me on a mission to buy a BGE for her husband. Now when I bought my eggs in 04 & 05, eggs came with 3 ceramic feet. The ceramic feet were to be used in the official BGE table or if you made your own table. Under the egg you used a patio block along with the BGE ceramic to protect the bottom of the table. The feet I thought were to displace heat by providing air flow under the egg. I just left the dealer where we are going to be buying the egg and the dealer told me that now you should not be using the feet only a patio block under the egg. He has feet to give us but according to him BGE only wants the egg to sit on a patio block. Looking at some of the tables on the Naked Whiz's website most of the newer ones do have the eggs on a patio block. Tables that are older like mine have both. Any thoughts on to feet or not to feet question?
Everyday is Saturday and tomorrow is always Sunday.
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    Options
    bge hasn't said the thing should sit on a patio block without feet, unless you are talking the XL
    the XL is sold without feet, and isn't intended (per BGE) to be used with them

    there's a new 'table nest' available which holds the Large in a table and can be used instead of feet.but you don't 'have' to buy a new table nest.  and if you don't, and you want it in a table, then you can certainly still use the feet on a paver


    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • ribnrun
    ribnrun Posts: 174
    Options
    Mine sits on a piece of stone. I use my feet to keep drip pans off the platesetter. My egg is from 2005 and seems to be fine on the stone. The airflow is an interesting idea, but there is lots of surface area and the fire is built above the bottom of the egg. Heat rising and all that other nonsense.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    edited May 2012
    Options
    radiant heat doesn't rise

    air is an extra buffer, and may not be necessary. but he's been told he SHOULD NOT use them.  as if there is now an official (new) prohibition against them

    as far as i know, only the XL is supposed to never be used with feet (and they never gave us the rationale, just the rule)
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • ribnrun
    ribnrun Posts: 174
    Options
    Radiant heat will heat the air, and the heated air will rise. Try, compare the burns on yer hands touching the dome and touching the bottom 2 inches of the egg. Lol.

    Also the bowl shaped firebox reflects the heat upwards.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    Options
    A few guys had their tables burn under the patio stone when not using the feet

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    edited May 2012
    Options
    the sun heats the earth using only radiant heat.  there is no air in space.

    you are correct that the radiant heat from the bottom of the egg also heats the air, but that is insignificant. it's the heat radiating across the gap that's the issue

    as an example:
    your hand held over the lump will not be burnt by the air. it will be burnt by radiant heat from the lump.  and that heat needs no air between you and the source to cause the burn.

    and as for touching the bottom of the egg. you damn sure WILL burn your hands.  the bottom of the egg gets hotter than the dome sometimes.  why, because hot lump falls onto it and sits there.  and lump is far hotter than what the dome thermo reads.

    plenty of tables and porches with nice scorched wood under them.  even with the feet in place.

    use your 'LOLs' sparingly.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • tazcrash
    tazcrash Posts: 1,852
    Options
    Radiant heat goes down too.
    That's how they cook the pork at Hawaiian luaus.
    and I saw an add for a redneck microwave. Same principal.
    Bx - > NJ ->TX!!! 
    All to get cheaper brisket! 
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • ribnrun
    ribnrun Posts: 174
    Options
    Does you hand burn more, less or the same held under the lump? I will try it tomorrow and report back with pictures.

    Heat does not need air to burn you, but a fire heats air. Air is there no matter what, a burning fire does not create a vaccuum above it. The air is what holds the heat. My favorite question as a kid was "If heat rises, why is it so cold on the top of Everest in the summer?"

    With all the air flowing upward in the egg, the top just gets hotter than the bottom.

