Safey Alert: Weber Kettle and BGE Lump

[martybartram]

First, my apologies, I forgot to upload the pictures somewhere that I can access them at work. I will add them tonight when I get home.
I was in my local hardware store a couple of weeks ago and plopped some Kingsford in my cart and on a whim through a bag of BGE lump charcoal in too. I usually use cowboy lump when I use lump.

Last night we were making pizza on the Weber and after the second pizza I noticed smoke coming from the back and right sides of the kettle. It has never leaked there before, well it wasn't. My kettle sits in a table with the top made of 3/4" marine plywood with an inch between the wood and the kettle. The plywood was smoldering and had lovely bright glowing embers in spots and the right handle had melted nearly completely. I soaked it with a garden hose and cooked the third pizza and called it a night.
I used 1/2 a chimney of Kingsford and 1/2 a chimney of BGE lump, I had taken out the SNS and put the charcoal in the center of the charcoal grate under the Grill Grates. Apparently BGE burns much hotter than cowboy lump. So a testament to that product. I have loaded the SNS with a full chimney of cowboy lump to do chicken before and never had an issue. And I am sure you can figure that the chicken took 30-45 minutes and the pizza took about 12 minutes until we hit meltdown. I guess I am off to buy cement board this evening!

Be careful!

[kmhfive]

Important safety tip! Never seen BGE lump before.

One note: the SnS puts a slight air gap between it and the side of the kettle.

[Thunder77]

We must have been typing at the same time. :-)

[martybartram]

The SNS also consolidates all that heat in one spot making it great for searing...I may run a test tonight to see if it mitigates the problem before I order a replacement handle.

[Thunder77]

OOPS! Everyone is okay, I hope? Perhaps it was the combination of the lump and the Grill Grates? I don't have them, but from what I understand, they get HOT. Also, remember the SnS does provide an insulating barrier between the charcoal and the wall of the kettle. All in all, I think cement board is a great idea!

[kmhfive]

Yep! Doesn't happen too often, though.

[fzxdoc]

Hey, martybartram , nice to hear from you again. It's been a while. Thanks for the tip on the BGE lump. Glad to hear that you caught it in time so not too much damage was done. Stay safe.

Kathryn

[Amajeff99]

could it be a combo of repeated exposure to heat acting on the plywood until it got charred and dry enough to finally hold a ember once it reached critical heat? more than a function of the charcoal used?

[martybartram]

Entirely Possible, particularly since lump burns hotter

[tbob4]

Wow - I'm really glad everything turned out for the best, given the circumstances. Are you saying the the handle on the Weber melted or a handle on your table?

[martybartram]

Weber handle

[tbob4]

Wow martybartram - I'm rally glad you are OK.

[badf00d]

Marty! A few days ago, I seriously thought "what happened to Marty?" Glad you figured out what was going on with the BGE lump before it got any worse. Other than almost burning down your place, how are things?

[martybartram]

Sorry for the delay. Pics are attached. Tried the BGE lump in the SNS and had the same thing happened. Have cooked with Kingsford twice since and no issue. Thanks for the inquiries and noticing I have been missing 😂 6 more weeks of gunsmithing school and then you can expect to see me on here regularly. Also performing my first wedding ceremony in a couple of weeks, will fill you in on that afterwards.

[Medusa]

WOW! Thanks for posting and reminding all of us of the need for SAFETY, SAFETY, SAFETY.

[Notavegan]

Unless mistaken I believe bge lump is made by royal oak (or mfgrs or Royal Oak). I used to use bge lump exclusively but it is pricey by comparison (more then double what I pay for same size royal oak bag). Glad things worked out "ok".

[martybartram]

Almost forgot, you can see the corner of a gas grill in one of the pics. It's gutted and I use it for storage. There were four days last week between cooks and in that time a bird moved in, built a nest, and laid three eggs. She apparently does not mind me cooking next to her but gets antsy if I lift the lid to get the thermopen out 🐤🐣🐣🐣

[badf00d]

Not to derail the thread, but is your gunsmithing general or for something specific? Sounds cool.

[martybartram]

Sorry for the delayed response, it gives you a broad base and you can specialize if you want to

[CaptainMike]

The fire investigator in me thinks this might be a case of pyrolysis whereby the organic material (the plywood) was subjected to long term high temps (temps over the 212 degree boiling point of water) and cooked off any latent moisture in the plywood. This carbonizes the edge of the plywood into basically charcoal and lowers it's ignition point closer to 300 degrees. Once the plywood lit and smoldered it could have easily melted the plastic handle. Either that or that BGE lump burns hot a H E double hockey sticks! Still, heating appliances and close proximity organic materials tend to lead to similar results, as well as providing guys and gals like me a decent living . Like my old fire chief used to say: safety is no accident!

[Henrik]

Holy cow! I'm glad you discovered that in time. I use BGE lump most of the time, only in my kamado though, haven't tried it in a kettle. I know it is mostly made of oak, which of course burns differently than other wood, due to density.

[Skinsfan1311]

I soaked it with a garden hose and cooked the third pizza and called it a night.

Glad all ended well. I'm not going to lie....that ^, is bad-ass

[BRic]

When using grill grates temps can go anywhere from 200 to 250 degrees higher at grill level when using a charcoal grill . so if your temp gauge read 350 degrees on lid ,grill level could be anywhere from 500 to 600 degrees , so the wood would catch fire. plus
using lump charcoal would be hotter too than charcoal.