Pyrophoric charring? Alternate title: why did my house burn down?

BigWader

Tim (Watkinsville) said:

Man, and here I am just getting my outdoor kitchen built with, yep, wooden tables. I have an XL and a Medium. The furniture is all custom built with will have granite working surfaces. I am now concerned about the fire hazard. To that end, I goggled up some egg table images and a lot of what I see are wooden tables that don't have a lot of clearance between the egg surface and the wood. My eggs are sitting on cement pavers that should provide adequate insulation for the bottom of the eggs. How much clearance should I have between the egg and the wood?

I am for sure going to get a fire extinguisher to have out there. Any advice on this would be much appreciated. 

Most seem to be going with a paver AND a table nest so there is a riser between the paver and the bottom of the egg.

nolaegghead

I think what may have happened is shelf below the egg heated up and was smoldering for hours and hours after the egg was shut down.  You want an air gap under the egg, which there was, although small, looked like 1" angle iron, but you also want a cement block or something under that to be a heat sink for the radiant heat.  Maybe @spaightlabs could clarify.

I had my egg on a big square pizza stone with no air gap and it charred the shelf.  I now have it on the green ceramic feet on a 18" square by 1.5" cement block.

Nature Boy

Very sorry to hear of your loss, but very happy to hear everyone is okay. Stuff can be replaced, and if you are like me, you will come out on the other end stronger and smarter. Best of luck with the insurance claim and the rebuild. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the process. It is still surprisingly fresh in my mind 8 years later.

Streaming good vibes your way.

Chris

KiterTodd

nolaegghead said:

I think what may have happened is shelf below the egg heated up and was smoldering for hours and hours after the egg was shut down.  You want an air gap under the egg, which there was, although small, looked like 1" angle iron, but you also want a cement block or something under that to be a heat sink for the radiant heat.  Maybe @spaightlabs could clarify.

I had my egg on a big square pizza stone with no air gap and it charred the shelf.  I now have it on the green ceramic feet on a 18" square by 1.5" cement block.

Thanks.  That would make sense as the rain would not have put this out since the smoldering area was likely sheltered by the egg itself.

Ugh.  Still really scary to read.  Again, glad everyone is well.

henapple

We had a thread a while back. https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1149539/heat-and-wood-tables
Use a plenty of air gaps everywhere. Nothing will "probably" happen but when it does. Notice the picture with the burnt shelf.

TexanOfTheNorth

nolaegghead said:

I think what may have happened is shelf below the egg heated up and was smoldering for hours and hours after the egg was shut down.  You want an air gap under the egg, which there was, although small, looked like 1" angle iron, but you also want a cement block or something under that to be a heat sink for the radiant heat.  Maybe @spaightlabs could clarify.

I had my egg on a big square pizza stone with no air gap and it charred the shelf.  I now have it on the green ceramic feet on a 18" square by 1.5" cement block.

It would be interesting to know, but probably impossible to do so at this point, if a crack developed in the base and allowed an ember to fall through. Also, I seem to recall that @Centex determined that he had a fire that resulted from something (plastic) touching his base. Doesn't sound like that would have been the case hear due to both the rain and the time it took for the fire to ignite.

Gezr

So glad you got everyone out safely. I gotta rethink my setup - hate to learn at your expense, but thanks for posting this so we can all see what needs to be made safer..

yzzi

I had a nest for a while and a friend gave me a table that I've been using lately. I was on the edge about it since the last few cooks the table top was really hot, and the screws 12 inches away were really hot to the touch. There's a lot of space between the egg and the top (almost 2 inches around), but the hot screws were really making me think twice about it. Now with this post, I'm going to put it back the nest.

RRP

Echoing here what others have said - you indeed were lucky to get your family out of there! Very scary indeed!

RAC

Glad everyone is okay and sorry to hear about the loss of your home!

BRush00

Wow - absolutely scary.

Glad everyone's out safe and sound.  And as a Dog owner/lover myself - maybe I'm the only one - but good on you for rushing back in to get your 13yo pup (and having an escape route in mind while doing it haha)

Like other's have suggested here, I was actually just talking to my wife last night about the 3-5 year "deck plan", I think I will be revising the "deck plan" into a "brick patio plan"...

bicktrav

That's terrifying.  Glad you made it out safe.  Somewhat baffling as to what could have caused a fire in rainy conditions after the egg had been properly shut down.  The heat transfer theory seems the most likely, but even that's bewildering considering the rainy conditions.  What kind of air gap did you have between the paver (or table) and the base of the egg?

tjv

oh man, I'm so sorry to hear this.  So glad, everyone is safe.  

t

Mainegg

So glad you and the family are ok! And as said soo glad you went back for the four footed baby. Not the smartest move for sure, but I would have done the same thing. Double kudos for being in a knee brace. Hope everything is ok with that. Hug your wife and dog... The rest can be replaced as hard as it seems right now.

