Theory

CP92 · May 21

Got a new LBGE just recently. First cook was a couple of weeks ago and I did ribs in the 250 range. Using Rockwood. Vents were open much farther than my previous LBGE (broken during a move). Got a Kick Ash basket over the weekend, and seasoned a wok today using Rockwood again. Vents wide open and it barely reached 550. Thoughts on ceramic being white (not sooted over) keeping the egg from reaching higher temps?

RRP · May 21

Obvious questions...did you check the calibration of your dome thermometer? And are you sure the bottom of the firebox was properly aligned with the bottom vent?

CP92 · May 21

Have not checked the cal of the thermo. Out box I just assume it's good. Yes, the firebox is aligned correctly.

loco_engr · May 21

plz report back after calibration . . . might help other new owners

JohnInCarolina · May 21

CP92 said:

Thoughts on ceramic being white (not sooted over) keeping the egg from reaching higher temps?

Unlikely to be a significant factor.

Hansm · May 23

I calibtrated my GBE thermo in boiling water, it was off by a few degrees

RyanStl · May 23

So I take it no flames shooting out of the top with lid off?

RRP · May 23

Hansm said:

I calibtrated my GBE thermo in boiling water, it was off by a few degrees

A few degrees off shouldn’t make that much of a difference and you already said your firebox opening is properly aligned…and a kick ash basket is no hindrance so the only other variables point toward
1) what restricting cap were you using on your dome or was it un-restricted?
2) how much lump did you have in?
3) how long had it been burning?
4) how big is that new wok you were seasoning? I mean it in itself might have been acting as a heat sink and if too big then it could have been choking off the air flow!

Begger · May 24

SOME Materials.....In the case of what I'm certain of....become transparent to infrared at some very high tempreture.
In my 'past life' as a semiconductor process guy? The Silicon Wafer used as 'start material' becomes tranparent at (IIRC) about 1000c......
This is somewhat beyond where you can get your egg.....but I don't know the specifics of the ceramic used making the egg.

When I have done 'full speed' burn offs in the past? A real pale blue flame comes out the top. You can't get NEAR the darn thing. And when done? Dome ceramic is a LOT cleaner and the 'lower end' almost looks like new....

As for a wok being a 'heat sink'? True, until it gets HOT, than not so much.
I remember doing PIZZA and when I get it cranked up? Dome temp of 600+ is not uncommon......but Charcoal use is considerable compared to just burning up some dogs and burgers....

CP92 · May 25

Fire box was full to the top, just below the ring that sits on top. No flames shooting out of the top. I owned an egg for 7 years and routinely ran my old egg up to 750+ to sear steaks and do pizzas. Was surprised I couldn't get over 550. Did fried rice on the wok/egg Sun; same results. Just can't figure it out. Plan on doing more woking this summer to keep the heat out of the house so we'll see.

Chris

JohnInCarolina · May 25

CP92 said:

Fire box was full to the top, just below the ring that sits on top. No flames shooting out of the top. I owned an egg for 7 years and routinely ran my old egg up to 750+ to sear steaks and do pizzas. Was surprised I couldn't get over 550. Did fried rice on the wok/egg Sun; same results. Just can't figure it out. Plan on doing more woking this summer to keep the heat out of the house so we'll see.

Chris

It is almost always air flow. Somehow the lump you had loaded up was restricting it.

Do a clean burn, put in a new pile of lump and try again and I can almost guarantee you won't have any issues getting up to temperature.

CP92 · May 25

Only thing I can think of is I dumped the lump in a trash can and am mostly using small pieces as that's what ended up on top of the pile in the trash can. I'll try bigger pieces next burn.

Hansm · May 25

not the size of the chunk it is airflow through the firebox

RyanStl · May 26

CP92 said:

Fire box was full to the top, just below the ring that sits on top. No flames shooting out of the top. I owned an egg for 7 years and routinely ran my old egg up to 750+ to sear steaks and do pizzas. Was surprised I couldn't get over 550. Did fried rice on the wok/egg Sun; same results. Just can't figure it out. Plan on doing more woking this summer to keep the heat out of the house so we'll see.

Chris

When doing direct, all I have to do to get flames shooting out of top is go inside for a minute and then look out the kitchen window. Everytime, like old faithful.

CP92 · May 27

Hansm said:

not the size of the chunk it is airflow through the firebox

There is zero issue with airflow to the firebox. The egg has a total of 3 cooks on it, and have experienced the issue in each cook. The ash area is cleaned out each time and new lump placed in it. In addition, the last two cooks have used the Kick Ash basket.

