MY New Cooker Day & Mini Saga

[GolfGeezer]

Unlike the ease our friend Panhead John experienced, my new MasterKettle ordered through Lowes didn't quite go down the same way. The online ordering process was a breeze, made even easier since I have an existing account. I ordered both the grill and the cover, got my 10% discount, and happily awaited it being delivered to my local Lowes. Ordered at the beginning of last week, the shipping confirmation showed it was to be delivered tomorrow.

Being a little OCD, I kept looking at the tracking info provided on the order through Lowes' website. Oddly, on Friday morning last week, the tracking showed my order being delivered to the store - in Concord, NC!! Uh-oh... Of course, Concord is where SnS ships from. Looking a little deeper, I noticed that there was a Fedex tracking number from SnS to Lowes. Using that on Fedex's tracking, it showed the order had been delivered Friday morning to my local Lowes. OK, pretty nice, but I couldn't really deal with going there before today even though it is only 5 minutes away.

Then, on the weekend, my credit card showed Lowes charging for the grill on Saturday. Still in line with expectations. Then Sunday, my cc showed Lowes crediting the whole order! Whoa - strange.

So, this morning, bright and early (they open at 6 AM here), I drove over to the store and the adventure got stranger. This very nice young lady, Sunny (yup, that is her name), and I started to try finding out - did my order get delivered Friday?? I went through the whole tracking number process with her directly on their system, and she could definitely see that it showed the order was delivered Friday. Since she works the Returns and Pickup desk, she couldn't leave. She ended up trying to page about 4 people before getting to a back office dock dude. She goes through the whole tracking thing with him and he goes off to look to see if it is there. 30 minutes later, he rolls up with the grill box!! Yay!!

Well, not quite. I asked, "where is the cover?", fully expecting there to be a second box. Nope, no second box, but maybe inside the grill box? He opens it and starts to take out the inserts and stuff, and I stopped him. Besides trying to re-box it, I would have thought that if the cover was in there, it would be sitting on top. So, off he goes to look for a second box. another 30 minutes, Sunny finally pages him again. "I only received 1 box" - why he couldn't have let us know that 30 minutes earlier, I dunno. So, Sunny pages Gary. We go through the tracking saga with Gary. Gary goes off to look, comes back and no second box. Then he looks at the system again and he thinks it should have come in the grill box. we explain that we opened the box, looked in the top, and determined no cover was in there.

Two options - Lowes contacts the seller/shipper to inquire about the cover, or Lowes credits me back for the cover. I take the credit, which took another 20 minutes because Gary kept telling Sunny what to do, then he would leave, then she would try, but fail for some stupid system reason, and Gary would return to get it done. Finally, I left the store with the grill box.

After unloading and hauling to the backyard, I decided to open the box and poke around. Well, good grief, there was the cover!! I just got back from going over to Lowes to pay for the cover that had been credited. That took Sunny and Gary 2 tries as Lowes system wanted to treat the charge as a new order, which would have caused the system to order a new cover from SnS! Gary decided to let that happen hoping he could cancel the internal order and delivery.

Tomorrow I get my chance to see how much fun it is to assemble for 1 person. Given PJ's experience, sans sweat I hope!, I may have to find how much Basil Hayden I have left in the bar. 🥃🥃

[Panhead John]

Wow! Nobody should have to go through all that Sam! Glad you got your cover but there should have been some sort of way to prevent all that. SNS should have put some sort of “Contents label” or something, that shows the cover being in the box along with the kettle. I’ll bet you’re not the only one who’s had to go through that. Anyway, glad you got everything straightened out. Will your wife be able to loan you a hand if needed?

[GolfGeezer]

Yup, she’ll show me where the bourbon is. 😜. Unfortunately, SnS may have listed on the packing slip, but Lowes dock people removed it somewhere in the bowels of the store. The slip holder was empty.

[Panhead John]

Don’t embarrass me and come back here tomorrow saying you put it together in an hour! 😆

[Uncle Bob]

What an adventure! Hopefully the assembly won't offer the same sort of "interesting adventure".

[GolfGeezer]

Me too, although my ability to scramble details may exceed the lessons I learned from assembling the previous one!

[Michael_in_TX]

What a story!

I had something similar happen with my PBC. I ordered it with the accessory package and only got the main box. I had no idea that when these things are put together in China, they make different bundles….some with the accessory package and others without — but there is no discernible markings on the main box! (There probably are, but not to us.)

