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Egg glued shut

Unknown
Unknown
edited November -0001 in EggHead Forum
Hello all![p]Ok, maybe I stumbled into the biggest Egg "don't" ever but my Egg is now bonded shut.[p]I ran it hot (700) for a while to clean it, maybe 45 minutes, then I slowed it down to about 400 and let it burn itself out, maybe another hour or two.[p]I didn't open the Egg at all during that time so as not to further char the gasket.[p]Well, I guess the gasket glue melted during that process and now the darn thing is completely sealed. I can't open.[p]What are my options? I can't relight it, say, by dropping in some charcoal and a lit starter because the grill and plate setter are in the way. In the absence of any other suggestions I'll get a putty knife and just carefully wedge it in as best I can until I poke through the charred gasket.[p]Any help would be greatly appreciated![p]-Stooxie[p]p.s. As I write this I think I know what I did wrong. I think having the plate setter in place forced the heat and flame to travel up the sides instead of directly up. That probably helped melt everything nicely. Oh well, stupid is as stupid does... and stupid sure did.
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Comments

  • AZRP
    AZRP Posts: 10,116
    stooxie,
    Mine did that once, I lit a couple firestarters and put them under the coal grate through the bottom vent door. I took off the top, daisy or ceramic and let it come up to temp. At about 450 I was able to open it. Good luck. -RP
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  • ThinkandDrive
    ThinkandDrive Posts: 84
    I just did this two weeks ago. I was FREAKING out.

    It was pretty easy to remedy, however.

    I let the egg cool completely overnight and slid a thin, metal putty knife through the gap from the inside. You ought to be able to reach inside and run your fingers along the seam and feel where the glue fused. Hopefully, there's a gap somewhere that isn't fused all together. If you can slide the blade of the putty knife through there, can should be able to widen that gap by sawing back and forth.

    Once there's engouh of a gap, insert the blade back through from the outside. I used a rubber mallet to tap the "hilt" of the putty knife repeatedly as I cut through the burned gasket.

    Your gasket it probably a gonner. Like many other people here, I burned up my gasket within the first few weeks. I ordered a replacement gasket which I haven't put back on yet. I've done two high-temp steak sears and two low and slow overnights on it with no problems.
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  • tach18k
    tach18k Posts: 1,607
    stooxie,
    also I found a drywall knife to be thin and flexible to slit in between the gaskets, just slowly slide it around and the dome should pop off
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  • Clay Q
    Clay Q Posts: 4,486
    stooxie,
    Threw the bottom draft door build a fire under the grate with small kindling and some lump. Have the top daisy vent off and let the egg heat up.
    Carefully work a thin blade into the gasket until the dome lifts off.
    Take your time doing this.
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
    ClayQ, others,[p]Thanks for the info, I'll do this.[p]I am amazed and only mildly comforted that I'm not alone here![p]So how do we prevent this from happening? I'm not too keen on doing the fiberglass gasket thing (for a couple of reasons), so how do I avoid this in the future? I've had my Egg up to high temps before doing steak and this has never happened.[p]Unique things this time: length of time under high heat and the plate setter in place.[p]Maybe just keeping the Egg cracked open (har har) with a fire brick during cool down.[p]Thanks!!
    -Stooxie

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  • Clay Q
    Clay Q Posts: 4,486
    Stooxie,
    Prevention; Don't take the egg up to extreme temps for long periods. There are fiberglass gaskets and high temp cements that can take extreme heat, that's an opition.
    Good luck.
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  • Clay Q
    Clay Q Posts: 4,486
    Stooxie,
    Forgot you stated no fiberglass gaskets. Well, how about using aluminum foil between the gaskets when going extreme temps?
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 34,580
    stooxie,
    do not do any prying in front near the handles, there is a hole cast under the band in that area and it would be easy to chip a chunk off the ceramic in that area. if it looks not so bad after getting the egg apart, i would just readjust the dome and continue cooking, 2 out of my 3 eggs have so little charred gasket left that its not even recognizable and those eggs cook fine.
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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