BGE Table, Gap Question.....

mick7607 · July 2015

How much of a gap exists between the outer wall of your Egg and the table itself? Mine is about a quarter of an inch and I think that's not enough. I am seeing several spots on my nice cedar of bubbling of the spar varnish finish due to conduction of high heat. Should I cut my circle larger? Anyone else experience this?

DMW · July 2015

Raise the egg up a bit. What is it sitting on, table nest or a paver?

grege345 · July 2015

Either cut the hole bigger or raise it up. You dont want it to get worse.

Spaightlabs · July 2015

grege345 said:

Either cut the hole bigger or raise it up. You dont want it to get worse.

Worse = fire.

Fix it it pronto.

theyolksonyou · July 2015

Seems I read 5/8" min, but don't quote me.

Helmet · July 2015

Here's mine

PNWQue · July 2015

I just finished putting my setup together. Couple plans I've seen call for a 21" dis hole....I wanted a little extra so I cut 22". I have about a 1" gap all the way around. I have a large setting on fire bricks and table nest.......dang....hate typing on the phone. Hard to tell from this pic.....course I haven't even fired it up yet.

KennyLee · July 2015

Minimum is 21" for a large, but I cut mine at 22.5". Figured a little extra breathing room, plus easier to get the Egg in and out when you have to.

nolaegghead · July 2015

My gap is 1/2". You can put a high temp radiant barrier liner around the hole I recommend that for every wood table. I've been planing on installing one - my table top is epoxy soaked cypress and can handle some heat, but I have some thermal expansion cracks that I'd like to mitigate.

revolver1 · July 2015

My next table will have an opening, not a hole. The Egg isn't going anywhere. Easy to install and remove.

BRush00 · July 2015

nolaegghead said:

My gap is 1/2". You can put a high temp radiant barrier liner around the hole I recommend that for every wood table. I've been planing on installing one - my table top is epoxy soaked cypress and can handle some heat, but I have some thermal expansion cracks that I'd like to mitigate.

I'm actually in the planning stages of my table, and was recently thinking about this....

I like the idea of adding a gasket type material to the edge of the hole, where it would/could contact the egg, or at least comes into contact with (theoretially) the most direct heat....

Any suggestions as to what we should be using?

nolaegghead · July 2015

You want a shiny metallic foil surface on the outside over some kind of insulation - foam or bubbles. This will reflect most of the heat back at the egg.

DoubleEgger · July 2015

DMW said:

Raise the egg up a bit. What is it sitting on, table nest or a paver?

Easiest solution by far

Toxarch · July 2015

I thought about adding a rutland gasket to that edge around the egg. The rutland is a flat woven material so it has openings for air to let it breath. It's rated for 1100 degrees or something like that. And it can provide a little bit of cushion between the table and the egg if the table is on wheels and is rolled around.
I cut the hole in my table at 21.5". Probably not enough room between the egg and the table for the Rutland. Still finishing the table so I guess I will find out soon enough.

nolaegghead · July 2015

DoubleEgger said:

DMW said:

Raise the egg up a bit. What is it sitting on, table nest or a paver?

Easiest solution by far

I'm telling ya, the radiant barrier is far more effective than a larger gap. Look around the headers and exhaust on your car - they all use radiant barriers to keep the heat from the exhaust system off the chassis and other heat sensitive parts. Radiant heat is the issue here. The air gap just helps with convection.

buzd504 · July 2015

theyolksonyou said:

Seems I read 5/8" min, but don't quote me.

Take that!

DoubleEgger · July 2015

nolaegghead said:

DoubleEgger said:

DMW said:

Raise the egg up a bit. What is it sitting on, table nest or a paver?

Easiest solution by far

I'm telling ya, the radiant barrier is far more effective than a larger gap. Look around the headers and exhaust on your car - they all use radiant barriers to keep the heat from the exhaust system off the chassis and other heat sensitive parts. Radiant heat is the issue here. The air gap just helps with convection.