[58limited]

Wow, sorry you had to go through that. I've had a couple of issues with Lowe's, the worst:

When I ordered my zero turn mower several years ago Lowe's called to say it was ready. Note: It had arrived a few days before but a John Deere rep had to assemble it before it was released to me, a multi day process I was told. Turns out it was ready for pick up four days earlier When I arrived they couldn't find it. The department manager was called, looked, and said it wasn't there. I told him he better look again but he just shrugged his shoulders. However, he saw the look on my face and went back to look again, then came up and asked to verify the model number that I ordered. Turns out the idiots had put it out on the sales floor. Then the battery was dead because they left the key in it so customers screwed around and left it in the "on" position. Then there was a debate between two managers over whether they could release it with a dead battery. I told them to either release it and I'll charge it or put a new battery in it, which they did after another 2 minutes of debate. Wasted an hour of my time. My friend with the truck and trailer was 30 minutes late getting back to his job.

[Draznnl]

What a pain. You have much greater patience than I do. At some point in that morning at Lowe’s, I’m sure I would have lost it and said something I’d later have to apologize for. I’m hoping your build goes more smoothly than the pickup.

[lbyer]

Was delivery to your home not an option? Just askin?

[GolfGeezer]

Yes, that was an option. In this case, I didn’t want to hang around the house waiting for it. If it was an item that easily could be placed on our porch, then I probably would have chosen that as being at home for that is not a big concern here ( gated community). For such a large item, many times they drop “at the curb”, making a snatch from the street a possibility. The pickup was easy for me, so that’s what I chose.

[Oak Smoke]

Wow! All this before assembly even begins. I’ll be ready to settle in this evening and read chapter two.

[Panhead John]

I’ll grab the popcorn.

[GolfGeezer]

Hah! I may need to make a bourbon run before I start this morning.

[GolfGeezer]

OK, I made it!! Unfortunately, I did not break Panhead John 's assembly time (unverified, since I only have his word on how long it took him!!) From unboxing to solving my last misstep of assembling, it was just over 3 hours. I was tempted to try cutting up the packaging to go in our trash bins, but one of my few smart grey cells kicked in, and I called the trash people for a "special" pickup (we are allowed 4 per year), wherein I just place the box and its stuffings at the curb.

I started at shortly after 7 AM with the unboxing and laying all the components out. As PJ noted, the packaging is pretty thorough. That took about 30-40 minutes. The first things to install are the cover handle and dome thermometer. I could NOT believe myself - I installed the handle parts backwards THREE TIMES!! Oy. Fortunately, I got the thermometer right.

The assembly of the cart is actually a lot easier than what it took to install the legs and underneath shelf on the regular SnS Kettle. No forcing of legs to line up screw holes that one took. I do recommend someone to help with the side table mounting to the cart assembly. My wife helped a lot just by holding the table component while I got the mounting screws in place. Otherwise, the whole install can be handled by 1 person.

Even though I love to tease Panhead John , a lot, he helped via text with some questions and challenges I faced. As he noted, the instructions are just pictures, and some things are just not very clear. One is how to mount the wheels - there is a relatively flat side that I thought should mounted towards the cart. Nope!! That side needs to face outwards so that he wheel caps will snuggly snap onto the wheels.

SnS has gone to using springs, one for the top vent and one for the ash sweep. As someone else noted, those springs are not very strong. The top vent feels loose to me, but functionally it may be fine.

My one remaining issue is that one of the ash sweep arms appears to be slightly bent upwards so that it does not run along the kettle bottom as do the other arms. And the spring SnS uses to apply tension to pull the sweep to the body of teh kettle is the same tension as the top vent spring - just not sufficient. Hopefully I can bend that arm - if not, onto to SnS Support. I also plan to get some washer to put where the springs are to see if that provides better tension.

Otherwise - it is Nap Time!!!

[Panhead John]

Pics man! And when is your first cook?

[fuzzydaddy]

The ash sweep spring, though it feels loose, hasn’t been an issue for me. However the lid vent was so loose it moved too easily and would mess up my setting if I moved the lid during a cook. I added a washer (1/4” hole diameter) between the lid and the spring and that tightened it up enough. I reached out to SnS Grills and that was their recommendation.

[DaveD]

Alright! Victory is thine. That's a heck of a saga on getting the order for sure. Looking forward to seeing your first cook on this puppy.

Assuming it actually exists of course. Without photos, how can we really tell??

[GolfGeezer]

DaveD Just cut and paste PJ's picks from his new cooker thread. They are identical. 😁

[Panhead John]

GolfGeezer If I was gonna lie about assembly time, it would have been a lot less than the 3 hours I posted!

