Rain Got In Egg - How Bad Is This?

EGG_USER_NC

I have read online that water is absolutely awful for the inside of a Big Green Egg. I have read this mainly in the context of cleaning it. But basically, that it will get inside the ceramic and cause it to expand and ultimately crack. 

I bought a MiniMax in January, and recently replaced the gasket for the first time. Yesterday, I cooked on it. Since the grill was so hot, I did not put the cover back over it. Today, there were flash floods in the area. I came home and found water pooled inside my Egg behind the fire bowl and proceeded to cook on it again today. 

I have no idea how the water got inside since everything was closed. If rain got in and sat in the sides for maybe ten hours, is this likely to do damage to my Egg? I was under the impression that the Big Green Egg was sealed on the inside. I have heard that some people do not even use covers for their grills.  I am wondering if I did something wrong with the gasket. But it was a VERY hard rain. 

WeberWho

I wouldn't sweat it. Get whatever water you can get out and keep the dome open to air dry it. Compressed air wouldn't hurt if you have it. Once dry to the touch I'd start a small fire to completely dry it out. 

I'd much rather have my egg full of water and ash before any of my steel grills/smokers.

lousubcap

As above, just get as much moisture out as you can then burn the rest off.  Given you mentioned no cover on it, that will be the norm after every cook, thus you should sort out the water got into the BGE.  
Don't know the driver behind the gasket replacement but obviously something.  That said, when you next want a replacement gasket here is the source @RRP.  He has supplied close to 7,000 replacement gaskets to BGE owners over the years.  FWIW-
And, welcome aboard and enjoy the journey.  Above all, have fun.
You have found the source for answers you may have BGE related and a wealth of knowledge on many other subjects.  Just check out the forum search function in your leisure.
One last comment-this place can suck your discretionary $$ funds dry in a heart beat.  

PigBeanUs

It’s not a problem. At ALL

it is not possible for water to damage your BGE. 

Winter, spring, summer, or fall. 

You don’t need to use compressed air (um, seriously?) or leave it open, or do ANYTHING. 

Light it up and cook away. 

as for gaskets….

buy a flat rutland at your local hardware store. Get the permatex gasket maker there too.

there’s no magic to it

Signed,
the guy who first adhered a rutland to an egg with frigging permatex and who also has poured water directly into his hot BGE to put out the fire. 

END. OF. DISCUSSION. 

EGG_USER_NC

lousubcap said:

Given you mentioned no cover on it, that will be the norm after every cook, thus you should sort out the water got into the BGE.  
Don't know the driver behind the gasket replacement but obviously something. 

Thank you very much. You are right. I am very confused about HOW it happened and why the water would have got in the bottom, on the outside of the fire bowl. One theory I have is that the vent was just a hair open, and given the strong rains and winds, it got in that way and and blew into the area behind the fire bowl. 

An interesting detail is that I recently had to get the fire bowl replaced. It was cracked in two places and I got it replaced under warranty. 

I burned the old gasket up using one of those charcoal chimneys. That was just a rookie mistake. I do not really think the gasket replacement had anything to do with it, because there was no water in the middle of the grill. 

PigBeanUs

“  I am very confused about HOW it happened and why the water would have got in the bottom, on the outside of the fire bowl.”

If your gasket is toast, the rain runs down the down and under surface tension, turns in at the rim and down into the egg. No wind required

JohnInCarolina

PigBeanUs said:

It’s not a problem. At ALL

it is not possible for water to damage your BGE. 

Winter, spring, summer, or fall. 

You don’t need to use compressed air (um, seriously?) or leave it open, or do ANYTHING. 

Light it up and cook away. 

as for gaskets….

buy a flat rutland at your local hardware store. Get the permatex gasket maker there too.

there’s no magic to it

Signed,
the guy who first adhered a rutland to an egg with frigging permatex and who also has poured water directly into his hot BGE to put out the fire. 

END. OF. DISCUSSION. 

PigBeanUs

Hey look. The anonymous flaggots are out!

Mark_B_Good

How porous is the inside of the egg. Outside has a nice coating that makes it impermeable to water. If water is able to penetrate the inside ceramic ... it's probably best to let it dry out a bit before you light a fire. The risk here is that entrapped water (in the ceramic) will quickly heat up with a fire and form steam ... causing mini-explosions (that sounds more dramatic than I wanted it to be).  The issue is those tiny steam pops can spald the ceramic (crack off pieces).  

