hairline crack in Central Oregon.

DWFII

Well, dern!

After purchasing a new firebox and a a few other incidentals...and after a simply amazing outpouring of generosity and friendship, in an effort to refurbish this sad old beast...we finally got some warm weather here in Central Oregon and I was able to get out to clean the soot and so forth from inside the EGG and esp. along the edges in preparation for installing a gasket.

In the process I discovered a fine, hair line crack in the base. At first I thought it was just in the exterior enamel but I washed the interior some over that area and there it is, sure enough. 

I have roughly $200.00 into it, no way to return the firebox and I am reluctant to invest anymore into the Egg itself. I fear it is a lost cause and a lost gamble. "A fool and his money are soon parted." I guess. 

Anyway...anyone within driving distance who might want a "parts" hulk and a a new, pristine firebox, let me know. I would like to recover my out of pocket but other than that...come and get it.

And thank you to all the folks who reached out to help me fulfill a long time dream--it just wasn't to be.

Gulfcoastguy

Sorry to hear about that. Don’t give up though, start a savings fund. Some people say nice things about Acorns also.

WeberWho

Well dang

lousubcap

I would cook on it and see what happens.  Just make sure you don't have any flammable material close by and are around to watch it.  Many bases develop hair-line cracks that don't impede performance.   If it is in a nest then that will help mitigate any expansion of the crack.
Of course, not my property or BGE but I ran with a cracked base (along the bottom) for a several weeks waiting for the replacement and time to install.  No issues at all.  Had I not seen the crack I would never have known of its existence.  FWIW-

Carolina Q

The base of my large, as well as the firebox, have been cracked for several years now. I have a warranty, but just haven't bothered. I'll get around it. Eventually.

And yeah, the Akorn is a great cooker.

EDIT:  PS, I wouldn't use it in a flammable surface, but so far so good on my stone patio.

DWFII

The crack is quite long (12" +/-) and some chipping of the enamel is evident. Photos attached.

 I just got done reading a thread that suggested the crack will expand during cooks and that the fire will not be able to be shut down.

Any thoughts on that?

SamIAm2

@DWFII -  agree with both @lousubcap and @Carolina Q. My base was cracked for quite a while before I got the warranty base from a local dealer. Kept cooking with it until I found the time to swap out the base. As long as you keep it in the nest and leave ash in the bottom you should be able to cook.  Wouldn't give up just yet. 

RRP

I wouldn't give up! Maybe you said it, and i just missed it, but is that crack vertical or horizontal? Also where does it start and where does it end? is any of it behind the fire ring and firebox?It looks like hairline crack to me. Remember this is fired ceramic and is not going to expand like metal does when heated. 

DWFII

Ron and Sam,

Well, the crack is vertical, running from not too far from the base to within four inches of the top edge--at least that's what I clearly saw through the soot, it might be longer.

The base doesn't sit any too snugly in the nest. Just the opposite, in fact. There might be as much as a half inch clearance between each of the four nest uprights and the enamel of the base. since I am not going to get my money refunded for the firebox (special order and all that), I would probably fire it up if had all the parts.

I still need a grid and I think my band hinge is either on upside down or something. 

And clueless as I am I have about a half inch overbite and no real idea how to fix it although I can see that the dome band is not parallel to the base band.

Carolina Q

Correct. Band hinge is upside down. Here's a side view found on Google. Pretty sure it's @RRP's egg. Looks like his bricks.

RRP

Carolina Q said:

Correct. Band hinge is upside down. Here's a side view found on Google. Pretty sure it's @RRP's egg. Looks like his bricks.

Yes, Michael, that's my picture and my home built with used paver bricks from turn of the century roads in Peoria. I used to have a buddy who would razz me that had he known he would have given me money to build it with new bricks! Truth was these were a lot more expensive than new ones!

Legume

Crack in my XL base runs across the bottom and up to the vent.  It’s been there for well over a year and hasn’t caused any issues - no smoke coming out, no problem holding 190 or problems shutting down.  But, I’m sure they’re all different. Just pointing out it’s not automatically an issue.

milesvdustin

Mines been cracked like that for years. Warranty piece is still in the box 

DWFII

Carolina Q said:

Correct. Band hinge is upside down. Here's a side view found on Google. Pretty sure it's @RRP's egg. Looks like his bricks.