1. The lid handle and the heat shield which attaches to the lid…both have “SNS Grills” printed on them. When attaching those to the lid, yeah, you want the wording facing you when the lid is placed on the grill. The only reason I did it right on my first try is because I learned my lesson on my previous SNS kettle. Several years ago when I put it together, I put the handle on backwards with the logo facing away from me…🙄 I didn’t notice it until after the job was finished. I said screw it, putting the handle on by yourself was kind of a pain. I left it that way the entire 4 years I had it.

2. And yeah, the wheels….it was hard to tell which way they went onto the axle. Impossible to tell from their pictures and there was no mention of it in the manual. I had to take a few minutes to figure that out myself. I finally snapped the wheel caps on both sides to see which fit best, before installing them. SNS should mention that in their manuals or put a sticker on the wheels.

3. I also was a little surprised the lid vent and ash sweeps were spring loaded. I agree they didn’t feel as “tight” when moving them. Anyway, I did my burn in yesterday and didn’t encounter any problems. They seem to be working fine in my limited time with it. For my burn in I loaded the SnS insert with hot coals, opened all the vents and ran it for about 3 hours before the temps started dropping. It ran at about 350* to 380* most of that time. When it got down to about 200* I closed all the vents to snuff out the fire. After about 30 minutes the thermometer temp dropped to its lowest reading. I was happy with that, I felt the vents were shutting off plenty good enough for this hillbilly.

[DaveD]

Dude, you should get yourself a side hustle writing assembly instructions for these guys. All you have to do is spend hours and hours sweating like a horse to put stuff together, take all the pics, write it all up and edit it. You got this!

[GolfGeezer]

OK, OK, here are some pics. Yee gads..

PJ - that dang handle. I KNEW to watch for getting them aligned. And I still screwed it up. I then took it off, realigned, and did the same stupid thing again!!! Sheeesh. Thanks on the wheels. Piece of cake once the orientation is right.

I'm doing a burn in now. Still haven't decided on what to cook. Maybe wings or thighs this weekend with the vortex. I can't do too much more as next week is prepping for the prostate surgery on Friday the 27th.

[58limited]

That looks so nice its almost a shame to light a fire in it and dirty it up.

[Uncle Bob]

New toys is life.
Hey, after your surgery maybe we need to start a DaVinci alumnus group........(yeah, gallows humor)

[klflowers]

Purty

[GolfGeezer]

One last note on this fun day. For my burn-in, I lit and loaded into the SnS insert a 3/4 chimney of KPRO briquettes. After 2 hours, I closed the bottom and top vent. To my pleasure, my concerns about the sweep’s leaking air was unfounded. It only took about 30 minutes for the temp to show no heat. I held my hand over the coals and did not feel any heat. So, all good!

[Panhead John]

Good deal! I’m doing my first cook on mine right now. I know you’re married Sam but be careful when cooking on it. While I was tending the grill, a convertible full of hot chicks drove by cat calling me. I heard one of them say, “Nice kettle you got there hot stuff!” One of them then asked if they could pose for pictures beside the SNS with me. I agreed but then told em to stop by later when I’m done eating cause I was hungry.

[RichieB]

Panhead John when they come back please do 2 things.
Make sure you're wearing your Houston Astro tank top and be sure your air pump is operating. We want them fully inflated, if you know what I mean. 😎

[Panhead John]

I’m pretty much always in a tank top….with cut off jeans, white knee high socks and sandals.

[RichieB]

Now knowing that and the vision how am I going to not have nightmares? Figured it out drink more wine.

[Skatrdie0]

So I just picked up a master kettle and put it together a few days ago (haven't used it though) I have some concerns. It seems my lid is out of round and I can push on one end and it teeters a little when on the kettle and on a flat surface. It seems like the lid is definitely thinner than my original Weber so that's a bummer.

I'm not a fan of how loose the ash sweeps are at the bottom of the kettle and the use of the weak compression spring. Also, the areas where the four screws go into the kettle to hold on the ash pot are recessed and noticed that the ends of the ash sweeps rest over them when I the closed position. This seems like it would leak air like crazy when trying to kill the coals.

I'm also not too fond of not being able to use some accessories that fit on webers like the rotisserie or pizza attachments without have to spend $200 on the sns rotisserie (that's on me though)

Do you have any trouble getting the grill to cool down/save coals? On my Weber I can have it cooled down in about 2 hours.

Thinking about returning it as idk if the quality is there but I'd love to hear some opinions on how the cool down is and/or general quality