    It is all pretty mute though. The egg doesn't need the feet. If you worry about the table burning, add an extra block of stone. After five years, my table is in greater danger of falling apart than actually burning.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Newportlocal
    Newportlocal Posts: 474
    Options
    Certainly can't answer if they are necessary but...When I bought mine I asked if they could throw in some feet. They did free of charge. Don't know if I need them but I am using them, and if I ever need them for an inside the grill set up I have them. The dealer said they were like $12.00 dollars for them if I ever wanted more. Just ask they will probably throw them in.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    Options
    Ribnrun. No time today to give you your remedial physics lesson or vocabulary refresher.
    Let's just agree that you are confusing more than a few topics

    M'k?
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • ribnrun
    ribnrun Posts: 174
    Options
    No agreement here. I will eat my egg, ratty table and all if the top and bottom are the same temperature. Radiant heat source (lump) is fed by air, therefore convection. Air flows in bottom and out the top. Convection. Neither exists without the other. Little chunks of lump does not have enough energy to heat the bottom of the egg that much. Physics will not save you here. Many things I learned in books don't compare to what happens in real life. The top of the egg has radiant heat from the lump, and convection from the airflow. The bottom has just radiant heat from the lump, and cool outside air running by it.

    Top is hotter than the bottom. Lol
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • tazcrash
    tazcrash Posts: 1,852
    Options
    The bottom doesn't need to be hotter than the dome to burn something its sitting on.
    Bx - > NJ ->TX!!! 
    All to get cheaper brisket! 
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • ribnrun
    ribnrun Posts: 174
    Options
    True, but this thread totally digressed. My experience is that my table never scorched with a stone block under the egg. And if you are worried, double up to blocks.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Eggbertsdad
    Eggbertsdad Posts: 804
    Options
    If you're really worried about it look at cazzy's table and what his eggs are sitting on. Guesswork...done!
    Sarasota, FL via Boynton Beach, FL, via Sarasota, FL, via Charleston, SC, via The Outer Banks, via God's Country (East TN on Ft. Loudon Lake)
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • eggo
    eggo Posts: 492
    edited May 2012
    Options
    post deleted
    Eggo in N. MS
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
    Options
    Stike, if this damn knee of mine ever lets me walk again, I was preparing to do some measurements below the Egg.  Some day....
    The Naked Whiz
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • eggo
    eggo Posts: 492
    Options
    A few guys had their tables burn under the patio stone when not using the feet
    Was this before the screen was added to the lower vent? Going to feel my stone next cook.
    Eggo in N. MS
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • XLBalco
    XLBalco Posts: 607
    Options

    when i bought my xl, the guy noticed there were no feet in the box and sold hold on and grabbed some... guess i didnt need them

    havent used them since the egg is in the nest while i build the table but i will use them to hold up the pizza stone once  i do one

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • twlangan
    twlangan Posts: 307
    Options
    I had my new large sitting directly on split fire bricks for the first few cooks. Heat transferred through the bricks to the table and the shelf got pretty warm - too warm for me to feel comfortable with. I put the feet between my Egg and the fire brick and it is surprising how much cooler this now keeps the bench. I would not recommend placing the Egg directly on a paving stone or brick - too much heat transfer that I feel is not safe.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • burr_baby33
    burr_baby33 Posts: 503
    Options
    Stike and Whiz, everyone should read this. You guye have it right There is a lot of bad info out there on this subject. When my dealer delivered and set up my egg last August, they did not put the legs in place. I didn't even know what they were for. Then on an old post on this subject I saw a pic of a table that had burned thru because of no legs. I called the dealer back and he said it was ok without the legs. I insisted that they come back and put them in place and they did. Then when I bought another large for my lake house that dealer sat the egg on a paver.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    Options
    A few guys had their tables burn under the patio stone when not using the feet
    Was this before the screen was added to the lower vent? Going to feel my stone next cook.

    It had nothing to do with the lower vent. Just the heat from the base of the egg. I'll see if I can find a pic. The wood under the paver just smoldered

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    Options
    image

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • XLBalco
    XLBalco Posts: 607
    Options
    i am going to buy 3 more feet i think and then use all 6 to support the paver and keep it lifted off the deck shelf.  LOL
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    Options
    i am going to buy 3 more feet i think and then use all 6 to support the paver and keep it lifted off the deck shelf.  LOL
    That was just a pic I grabbed from a post. Some guys had the wood actually burned through. I had a bbq related fire five years ago and just settled the insurance claim last week. Maybe a little over-cautious here but fires aren't fun.

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories