Back Draft

Unknown

Ok, I am new to the egg. However, when cooking at hign temps I still have a heck of a problem with Back Drafts or Flashbacks. I open the egg to so call "burp" it but when i open the lid open all the way I often get a huge flashback. Lost all the hair on my arms beyond the gloves and a portion of eyelashes. Steaks were outstanding however.[p]The Don

Unknown

DonTheo,[p]You need to go visit The Naked Whiz Website www.nakedwhiz.com[p]Besides the flashback info you are looking for you will find a host of other valuable information to include links to other outstanding eggsites.[p]If you are in a hot cook then open the bottom vent full and take off the daisy on top. Wait 10 to 20 seconds and 'carefully' open the egg.[p]Don't forget to readjust all vents or you will have an inferno.[p]Kent

Flashback Bob

DonTheo,
I got me a pair of welders gloves and I feel a LOT more comfortable around a hot Egg![p]Usually if you have the Egg burning hot and you are concerned about Flashback, your vents are already wide open, so you can't do that.[p] with the welders glove on the hand I'm holding the lid handle with, I'll do a series of "mini-burps" which are quick and don't do much more than crack the lid a fraction of a second. I don't hold it open, just so quick that it doesn't seem like it would do anything. Then I'll do another, just as quick but open a slightly larger fraction of an inch. Then I'll do a third one where I open it about about th same but hold it open slightly longer.[p]I find the conditions of the fire vary and some are more inclined to flashback than others. The number of these mini-burps depends on the behavior of the fire-how susceptible it is to flashback at that particular time. Sometimes it's 2 sometimes it's 4- play it by ear,[p]Factors include, but are not limited to, whether I'm using a full load of new lump, if it's a hot-burning lump or a lump I'm not used to, if it's sparking a lot, if I included the charcoal dust from the bottom of the bag, etc. The dust seems to encourage f-back until it's all burned off. [p]Welders gloves are also great for removing a hot platesetter or flipping steaks in nuclar temps and for simply closing the dome when the flames are high. If you're doing a nuclear sear on ribeyes, the fat is dripping on the coals and the flames can be as high as the handle on an open dome in the time it takes you to flip 4 steaks!

Flashback Bob

One more thing,
They say that F-backs typically occur when the fire has been raging, you choke it down and then open the lid before the fire has stabilized at the lower setting and the result is Flashback.[p]I have had more than a couple f-backs and none have happened under those conditions (maybe because this board has me so well trained)[p]Mine have all happened when I was going for high temps. I have burped the Egg at 650/700 on occasion where there was a big poof followed by the temp shooting right up 100 degrees. I think on these occasions the fire is accelerating and trying to burn even faster limited only by the oxygen available. When the dome is lifted the fire sucks in that additional oxygen, it enables the fire to jump ahead burning hotter.[p]I don't know if there's any truth in the science of what I just described, but I know from experience what happened and I'm speculating on the "how".

Unknown

Flashback Bob,
I think you are exactly right. I have no problem with burping the egg after I choked it down. It is when I go for the steaks at the high temps with everything wide open. [p]I do use welders gloves, this one just got me past them near the elbows. I like the idea of the multiple burps too. I think I will make a long wooden handle with a notch in it.[p]Other than that, I love the egg and have been having a great time with it. [p]Thanks for the help. I really should have used a little more common sense but the videos make it look so easy.[p]Ted

Grandpas Grub

Bob, you are pretty close on the description of FB.[p]The fuel+hot with lack of Oxygen inside the egg is 'wanting more oxygen'. Opening the lid, either vent will supply that oxygen.[p]Obviously opennig the dome will allow more oxy to rush to that super heated mixture. Result is a FB which the 'superheaded fuel rich' mixture rushes out to meet whatever oxygen.[p]A fireman fully protected has less than 2 seconds to get to cover in a building fire which a FB occures.[p]On the net (google & wickipedia) has some great information, about FB. It explains the chemistry required, air/fuel/heat relationships along with a lot of studies. There are discussions and studies for the fire departments that show which mixtures burn and which done, like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide (CD) and what is required to get them to burn if they are flamable.[p]It would not be hard for a FB with a quickly closed lid to produce 200° or more degree rise in a very few seconds.[p]Anyway, the eggs (or any ceramic cooker) at high temps are FB kings as many reports have proven.[p]Hair singin, gasket burnin, glove testin fun...