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Well Crud - Cracked base?

Hey there folks,

While smoking up some Wings and Sausage this weekend, I noticed something frightening....

Anyone care to chime in on the below pictures, and let me know what they think?  Is this just a little glaze chipping, or a full on crack in my base?

I'm going to pull all the lump out and clean out the egg tonight to inspect the inside; will post some more pictures later...

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Comments

  • BRush00
    BRush00 Posts: 367
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,668
    crack, call your dealer and email a pic to them
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,008
    I agree with fish.  That's a crack 
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
  • BRush00
    BRush00 Posts: 367
    Well thanks, and a big ol' BOO to the both of you two!

    haha - yeah, it's what I was afraid of I guess....  Just called my dealer to give them a head's up, and I'll be sending them an e-mail with some more pics (including the inside pics) tonight.

    Now I'll just cross my fingers that they'll be good and replace it right away without me having to wait for a new base from the mothership!
    [Insert clever signature line here]
  • Chubby
    Chubby Posts: 2,955
    edited July 2015
    Had the same thing happened to me about six or seven years ago after having my large for about 4 years.
    They sent me a replacement right away. Until a month or so ago I never got around to replacing it until I took my egg apart to do a bunch of maintenance... replacing gaskets sanding and painting the bands ect!
    I cooked with it with that crack in it seven years if that tells you anything.

    Decided to repurpose it for the above!!
    I spent most of my money on good bourbon, and bad women...the rest, I just wasted!!
  • BRush00
    BRush00 Posts: 367
    Yeah - i do absolutely plan to turn the base (I'm assuming my dealer won't want it back) into a planter, simply because my Mother in Law will find it terribly amusing I'm sure haha.

    She scoffed at the idea that I spent 'what?!?' on a grill (though now, after eating off of it, and seeing how often I cook on it, she tells me it was a great investment), now I can tell her I spent 'what?!?' on a grill, AND a planter haha.

    The fact that you went 6+ years cooking WITH a cracked base absolutely makes me wonder.... how many cracked eggs are there currently amongst the members of this board, and how many don't know about them....
    [Insert clever signature line here]
  • Legume
    Legume Posts: 14,602
    mine's cracked, just haven't claimed yet
  • GATABITES
    GATABITES Posts: 1,260
    Mine is on a deck. So when mine cracked, I was ready to replace it. It does sit in a cart, but I didn't want to take a chance. 
    XL BGE 
    Joe JR 
    Baltimore, MD
  • westernbbq
    westernbbq Posts: 2,490
    grow the wood in it that you harvest and covert into charcoal!  it would work with mesquite
  • SMITTYtheSMOKER
    SMITTYtheSMOKER Posts: 2,668
    I personally would not advise to keep cooking on a cracked base.  While it may be true that one can cook on an Egg in the this condition...I would say it's not worth the risk involved as it could be a fire hazard as it may fail while a fire is robust and your belongings (house) close by.
    If you bought a new Egg...use your warranty.

     

    -SMITTY     

    from SANTA CLARA, CA

  • BRush00
    BRush00 Posts: 367
    Yeah - I'm not planning on cooking until this is resolved.  Life came up last night, and I was unable to get it cleaned out to take a peak/more photos inside.  Hopefully I can get to it tonight when I get home from work.

    As an aside, I was planning for awhile now, to build a new table.  I'm thinkin' this'll be the motivation I need to get it done, I'd rather put the new egg into the new table, and not have to move it if I can avoid...

    [Insert clever signature line here]
  • Chubby
    Chubby Posts: 2,955
    edited July 2015
    I personally would not advise to keep cooking on a cracked base.  While it may be true that one can cook on an Egg in the this condition...I would say it's not worth the risk involved as it could be a fire hazard as it may fail while a fire is robust and your belongings (house) close by.
    If you bought a new Egg...use your warranty.


    BRush00 said:
    Yeah - i do absolutely plan to turn the base (I'm assuming my dealer won't want it back) into a planter, simply because my Mother in Law will find it terribly amusing I'm sure haha.

    She scoffed at the idea that I spent 'what?!?' on a grill (though now, after eating off of it, and seeing how often I cook on it, she tells me it was a great investment), now I can tell her I spent 'what?!?' on a grill, AND a planter haha.

    The fact that you went 6+ years cooking WITH a cracked base absolutely makes me wonder.... how many cracked eggs are there currently amongst the members of this board, and how many don't know about them....


    I suppose everyone has a different situation. In my case back in those days my Eggs were in  bases on a concrete slab (well away from my home)... so besides probably being lazy I just kept an eye on it and continued to cook , (after a while the truth is I pretty much forgot about it) until I would go to the garage and see the base sitting there ;)
    That said... Smitty is an exprrienced Dealer, and sees lots of different situations... so I would think it prudent to take his advice here!
    I spent most of my money on good bourbon, and bad women...the rest, I just wasted!!
  • Grillin_beers
    Grillin_beers Posts: 1,345
    It seems like there have been a lot of cracked bases lately.  I wonder why?
    1 large BGE, Spartanburg SC

    My dog thinks I'm a grilling god. 
  • BRush00
    BRush00 Posts: 367
      I suppose everyone has a different situation. In my case back in those days my Eggs were in  bases on a concrete slab (well away from my home)... so besides probably being lazy I just kept an eye on it and continued to cook , (after a while the truth is I pretty much forgot about it) until I would go to the garage and see the base sitting there ;)
    That said... Smitty is an exprrienced Dealer, and sees lots of different situations... so I would think it prudent to take his advice here!

    Agreed - If my egg were down on a concrete pad away from the house, sure, I'd still cook on it.

    But my egg's on a wooden table, sitting on a wooden deck, which it affixed directly to my (wooden) house.  I'll miss egging for a little while, but IMHO, in my case, the risk outweighs the reward here. 

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  • 500
    500 Posts: 3,177
    I went 6 years before my base cracked.  Let it roll for a few months like that as I gathered photo evidence, and got warranty replacements.  Replaced the base just last week, as chronicled in my "This is Your Egg on Crack" post.  Now I'm dealing with a band issue and broke down and ordered a new band set.  Wish I didn't have to deal with the band issue, cause it was fine until I took it apart, but this has been the only problem in 6+ years, so I can't complain too much.
    I like my butt rubbed and my pork pulled.
    Member since 2009
  • BRush00
    BRush00 Posts: 367
    Well I finally managed to get everything cleaned out really well last night, got an e-mail off to my dealer, and crossing my fingers for the best now.

    Absolutely a cracked base straight through:

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  • BRush00
    BRush00 Posts: 367


    Very oddly, I can post pictures from my phone, but not my web browser......
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  • jtcBoynton
    jtcBoynton Posts: 2,814
    It seems like there have been a lot of cracked bases lately.  I wonder why?
    In older eggs, they had ceramic fire grates.  With the use of the more open cast iron fire grate and with people using the aftermarket open fire grates, a lot more eggs are getting hit with higher temps on the bottom of the bases. I think that may be part of the reason.  

    The other thing may be due to perception or reporting.  It may be that there were as many be cracked, but people were not discussing it on the web. They may have just dealt directly with BGE to get a replacement and not bothered to share with us on the forum.  Also with more and more eggs sold, there are going to be more and more problems. The actual failure rate may not change, but the raw numbers will increase. 
    Southeast Florida - LBGE
    In cooking, often we implement steps for which we have no explanations other than ‘that’s what everybody else does’ or ‘that’s what I have been told.’  Dare to think for yourself.