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Med.egg temp. problem..Help

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milesofsmiles
milesofsmiles Posts: 1,377
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
This cust. bought a med. about 4 mo. ago. About 2-3 weeks ago she tells me it will not get to 500. I thought we had solved the prob. when she told me she only filled the lump up to the air holes. I told her to the top of the fire box, and let me know what happens. Today her dad stopped in and said he got it to 500, and thought they had solved the prob. then the temp dropped back to 450, and keep falling some. She has cooked a goodly amt. of lo n slo. but no hight temp. I gave him a bag of new lump to see if that might bt the prob. I am open to ideas. Sorry to be wordy. Miles
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  • Morro Bay Rich
    Morro Bay Rich Posts: 2,227
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    Heat = fuel + air

    Either the fuel is low (off) or the air is low.
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  • Rick's Tropical Delight
    Rick's Tropical Delight Posts: 1,564
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    how about maybe too many small pieces of lump charcoal?

    a person buys an egg and a bag or two of charcoal. everything is great at the top of the bag of lump, but as they get to the bottom, there are a lot of small pieces and dust. they dump it in the egg and a 'crust' of small pieces forms over the burning lump not allowing free flames. sometimes a stir will help open it up in the middle, but larger pieces of lump will ensure it doesn't happen.
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  • jeffinsgf
    jeffinsgf Posts: 1,259
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    Proportion of used lump can have a big influence on high temp cooks. It's tough to get a medium up to or over 500 if a good bit of the fuel load is used lump.
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  • JLOCKHART29
    JLOCKHART29 Posts: 5,897
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    Make sure the bottom fire grid is turned sharp edges down. Opening of the fire box is cleanly facing the bottom vent. Fresh lump helps but still should be no problem 550-600 with old lump as long as the fire box is full and old ash is knocked out of box and cleaned out of the bottom. Also didn't say if trying to use a platesetter but if so truly high temps are really not possable. About 500-550 is all you will get but not really any need to go that high anyway.
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  • JLOCKHART29
    JLOCKHART29 Posts: 5,897
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    JLOCKHART29 wrote:
    Make sure the bottom fire grid is turned sharp edges down. Opening of the fire box is cleanly facing the bottom vent. Fresh lump helps but still should be no problem 550-600 with old lump as long as the fire box is full and old ash is knocked out of box and cleaned out of the bottom. Also didn't say if trying to use a platesetter but if so truly high temps are really not possable. About 500-550 is all you will get but not really any need to go that high anyway.
    Also open fire screen. Amazing how much restriction it adds.
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  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
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    Folks cooking at lower elevations usually don't run into high temp problems on the medium.

    Does that medium have the smaller fire ring or the larger fire ring?

    For me, at my altitude with smaller fire ring, if I want much over 450° on the medium I have to plug the gap between the fire ring and inside egg wall.

    How much lump is in the egg and if it is new, old, large, small sizes.

    Wiggle stick the lump from the lower vent so more air will flow up into the lump will usually resolve the problem.

    If that doesn't work the problem for me, I probably have too much food too close together on the grate.

    GG
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  • "Sparky"
    "Sparky" Posts: 6,024
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    Hey Miles,is she using the daisy wheel?With the bottom draft door open,and the daisy wheel removed,my medium will climb over 1000 degrees in a hurry :huh: (with all fresh lump) ;)

    008-1-1.jpg
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  • James MB
    James MB Posts: 359
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    My med gets short of air when I've just been stirring and topping up the lump. A clean out now and again seems to set it right, the lump just gets too packed up so the clean (and put the used lump back in) seems to reintroduce air channels.
    btw make sure the air holes in the sides are cleared too.
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