Is it the hinge itself? Or is it that the top band has to be swapped with the bottom band and the bottom band turned over? I've not looked at it real close but it looks like the hinge itself is fastened to the band.

So...I am hearing that a horizontal crack  (with the weight of the rest of the base sitting on top of it) will cook fine, shut down fine and last indefinitely. But mine is a vertical crack...when I finally came to the realization that it was a crack i set the fire ring back in the egg although there was no firebox underneath it. I thought better of it...figuring that that downward pressure/weight might finish cracking the Egg even without trying to cook on it. 

Anyone have similar stories of cooking with a vertical crack that is near on to 12" long?

Carolina Q

Just loosen both band bolts and flip the whole enchilada. My crack goes across the bottom and halfway up the side.

lousubcap

Flip the hinge assembly-get it operational, then fire it up and see what happens.  Just take the necessary precautions addressed above.  You will know what you have based on your situation.  FWIW-

RRP

DWFII said:

 But mine is a vertical crack...when I finally came to the realization that it was a crack i set the fire ring back in the egg although there was no firebox underneath it. I thought better of it...figuring that that downward pressure/weight might finish cracking the Egg even without trying to cook on it. 

Actually the fire ring sits on top of the fire box and there is some space between the fire ring and the outer shell. If you would put the fire ring in without the fire box, then that could do more damage by wedging the crack further apart! 

If I were you then using some of that Permatex Ultra Copper that you will be using for your Rutland gasket take a putty knife and force the Permatex into the crack from the inside . Even though the amount will be minute it will seal the crack!

SamIAm2

He has a nest with mates so it will be a bit more work.

@DWFII - if you are going to go to the trouble of flipping the bands, I would just use the band and the hardware shipped to you. Put them together, remove the mates and the band from the egg and install the newer setup. The BGE web site has installation instructions and video for the old bands. They have instructions for the mates and nest also. Might want to make sure the hardware is tightened. Good luck.

northGAcock

I’m just glad to find out that the entire state of Oregon doesn’t have a crack through the center of it. Makes the egg issue much smaller if you ask me. Seriously though, I would keep moving forward as stated above. 

td66snrf

@DWFII ; Cook on it! You've got nothing to lose. I would keep the temps in the lower range and avoid clean burns and high temps. The crack may be a non issue. Good luck my friend. But if you're dead set on getting rid of it and want to visit sunny So Cal I would help a brother out. 

DWFII

RRP said:

Actually the fire ring sits on top of the fire box and there is some space between the fire ring and the outer shell. If you would put the fire ring in without the fire box, then that could do more damage by wedging the crack further apart! 

If I were you then using some of that Permatex Ultra Copper that you will be using for your Rutland gasket take a putty knife and force the Permatex into the crack from the inside . Even though the amount will be minute it will seal the crack!

Ron,

Yeah that was my next question...I was wondering if I took a beer can opener--you know the kind with a diamond shaped tip--and gouged out a channel along the crack,  and puttied in some refractory cement, if that would hold it together and seal it and repair it, etc..  Or would I risk making things worse?

I do worry about voc's and such with the Permatex and the refractory cement...when cooking...however. I understand this is not, theoretically, a problem...but I can't imagine that there would be no outgassing.

DWFII

SamIAm2 said:

He has a nest with mates so it will be a bit more work.

@DWFII - if you are going to go to the trouble of flipping the bands, I would just use the band and the hardware shipped to you. Put them together, remove the mates and the band from the egg and install the newer setup. The BGE web site has installation instructions and video for the old bands. They have instructions for the mates and nest also. Might want to make sure the hardware is tightened. Good luck.

Yes, and let me give a shout out and a sincere "thank you" for your generosity (and the mysterious benefactor). I was planning to use those  but as I said, it wan't until today I had time and we had good enough weather that I could start looking and getting into this project. And project is what it is.

I don't know what you mean that I have the "nest with mates" but it worries me. Is there something I should do to the nest or the mates whatever they are? 

RRP

I understand your idea of the old church key, but my thought is why make matters worse? As for fearing out gassing when the Permatex is cured it is rock hard, let alone it will be so minute, let alone creosote will soon cover it over.