RRP · May 27

I'm going to jump in the deep end with an unexplainable theory...just like some of us who can go nuclear with our Small eggs there have always been others who couldn't get much past 400º no matter what! There was never a plausible explanation - so you might have the same issue with your new large. Sorry

Langner91 · May 27

If I had that issue, I would grab a hair dryer and fire it up. I would blow some air up it's skirt and see how hot I could get it.

I know you are an experienced egghead, based upon this being a "replacement" egg for one that was damaged. So, don't take this personally.

Try some stuff and see what happens. Basically, if you leave the lid open, so you know air flow isn't the issue, how hot does it get? Once you get it roaring that way, close the lid and see what happens. Does it go out? Does it keep getting hotter if both vents are wide open?

I mean, there are only three ingredients at play. Charcoal, ignition source, and air. It's not like you could have a spider nest in your burner tube, or wet pellets jamming your feed auger. This is a clay flower pot that you build a fire in. That fire would rage out of control if not for the limit placed on the air by the two vents. If you are truly igniting the lump (charcoal and ignition source), the ONLY limit can be on air (oxygen).

CP92 · May 28

Langner91 said:

I know you are an experienced egghead, based upon this being a "replacement" egg for one that was damaged. So, don't take this personally.

Definitely not taking it personally, but appreciate the nod. Yes, have kept the lid up and it just never goes nuclear. It's mind boggling. I was very close to grabbing the air dryer/lawn blower at one point to accelerate the whole thing. Will definitely be in on hand next time. Will advise.

@RRP I hope it's not idiopathic. I love my steaks too much and really want to do more woking and pizzas. Thanks for the thoughts and support however.

Chris

Langner91 · May 28

CP92 said:

Langner91 said:

I know you are an experienced egghead, based upon this being a "replacement" egg for one that was damaged. So, don't take this personally.

Definitely not taking it personally, but appreciate the nod. Yes, have kept the lid up and it just never goes nuclear. It's mind boggling. I was very close to grabbing the air dryer/lawn blower at one point to accelerate the whole thing. Will definitely be in on hand next time. Will advise.

@RRP I hope it's not idiopathic. I love my steaks too much and really want to do more woking and pizzas. Thanks for the thoughts and support however.

Chris

I will be curious to see what happens. I just can't understand what would be happening. Good luck!

CP92 · May 29

Turned out to be the screen on the lower vent. Opened it up and shot to 750. Closed the screen and dropped to below 600. Never had that issue on the older model.

Chris

danhoo · May 31

Interesting...

After I got a warranty base last summer I've noticed it wasn't heating as fast. Thought it was the lump, or how I was lighting it.

First pic is my new screen that came with a 2021 base, and the second pic is the screen of my 2011.

The new screen has thicker wire and a tighter weave.

My cracked base is going to be an herb planter.

Botch · May 31

I'm quite surprised that the weave of the screen makes such a difference. Learn something here all the time.

CP92 · May 31

Botch said:

I'm quite surprised that the weave of the screen makes such a difference. Learn something here all the time.

I would have argued it all day. I was shocked when that's what it turned out to be.

danhoo · May 31

CP92 said:

Botch said:

I'm quite surprised that the weave of the screen makes such a difference. Learn something here all the time.

I would have argued it all day. I was shocked when that's what it turned out to be.

the numbers geek in me wants to calculate the delta for the restriction difference between new, old and none, yet I probably won't get to it and it won't be accurate without measuring the air flow volume.

But just comparing open area:
new screen has 20 vertical wires. Old has 18.
new screen wire looks thicker, so the open space is not only smaller due to a tighter weave but the wire blocks more air.

Rough guess is the new screen is at least 10 percent more restrictive than the old, maybe 20 percent.

paqman · May 31

I changed the screen on my large last year and it did make a difference but not as drastic as what you are seeing @CP92

I still have the original somewhere in the shed, I’ll try to find it to compare it side-by-side

pgprescott · May 31

danhoo said:

CP92 said:

Botch said:

I'm quite surprised that the weave of the screen makes such a difference. Learn something here all the time.

I would have argued it all day. I was shocked when that's what it turned out to be.
the numbers geek in me wants to calculate the delta for the restriction difference between new, old and none, yet I probably won't get to it and it won't be accurate without measuring the air flow volume.

But just comparing open area:
new screen has 20 vertical wires. Old has 18.
new screen wire looks thicker, so the open space is not only smaller due to a tighter weave but the wire blocks more air.