It all depends on how porous it is.  That part I'm not sure of.  And until I knew for sure, I'd be a bit cautious.  I'd keep it open in the hot sun with no internals ... and let it dry a bit before lighting it up.

I don't think getting some water in it will cause immediate irreversible damage, it's rather an issue if you heat up a soaked ceramic hot enough for that water to flash to steam.

fishlessman

my egg in maine is wet every weekend practically, i build a small fire in it on friday to dry it out for the weekend. it can steam for hours. i have had an egg spall from water freezing in there, it was replaced under warranty.  the small spots that popped off showed a defect in the casting which may have led to the big section popping off. doesnt matter, its under warranty and ive never seen another one posted here like this. if you notice, it flaked midway thru

fishlessman

here was the maine egg drying out one spring, it all washed off during the next rain

six_egg

This is what I have seen. I replaced my gasket with one from RRP. I did not cut my gasket just made it fit my bottom base. This lead too it being thicker than the top by a good bit. Not a big deal at all unless it rains hard and you do not have a cover. The rain soaked into the gasket and ran down the inside of my egg. It happens all the time now. It is not a lot of water all the time but heavy rains really can tell the difference. I will fix this when I move to my new home and install my new base. So in summary make sure your gasket is thinner than the top shell and make sure the lids cover each other as good as possible. if the bottom sticks out the gasket will get wet. My two cents.

RRP

six_egg said:

This is what I have seen. I replaced my gasket with one from RRP. I did not cut my gasket just made it fit my bottom base. This lead too it being thicker than the top by a good bit. Not a big deal at all unless it rains hard and you do not have a cover. The rain soaked into the gasket and ran down the inside of my egg. It happens all the time now. It is not a lot of water all the time but heavy rains really can tell the difference. I will fix this when I move to my new home and install my new base. So in summary make sure your gasket is thinner than the top shell and make sure the lids cover each other as good as possible. if the bottom sticks out the gasket will get wet. My two cents.

Hmmm, I’m still trying to figure out how you ended up with excess, but if someone has dome and base issues that are out of round then if you have “gasket width overhang” then position the overhang inside the egg, not outside! The BGE isn’t even capable of heat damaging that Rutland at gasket level on the inside.

alaskanassasin

PigBeanUs said:

It’s not a problem. At ALL

it is not possible for water to damage your BGE. 

Winter, spring, summer, or fall. 

You don’t need to use compressed air (um, seriously?) or leave it open, or do ANYTHING. 

Light it up and cook away. 

as for gaskets….

buy a flat rutland at your local hardware store. Get the permatex gasket maker there too.

there’s no magic to it

Signed,
the guy who first adhered a rutland to an egg with frigging permatex and who also has poured water directly into his hot BGE to put out the fire. 

END. OF. DISCUSSION. 

Makes sense, water dug the Grand Canyon but “it is not possible for water to damage your BGE”

JohnInCarolina

alaskanassasin said:

PigBeanUs said:

It’s not a problem. At ALL

it is not possible for water to damage your BGE. 

Winter, spring, summer, or fall. 

You don’t need to use compressed air (um, seriously?) or leave it open, or do ANYTHING. 

Light it up and cook away. 

as for gaskets….

buy a flat rutland at your local hardware store. Get the permatex gasket maker there too.

there’s no magic to it

Signed,
the guy who first adhered a rutland to an egg with frigging permatex and who also has poured water directly into his hot BGE to put out the fire. 

END. OF. DISCUSSION. 

Makes sense, water dug the Grand Canyon but “it is not possible for water to damage your BGE”

I can’t believe he forgot to account for the possibility of someone owning their BGE for a million years.

alaskanassasin

Just reading what he wrote. Which was backed by science ^^^

Carolina Q

PigBeanUs said:

It’s not a problem. At ALL

it is not possible for water to damage your BGE. 

Winter, spring, summer, or fall. 

You don’t need to use compressed air (um, seriously?) or leave it open, or do ANYTHING. 

Light it up and cook away. 

as for gaskets….

buy a flat rutland at your local hardware store. Get the permatex gasket maker there too.

there’s no magic to it

Signed,
the guy who first adhered a rutland to an egg with frigging permatex and who also has poured water directly into his hot BGE to put out the fire. 

END. OF. DISCUSSION. 

Look familiar?