DWFII

I looked at the Akorn...in fact, I bought one off of Walmart online. A bit over $250. It came in so banged up...porcelain chipped dents in the dome, etc., that after talking to Chargriller I sent it back. I documented everything pretty well and Walmart sent a replacement. That had much the same problems. Walmart didn't really want to give me another shot and I was and tired of putting the dern things together. So I got a refund...much of which went into the BGE firebox etc.. I did learn a lot about their build quality, however. And I think they are pretty fair for the price but even at that price not entirely where you would want them to be. Little things--plastic where metal would be more appropriate, etc...

The only thing about Akorn is that then you have to resort to asking questions in the "other" forum and while everybody I've corresponded with over there is decent, they seem a little cliquish and not very forthcoming. Esp. by comparison with this forum. In my lead up to buying the first Akorn, I probably asked too many clueless questions but it seemed that the answers were few and far between. Just my opinion...

SamIAm2

@DWFII - Sorry to cause worry. Mates are the side tables which attach to the band.  Nest is the metal contraption with wheels that holds the egg.  Information here may be of some help:https:  //biggreenegg.com/product-category/eggcessories/nests-tables-covers/nests-tables-mates-shelves/ Information about how to assemble can be found here:  https://biggreenegg.com/getting-started/#assembly
Your table mates are a much older version and the holes to attach may be different on the newer bands. You have time to read the support documents found there but realize the info is for the newer eggs, mostly. Have fun.

RRP

@DWII - here's yet another idea. A bunch of eggheads have pieced the broken fireboxes using a product called JB Weld. You might want to consider that for patching - That stuff will not off-gas, nor will the cured Permatex, but it's an idea for sealing that minute crack. 

DWFII

RRP said:

I understand your idea of the old church key, but my thought is why make matters worse? As for fearing out gassing when the Permatex is cured it is rock hard, let alone it will be so minute, let alone creosote will soon cover it over.

Can it be pushed into the crack from the outside too or does it need heat to cure?

RRP

I honestly don't think with that crack as small as it is you will be pushing much of any product in that hairline. Neither JB Weld nor Permatex needs heat to cure - instead it is a chemical curing process. When I've used JBW it is thicker than Permatex and that's why I think Permatex is the better solution. Besides when you put your gasket on - if you do - then you'll have some Permatex left over and won't have to buy anything else.

DWFII

RRP said:

I honestly don't think with that crack as small as it is you will be pushing much of any product in that hairline. Neither JB Weld nor Permatex needs heat to cure - instead it is a chemical curing process. When I've used JBW it is thicker than Permatex and that's why I think Permatex is the better solution. Besides when you put your gasket on - if you do - then you'll have some Permatex left over and won't have to buy anything else.

Yes, I had the same realization about the Permatex. Besides isn't JBWeld just a modified epoxy? And IIRC, it comes in several different formulations--one for steel, one for aluminum, and so forth.

It's just that I've been exposed to a fair amount of toxic chemicals in my career--toluene mostly--and have had my liver shut down (from an allergic reaction to some antibiotics the VA prescribed to me) that I am a little leery. I wouldn't wish that on anyone...least of all my family.

DWFII

SamIAm2 said:

@DWFII - Sorry to cause worry. Mates are the side tables which attach to the band.  Nest is the metal contraption with wheels that holds the egg.  Information here may be of some help:https:  //biggreenegg.com/product-category/eggcessories/nests-tables-covers/nests-tables-mates-shelves/ Information about how to assemble can be found here:  https://biggreenegg.com/getting-started/#assembly
Your table mates are a much older version and the holes to attach may be different on the newer bands. You have time to read the support documents found there but realize the info is for the newer eggs, mostly. Have fun.

Thanks for that explanation. So...I will have to abandon the mates if I use the bands you sent? Is that correct?

I was thinking about bolting together some aluminum angle iron to make a small, inexpensive cart...not sure how to support the Egg but maybe the mate could be bolted on the cart...or a small extension for a shelf/table.

SamIAm2

I'm not sure. Depending on the spacing of your mates, the holes might line up on the newer lower band. When you take off the mates you could mark the newer band and drill a hole or holes to put the bolts thru and reattach the mates.