Rough guess is the new screen is at least 10 percent more restrictive than the old, maybe 20 percent.

The more useful exercise (imo) would be to calculate the delta between the mesh barrier and no barrier. I can assure you the barrier previous to this one also made a difference. It’s absolutely possible it was less drastic, but I’m 100% sure it existed. If you want real high temps you have to remove the screen as an obstruction. My egg is @20 yo. I definitely notice the difference between open and closed screen. The real old ones never used a screen (spark arrester). It’s fairly significant in my experience. This might be a job for grad students as I’m sure there are a multitude of variables not being discussed such as the state of the fire, wind direction, etc.

TWags15 · May 31

CP92 said:

Turned out to be the screen on the lower vent. Opened it up and shot to 750. Closed the screen and dropped to below 600. Never had that issue on the older model.

Chris

Unfortunately it was at your expense, man, but this was one mystery novel for which I couldn’t wait for the conclusion! Read every troubleshoot response word for word, hoping there’d be something I could add … and there just wasn’t. Glad you’re through the stall!

RRP · June 1

pgprescott said:

danhoo said:

CP92 said:

Botch said:

I'm quite surprised that the weave of the screen makes such a difference. Learn something here all the time.

I would have argued it all day. I was shocked when that's what it turned out to be.
the numbers geek in me wants to calculate the delta for the restriction difference between new, old and none, yet I probably won't get to it and it won't be accurate without measuring the air flow volume.

But just comparing open area:
new screen has 20 vertical wires. Old has 18.
new screen wire looks thicker, so the open space is not only smaller due to a tighter weave but the wire blocks more air.

Rough guess is the new screen is at least 10 percent more restrictive than the old, maybe 20 percent.

The more useful exercise (imo) would be to calculate the delta between the mesh barrier and no barrier. I can assure you the barrier previous to this one also made a difference. It’s absolutely possible it was less drastic, but I’m 100% sure it existed. If you want real high temps you have to remove the screen as an obstruction. My egg is @20 yo. I definitely notice the difference between open and closed screen. The real old ones never used a screen (spark arrester). It’s fairly significant in my experience. This might be a job for grad students as I’m sure there are a multitude of variables not being discussed such as the state of the fire, wind direction, etc.

well, said, Pete and a challenge made to some university with graduate students looking for a challenge…BUT aren’t such challenges normally made by corporate underwriters? SO do you think…or never mind!

BTW the other variable which I know I have experienced has been how loose the screen slides and rests in the track. I know mine and other eggers as well had loosely-goosey doors which had issues riding in the track behind the doors. I for one would often suggest using a slotted screw driver to tighten or loosen the track to slide better…

lousubcap · June 1

@RRP and others here regarding the closing comments about tightness of the screen in the track-Not quite three years ago I was shutting the screen cover with the dome open (LBGE) to get the across the lump fire for a paella cook.
Down to the last 1/4 inch of travel and getting resistance.
You guessed it, with the last (for the BGE) push the BGE toppled off the roofed porch and dropped around 2 feet into a few shrubs but the major parts nailed the aggregate concrete. Most expensive paella I ever cooked. Grabbed the nearby garden hose, killed the fire, fired up the SBGE and completed the cook. My best ever F' me moment with a BGE.

Ybabpmuts · June 1

@lousubcap

"You guessed it, with the last (for the BGE) push the BGE toppled off the roofed porch and dropped around 2 feet into a few shrubs but the major parts nailed the aggregate concrete"

Before you buy another egg you should plant more shrubs under the porch. I'll be honest with you, there was just no way only a few shrubs were gonna catch that egg safely. I have maybe 16 shrubs around my yard and in almost all of them, the birds always make their nests down at the very bottom of the shrubs. Even birds know the tops of shrubs suck at catching falling eggs, and they're all basically living in shrub basements, in case an egg falls out, just to give it a small chance at survival.

Wait a minute ..umm forget growing more shrubs, that takes too long. I'm thinking you can solve this by moving your porch down near the bottoms of your shrubs. Watch out for the birds down there though, if you're in America bring a shotgun, if you're in Britain, bring some tuppence to the old hag on the steps of Saint Paul's, for a bag of crumbs, before you use the new porch.

StumpBaby

CP92 · June 1

TWags15 said:

Unfortunately it was at your expense, man, but this was one mystery novel for which I couldn’t wait for the conclusion! Read every troubleshoot response word for word, hoping there’d be something I could add … and there just wasn’t. Glad you’re through the stall!

@TWags15. Always good for the collective to come together on issues like this. Glad you benefited as well.

Chris

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