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Does the lower egg half expand when hot?
speed51133
Posts: 691
I am cutting a hole in a table for the egg. The table is concrete. Does anyone know if the bottom half of the egg expands when hot? Any idea how much?
XL BGE and Kamado Joe Jr.
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I would leave a 1/2" air gap regardless.South of Nashville - BGE XL - Alfresco 42" ALXE - Alfresco Versa Burner - Sunbeam Microwave
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speed51133 said:I am cutting a hole in a table for the egg. The table is concrete. Does anyone know if the bottom half of the egg expands when hot? Any idea how much?
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RRP said:speed51133 said:I am cutting a hole in a table for the egg. The table is concrete. Does anyone know if the bottom half of the egg expands when hot? Any idea how much?I vote for an air gap, if you have a concrete top. I believe @NPHuskerFL has an SS top on his table, without an air gap, but SS expands differently vs concrete or ceramic.#1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February 2013 • #3 Mini May 2013A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
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This might be a stupid question, but is there any chance the concrete expands/contracts slightly under different conditions?Stillwater, MN
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RRP said:speed51133 said:I am cutting a hole in a table for the egg. The table is concrete. Does anyone know if the bottom half of the egg expands when hot? Any idea how much?
Most ceramics, even fired ones, have positive CTEs.
Of course the concrete will expand too as it heats, so you have some wiggle room there.
Anyway, a 1/2” gap sounds reasonable to me. Mind the gap."I've made a note never to piss you two off." - Stike -
StillH2OEgger said:This might be a stupid question, but is there any chance the concrete expands/contracts slightly under different conditions?"I've made a note never to piss you two off." - Stike
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Does it expand? Of course it does...
I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!
MichaelCentral Connecticut -
Carolina Q said:Does it expand? Of course it does...Thank you,DarianGalveston Texas
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Gents the cracks that form in just about everyone’s BGE are evidence that they expand while heated. The expansion isn’t uniform in the radial direction which gives rise to large tensile stresses and thus, fracture."I've made a note never to piss you two off." - Stike
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JohnInCarolina said:Gents the cracks that form in just about everyone’s BGE are evidence that they expand while heated. The expansion isn’t uniform in the radial direction which gives rise to large tensile stresses and thus, fracture.Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win. Life is too short for light/lite beer! Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
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StillH2OEgger said:This might be a stupid question, but is there any chance the concrete expands/contracts slightly under different conditions?
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Please excuse my stupidity. Heated metal expands but I just never knew that fired ceramics do as well! Nice to learn something new every day, huh?
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The thermal coefficient of expansion for stainless is 18cm x 10 to the-6 per degree C of temperature Delta per meter of length. For ceramics it really depends on the type of ceramic. A typical CTE of fired stoneware is anywhere from 2in to about 6in.
Following the mothership recommendation the cutout should be 26.25in when the egg it's dropped).down 12.5 in in the table. At that height, the diameter of the egg is 26in ( i measured). That is an air gap all around of an eighth in.
No idea what kind of ceramic the egg uses, but a half inch of gap all around is way Overkill in my opinion.XL BGE and Kamado Joe Jr. -
Well maybe split the difference and go with 1/4”.
I’m reminded of the old story of a pilot and co-pilot flying and approaching a mountain range. They can’t agree on the height of the range. The pilot thinks it’s 14,000 ft, and the co-pilot thinks it’s 18,000 ft. So the pilot says, well, since we aren’t sure, let’s just split the difference and fly at 16,000 ft."I've made a note never to piss you two off." - Stike -
JohnInCarolina said:Well maybe split the difference and go with 1/4”.
I’m reminded of the old story of a pilot and co-pilot flying and approaching a mountain range. They can’t agree on the height of the range. The pilot thinks it’s 14,000 ft, and the co-pilot thinks it’s 18,000 ft. So the pilot says, well, since we aren’t sure, let’s just split the difference and fly at 16,000 ft.South of Columbus, Ohio. -
alaskanassasin said:JohnInCarolina said:Well maybe split the difference and go with 1/4”.
I’m reminded of the old story of a pilot and co-pilot flying and approaching a mountain range. They can’t agree on the height of the range. The pilot thinks it’s 14,000 ft, and the co-pilot thinks it’s 18,000 ft. So the pilot says, well, since we aren’t sure, let’s just split the difference and fly at 16,000 ft."I've made a note never to piss you two off." - Stike -
It sounds like you have (and have had) the answer you want. Your expertise on this sounds more than ample to counter the peanut gallery. Keep the hole small so the gerbil food doesn’t spill down between the egg and the concrete top, that would be a mess to have to clean up all the time.Not a felon
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@caliking actually I do have a gap between the egg and the SS tabletop. However, it's sealed with a high temp clear flexible silicone. I originally sealed it to lessen movement of the egg when rolling it around etc. I never really move it about so.... But, it does make for an easy cleanup on the table surface. The outer edge on the table top around the egg do get hot during high heat situations.LBGE 2013 & MM 2014Die Hard HUSKER & BRONCO FANFlying Low & Slow in "Da Burg" FL
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I only have the answer now because I spent about an hour researching and crunching numbers. I was trying to avoid that, but thanks to all for any input. I had never really seen it discussed, only air gaps UNDER the egg.XL BGE and Kamado Joe Jr.
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speed51133 said:thanks for the flag
Anyway, good luck with the table. You probably realized this already, but if you find that the gap you put in isn't quite large enough, you can always raise up the egg a little bit (with a spacer or the little nest thing) to give you a little more clearance."I've made a note never to piss you two off." - Stike -
They should make a flag like... "Solved" so you could mark your thread as solved.
But I think here, flags have little meaning in life. In fact, I've been told they do not exist. -
This was a much friendlier place before the anonymous flag functionSouth of Columbus, Ohio.
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alaskanassasin said:This was a much friendlier place before the anonymous fl
ag functionNot a felon -
I’m just glad @botch lives 2,000 miles away because he too may expand when he gets hot.South of Columbus, Ohio.
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speed51133 said:I only have the answer now because I spent about an hour researching and crunching numbers. I was trying to avoid that, but thanks to all for any input. I had never really seen it discussed, only air gaps UNDER the egg.#1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February 2013 • #3 Mini May 2013A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
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I would think that if the egg is expanding/contracting, there would be cracks in the glaze. I've had my egg for 25 yrs and the glaze looks like the day I bought it.
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