"Stop Drilling" Cracks on Fire Box (no warranty)

i would try some jb weld. I had a crack in my base a few months back i took a dremel and channeled out the crack and used jb weld and it has held. Worse case scenario if it does break atleast you are just replacing a small fire box and not nothing to expensive. I would totally give jb weld a try

Like taz says. Let her be.
It'll crack, and then it won't any more. Until it does again.
The whole time the egg will roll along just fine.

It's a wonder the fireboxes last as long as they do.

When it becomes unuseable, you can get the warranty replacement. Can get it sooner if you want, once it breaks thru completely. Then just put the replacement on the shelf and keep using the cracked one.

i believe one of the other makers ships their kamados with two piece fireboxes, don't they?
all i know is my old one split in two.  then in four.  then in eight....  )

maybe the initial stress is greatest, and hence the sawn firebox idea, staving off the first crack as long as possible.  but i think the ceramic will continue to crack eventually.  we're talking continuous exposure to cuppla thousand degrees.

if there were a three-piece or four-piece set up, and you could buy just the piece which failed (instead of a new firebox each time), maybe they could get the cost down to where it was another sacrifical item (something you expect to replace eventually, like the gasket).  that would take BGE off the perpetual hook of covering these things forever.  that's a liability, given that EVERY firebox eventually breaks.

dunno. i have to think the BGE culture has taken these things to much higher temps than they historically were used at.  maybe 15-20 years ago no one went to 750+ regularly.  now we're doing clean burns, and high temp pizza cooks. 

i think the answer is somewhere in the middle.  stop expecting the lifetime warranty on something which we KNOW is going to break, but also reconfigure it to minimize cracking, and to allow partial replacement when the time comes (rather than require the expense of a totally new firebox, coupled with high shipping charges)

>soapbox dismounted, and "into one of these things"(Bill Murray, as Frank Cross in 'Scrooged')<

I must be doing something wrong.... 1 piece fire box.  X_X

I just cant help but feel as if I’m oversimplifying the whole thing. Or at least overlooking a glaring problem with my theory.

Oversimplifying?.....no......overanalizing.......yes.

I have 3 eggs and it's safe to say that after I got them home and put them together, I have not even looked at the fireboxes since.  In other words it's a none issue.  If it makes you feel better apply JB weld and be done with it.

Stike, i don't think the heat, per se, is the problem.  the problem is that the firebox is a complex shape with curves in two directions, holes in the side, a thicker rim on top than the walls below it, a gap cut in the side of the lower ring, etc.  I have to think this is purely stresses being sent in all different directions, and causing the cracks.  The simpler the shape is, the fewer number of stresses to fight each other.  Clearly, that's what they were attempting when they made the new slotted box.  I just think they should try it by creating two halves.  That would also give you the half-replacement option you suggest.

My Medium firebox came with an expansion joint (its about a year old).  Are they doing that for all sizes now?

And they appear to be still cracking, although I'm not sure we know at what rate.