Green Egg vs Primo

Cbeasley

So I'm looking for a new cooker and would like your opinion and I'm sure it will be a little bias considering this is an Egg forum. I have owned my BGE for 3 years now but recently had a bad experience with it. After a night of grilling I shut down the grill like always only this time I was woken by the back half of the house on fire at 3 in the morning due to my BGE catching the table on fire. I did some research and found that there are quite a few people who have had their tables catch fire while grilling. No matter what grill I go with, the plan is to fab up a metal table with a concrete or granite top so I don't have to worry about this again. The only hesitation I have is I tried contacting BGE by email with no response. Not because I think they are at fault but just to tell them what happened and see if this has been a prior problem. I also like the oval shape of the primo but the price is a little higher. Any opinions are appreciated by anyone familiar with either of the two the good and the bad. Thanks

WeberWho

Wow! Talk about scary! My neighbors house growing up burnt down to the studs from their grill on the back deck. It sounds like no one was hurt in your situation. Blessing in itself. I'd put that new metal table far away from the house as possible. 

Primo has a limited warranty. I'm not sure how many years but I do know it's not a lifetime warranty. Something you might want to look into before pulling the trigger. 

WeberWho

I took a closer look at your pictures. It looks like parts of you Big Green Egg are undamaged. Could you buy just the parts you need to get your egg back together?

Cbeasley

Yes no one was hurt just thankful my wife heard something, woke me up and I was able to get her and my daughter out safe. But yes that is a good point on the warranty! 

Photo Egg

Glad you were able to walk away from this fire...
Agree, this could happen with any ceramic grill or festering spark from any kind of grill used near a wood structure.
I think Primo is also a quality product. Seen past posts with users claiming oval shape does not cook even and others that call BS. Maybe more will chime in.

nolaegghead

Warranty

Creative Ceramic Technologies, Inc. (CCT) warrants to the original purchaser of this Primo Ceramic Grill that it is free of defects in material and workmanship at the date of purchase for the following periods:

Primo Ceramic Charcoal Grills

• Limited Lifetime Warranty Backed by a Twenty (20) year guarantee on all ceramic parts.
• Five (5) years on all metal parts (excluding cast-iron parts).
• One (1) year on all cast-iron parts.
• Thirty (30) days on thermometers and felt gaskets.

nolaegghead

You might be able to make a warranty claim on the broken egg.  Seems like it broke because of the heat - maybe a bad casting?

nolaegghead

Anyway, sorry about the house fire. 

Cbeasley

I could part one together but would rather just buy new... if you know of anyone in need of parts send them my way. It was a medium

Cbeasley

Is the BGE warranty to the original buyer only or transferable ? I purchased used from someone 

WeberWho

Cbeasley said:

Is the BGE warranty to the original buyer only or transferable ? I purchased used from someone 

Original owner unfortunately 

Cbeasley

That's what I thought 

WeberWho

Where are you located? Make sure to check if you have any Eggfest going on around you if you decide to go with Big Green Egg. You might be able to get a descent price with demo eggs at a fest

Cbeasley

WeberWho said:

Where are you located? Make sure to check if you have any Eggfest going on around you if you decide to go with Big Green Egg. You might be able to get a descent price with demo eggs at a fest

Huntsville AL      Thanks! Wife told me to go get what I wanted so just trying to decide. 

Mikee

I'd like some more info on the fire. If the Egg was shut down with the damper on the dome and the bottom vent closed, I wonder how it continued to burn extremely hot. No air, no fire. 

Cbeasley

Mikee said:

I'd like some more info on the fire. If the Egg was shut down with the damper on the dome and the bottom vent closed, I wonder how it continued to burn extremely hot. No air, no fire. 

Bottom vent was closed and cap was on dome. 

HeavyG

Do you have any pictures of your egg  in your table before the fire?

nolaegghead

Any evidence that the lower hemisphere cracked and spilled some embers? 

Or was something combustable next to it and lit?

Mikee

Cbeasley said:

Mikee said:

I'd like some more info on the fire. If the Egg was shut down with the damper on the dome and the bottom vent closed, I wonder how it continued to burn extremely hot. No air, no fire. 

Bottom vent was closed and cap was on dome. 

So how did the Egg continue to heat up? Granted it takes time for an Egg to cool down, but they don't get hotter once backed down. Nola mentions the base cracking but looking at the picture the bottom of the base is intact. A crack on the side would not burn very hot as well.

kybuckeye

Just a question , why are the insides of a three year old egg as white as the day it was bought  ?

nolaegghead

kybuckeye said:

Just a question , why are the insides of a three year old egg as white as the day it was bought  ?

They are not normally that white after years of use, but there was something of a "clean burn" that made them white.  Evidence suggests this was done post-cook. 

jtcBoynton

Mikee said:

Cbeasley said:

Mikee said:

I'd like some more info on the fire. If the Egg was shut down with the damper on the dome and the bottom vent closed, I wonder how it continued to burn extremely hot. No air, no fire. 

Bottom vent was closed and cap was on dome. 

So how did the Egg continue to heat up? Granted it takes time for an Egg to cool down, but they don't get hotter once backed down. Nola mentions the base cracking but looking at the picture the bottom of the base is intact. A crack on the side would not burn very hot as well.

It didn't need to continue to heat up. If the base cracked during cool down it could of spilled hot coals onto the wood decking. Or, even without the egg heating up, it is still putting off heat for some time.  A flammable item next to the egg may have finally gotten dry enough and hot enough to burn.

 It looks like an intact dome and cracked base to me.

kybuckeye

WOW ! That must hold have been hot !

yljkt

So you bought a used egg, had it on a wood deck in a wood table, with a roof over it apparently, and had a fire. Was there a proper air gap between egg and table?  A table nest? A paver? 

pgprescott

It looks to me as though the clean burn happened with the ancillary fire and not the one in the egg. Lucky it wasn't worse. 

Eggcelsior

Was some conductive material connecting the egg to the table? A member had their table go up because a grill brush was resting against the egg and the wood, carrying enough heat to ignite the wood. Seeing that burning wood can't feel good.

Cbeasley

 yljkt said:

So you bought a used egg, had it on a wood deck in a wood table, with a roof over it apparently, and had a fire. Was there a proper air gap between egg and table?  A table nest? A paver? 

No roof over it.... proper air gap and what does new or used have to do with it if you don't mind me asking? 

Fred19Flintstone

When I saw pictures of a egg table fire on here a few years ago, I decided a nest was for me.  If I remember correctly, it was @The Cen-Tex Smoker who had the mishap.  Maybe I'm wrong about who's misadventure it was.  The point is it scared me out of a wood table.  I like to woodwork and not making a table really pains me, but I would rather stay with the nest.

gamason

Is that a tiki torch stand and canister I see in the photo? Maybe someone forgot to put it out and it got knocked over some how. Just thinking out loud.

The_Stache

I agree with @HeavyG ... any "before" shots?  How do you define "proper" air gap?  My curiosity extends to the fact that my egg is a table made of wood with a granite top and ceramic supported base.  It sits on the 3 little feet that came with it 20ish years ago. 

fishlessman

really hate seeing any type of grill on a deck but we mostly all do it at times, fire sucks. i have had two bge bases crack on me over the years and one just heavily flake apart but ive seen more posts on primos crack and i think its the odd shape that causes it as well as the similar lower vent cutout where bges start to crack. both are good cookers but neither belong on a deck, gassers are even worse on a deck