FearlessTheEggNoob

Not much you can do. Looking at cooking pictures from the WOK people makes me cringe sometimes. I pointed out my concerns one time for the person's safety and got flagged by some bozo for being off topic.

cazzy said:

Very glad your family got out okay. Dodged a bullet for sure. Ultimately, I honestly have to say the forum failed you bro. Had I really looked at this picture, I would have told you your table needed more room to breathe.  Sorry man. :(

YEMTrey

So sorry to hear about the fire.  Very happy that you and your loved ones made it out safely.

I've been kicking around the idea of a table for my XL. Your post ensures that it stays in the nest on my concrete patio.  Thanks for sharing.

CPARKTX

Man very sorry to hear that. Our house burned down when I was a child and it was horrible.

SMITTYtheSMOKER

cazzy said:

Very glad your family got out okay. Dodged a bullet for sure. Ultimately, I honestly have to say the forum failed you bro. Had I really looked at this picture, I would have told you your table needed more room to breathe. Sorry man.

Cazzy, I would be careful with that set-up as well.  The pressure points could cause the bottom of the ceramic base to crack and you could have a big fire on your hands.  take that for what its worth.  The BGE table nest is the best way I have seen to safely support the Egg while in a table. JMO

nolaegghead

@smittythesmoker - that's not cazzy's, that's the egg that started the fire in this thread.

yzzi

FearlessTheEggNoob said:

Not much you can do. Looking at cooking pictures from the WOK people makes me cringe sometimes. I pointed out my concerns one time for the person's safety and got flagged by some bozo for being off topic.

cazzy said:

Very glad your family got out okay. Dodged a bullet for sure. Ultimately, I honestly have to say the forum failed you bro. Had I really looked at this picture, I would have told you your table needed more room to breathe.  Sorry man. :(

Your handle is "FearlessTheEggNoob" and you're cringing   )

westernbbq

Wow, what can I say.  my thoughts and prayers go; out to you for the scary moments you dealt with and the cleanup/aftermath you're dealing with right now.  But, at the same time, it could've been much worse-so I am thankful for your sake that everyone got out safely.

the past can't be changed but the present will certainly shape your future.

 

SMITTYtheSMOKER

nolaegghead said:

@smittythesmoker - that's not cazzy's, that's the egg that started the fire in this thread.

I missed that, I would suspect that the pressure points could have caused a crack now or later.
Thx for reeling me back in.

Zmokin

SMITTYtheSMOKER said:

cazzy said:

Very glad your family got out okay. Dodged a bullet for sure. Ultimately, I honestly have to say the forum failed you bro. Had I really looked at this picture, I would have told you your table needed more room to breathe. Sorry man.

Cazzy, I would be careful with that set-up as well.  The pressure points could cause the bottom of the ceramic base to crack and you could have a big fire on your hands.  take that for what its worth.  The BGE table nest is the best way I have seen to safely support the Egg while in a table. JMO

That looks like glowing embers in the bottom of the egg to me.  Am I mistaken?  Cuz I never have glowing embers like that in the bottom of my egg.

henapple

Look again from time to time....

The Naked Whiz

Zmokin said: Cuz I never have glowing embers like that in the bottom of my egg.

I have burning embers in the bottom of my cookers all the time.  FWIW, it looks like a crack is already started at the bottom left of the vent opening.  

Spaightlabs

SMITTYtheSMOKER said:

cazzy said:

Very glad your family got out okay. Dodged a bullet for sure. Ultimately, I honestly have to say the forum failed you bro. Had I really looked at this picture, I would have told you your table needed more room to breathe. Sorry man.

Cazzy, I would be careful with that set-up as well.  The pressure points could cause the bottom of the ceramic base to crack and you could have a big fire on your hands.  take that for what its worth.  The BGE table nest is the best way I have seen to safely support the Egg while in a table. JMO

Cazzy - please do not In any way blame yourself for this, absolutely not a forum let down at all. There was no failure at the base of the egg,no cracking at all. Not sure if the paver cracked and allowed the bottom of the egg to heat the wood underneath or what? May never know...

Spaightlabs

@nolaegghead‌, the angle sits on a 2 inch thick concrete paver. I am wondering if that paver cracked and allowed heat infiltration to the framing below?

nolaegghead

Spaightlabs said:

@nolaegghead‌, the angle sits on a 2 inch thick concrete paver. I am wondering if that paver cracked and allowed heat infiltration to the framing below?

I couldn't tell what that was.  That should have been pretty safe.  Was the egg broken postmortem?  375?  That is not that hot.

Spaightlabs

@nakedwhiz‌ , wow, I never noticed that, good eye. I will check that to see if it is a crack or a scratch. Thank you to all for the well wishes. All order descends from chaos. We shall overcome.

cazzy

Spaightlabs said:

@nakedwhiz‌ , wow, I never noticed that, good eye. I will check that to see if it is a crack or a scratch.

Looked like a scratch to me...