I didn't say best, I said easiest.

theyolksonyou · July 2015

buzd504 said:

theyolksonyou said:

Seems I read 5/8" min, but don't quote me.

Take that!

Smartassedness is my favorite kind of humor! Made me laugh.

RRP · July 2015

Toxarch said:

I thought about adding a rutland gasket to that edge around the egg. The rutland is a flat woven material so it has openings for air to let it breath. It's rated for 1100 degrees or something like that.

No, the Rutland is rated to 2,200º. The only issue is going to be securing it vertically to the wooden table edges, but it can be done with a combination of Permatex, large head nails and patience while it cures and sits up.

Toxarch · July 2015

See? Or something like that.
I was thinking permatex and the pneumatic staple gun. It'll cure while I cook.

UncleFred · July 2015

22.5 inch cut out has a circumference an inch under 6 feet... At Home Depot you can pick up a 6' aluminum strip for less than $10.
Fit it in the cut out, cut off the excess, drill holes every 6" or so, countersink them for flat head screws.
It works well and gives a finished look to the hole.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/nr/i3icd31rqayw.jpg

Depending on the thickness of the table top a piece of aluminum channel might look nice too, putting a nice ring around the cut out on the table top.

nolaegghead · July 2015

Gasket material by itself isn't going to do much to slow down the heat going into the wood table top. Now a gasket under what @UncleFred did above would be a fine radiant barrier.

RiverDoc · July 2015

@UncleFred that's a great idea thanks

ryantt · July 2015

@nolaegghead thanks for chiming in with the radiant barrier. I've been struggling with building a table or just a workstation, because of the table fire issue. This radiant barrier seems like a smart solution when coupled with a 1inch gap.

nolaegghead · July 2015

@ryantt - no problem. I've been planing on adding this to my table for a while. I need to fix the heat cracks with epoxy then I'm going to put some insulation and a stainless strip around the inside of the hole. The table top gets scary hot when I do pizzas.

Toxarch · July 2015

nolaegghead said:

Gasket material by itself isn't going to do much to slow down the heat going into the wood table top. Now a gasket under what @UncleFred did above would be a fine radiant barrier.

Sure it will. It will do the same thing as a radiant barrier. It's got a high heat surface and the outer surface will sit off the wood to protect it.

And insulation behind the metal strip is a bad idea. All that will do is trap the heat over time. If you do the metal strip like pictured, and put washers as spacers behind it, then it will work really well. There's already going to be air flow through the gap from the heat convection off the egg. The metal strip will catch the direct radiant heat and the convection airflow on both sides of the metal strip will help it cool.

UncleFred · July 2015

I wish I had the ability to do a temp profile across the area during a high temp cook (outside of egg, air gap, metal strip and table top wood).
I don't know, but suspect, that there would be a large drop off... and to continue my thought process, the air gap is the key because the air is moving? the portion of the egg below the table surface is heating the air around it. warmer air rises, going up through the gap mixed with surrounding (marginally) cooler air?

Hummm... maybe I'll apply for a million dollar grant to test my theory...

nolaegghead · July 2015

Toxarch said:

nolaegghead said:

Gasket material by itself isn't going to do much to slow down the heat going into the wood table top. Now a gasket under what @UncleFred did above would be a fine radiant barrier.

Sure it will. It will do the same thing as a radiant barrier. It's got a high heat surface and the outer surface will sit off the wood to protect it.

And insulation behind the metal strip is a bad idea. All that will do is trap the heat over time. If you do the metal strip like pictured, and put washers as spacers behind it, then it will work really well. There's already going to be air flow through the gap from the heat convection off the egg. The metal strip will catch the direct radiant heat and the convection airflow on both sides of the metal strip will help it cool.

I concede that's even better than insulation. I was thinking fluffy insulation that's mostly air but spacers would be even better.

Toxarch · July 2015

Actually, I think that's the way that I am going to do mine. Metal strip with countersink screws and spacers.

BGE Table, Gap Question.....

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