So this is a fun one – I've had this egg for over 15 years, and it has been in this table for 10 (and has not moved in at least 3 years). I set up some ribs to smoke for dinner (last picture) and went inside the house for 15 minutes – when I next checked on it, the table was engulfed in flames. I had a Thermoworks remote thermometer on it, and it was turned to slag so fast that it never reported the temp increase.
Ultimately the cause was a failure on the egg – the bottom failed and instead of the airflow being chocked way down for a 6+ hour cook, a crack formed and let a lot more air in, which ignited all of the fuel and eventually the table as well.
So – first – as a lesson – fireproof your table! Second – anyone think that the Big Green Egg Co would call this a warranty issue?
BTW – I called the Fire Department and grabbed a hose – they said if I hadn't been out there with the hose the fire would have taken the house.
by Motor-Site-7862
49 Comments
Holy smokes
How were the ribs?
Damn man that’s unfortunate. How’d the ribs come out tho?
What material was the table made out of?
I made a table when I first bought my BGE from the Yellow Wood design. I did a clean burn and went in to use the bathroom and the table was on fire. I since switched to a metal table.
Green eggs dont burn decks!
Did the bottom fall out of the Egg? If the bottom vent is completely open, embers can cause a fire on old grease and grime with these tables. Sorry about your deck
How did that even happen? I’ve had my bottom vent open before and small hot coals will escape, but nowhere near enough to start the table on fire. I’m genuinely curious how this could have happened.
No, you did.
Did you not have a stone or any type of gap between the table and egg?
Also, that fricken sucks. Sorry about that. Had an egg crack, luckily did not burn up my table
You burned your deck.
I think that’s considered bad smoke.
Sorry to hear about it glad you’re safe
Was the egg sitting directly on the bottom boards?
Never seen this. That’s crazy. You fucked up something
Dang …. The lesson we should remember is that whatever you cook.. you need to sit next to it and make sure that there is enough liquid to keep yourself hydrated and hydrated other things of and when needed!
Maybe we all need to encourage each other to occasionally inspect the inside of our eggs for cracks. I can imagine your heart racing when this was happening.
My table started to smolder when using the pizza wedges incorrectly. The entire thing got too hot and started burning parts of the table in contact with the egg. I shut it all down, used a sawzall and oscillating tool to create an air gap and put dirt on anything that was starting to burn.
Bought an aluminum table after that.
Hope you can get a warranty replacement.
Big green eggs don’t burn things down people burn things down.
Idk….. man kinda looks like your lack of cleaning did this not the bge
I’m sorry that happened! A good lesson for the rest of us: put your grill away from the house.
You may have gotten it too hot.
I’m afraid to use the bge on my deck. I roll it out of the garage onto the driveway every time, which I actually don’t mind doing.
No, you burned down your deck.
This is why you never buy a used one with a small crack in the shell.
Was there a gap under the bottom or was is sitting directly on a tile?
Wow! Also, I’m looking at your rib roll. I’m intrigued. Must save a lot of space but how does it work if you want to baste?
Can we get a recipe? What rub did you use on the deck boards?
How were the ribs?
I dunno what happened. He put so much… God-damned lacquer on that thing!
Serious question – I want to build a new table but I don’t have the scratch for an all-metal professional set up. What’s the best way to build something that can hold an Egg and is fire retardant?
Good thing you were there and that fast to check on it!!! Damn!!!!
I almost did the same thing about ten years ago. Like OP, I had mine on a solid surface, in my case a patio stone. What happens is that over time, the heat on the stone causes it to eventually crack. Once the stone cracks, the heat has an easy path to the wood slats below, then havoc ensues. In my case I found it when the slats were only charred and not burned like this. I learned about this effect from a guy who burned down his house like this. In his case, the bottom of the table burned off, egg fell to deck and cracked, the lit charcoal was then all over the deck. Simple fix: Egg Nest!
Yea this is on you. From your comments you said you had this sitting on a solid surface. You need to have airflow under the egg. This what caused it to crack and hot coals ignited your wood table. This is an insurance claim and based on you posting this and taking fault, you gotta hope they don’t see it. But I’m sure they will see it from the pictures anyway. SOL.
I like how you stopped to take a picture *while you were spraying water from the hose*, with a blazing fire on your deck threatening to destroy your house. That’s true dedication to entertaining everyone on Reddit. Kudos.
The bottom of the egg should be sitting on small ceramic legs to create an air gap. The bottom of the egg can get hot enough to heat up the tile hot enough to catch the wood underneath. 100% user error
My worst nightmare. I have mine on a BGE nest but on a wood deck.
Built my deck out of fire resistant Hardwoods to, hopefully, slow down a fire.
TINA! UGHHHHHHHH
Wow, that’s scary and I’m glad you saved your house
Sorry your deck and everything is toast. There’s a $50 overpriced stand you can use on tables for this reason. It’s probably more like a $20 product but it least stops stuff like this from happening, so it’s worth it. https://a.co/d/aP0IOVM
Thats weird, its not supposed to do that.
Ribs should still be good tho, just put them in the oven to finish the rest of the cook.
Foods ok 👍
And this is why my grill isn’t on the deck, it’s in the yard away from all structures.
Need to cook Hawaiian style”at aloha temperature”
Dang I never thought about the bottom giving out on a wood deck… I might move mine now after seeing this
Is that white smoke?
It looks like you had oil nearby. How did the fire manage to get down so quickly
Flame grilled 😜
What kind of wood were you smoking with?
They where unwrapped. Good thing no one got hurt.