May 24, 2019, 05:48 PM
LS1 GTOIs there a smoker that can be left unattended?
quote:
Originally posted by tatortodd:
quote:
Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
I might start my Traeger at 1800 for a 14 hour smoke on some pork belly but I am subconsciously aware of it throughout the night.

Translastion: LS1 is dreaming of pork belly throughout the night
Sweet dreams tonight.

May 24, 2019, 06:29 PM
tatortoddquote:
Originally posted by 1s1k:
quote:
Originally posted by tatortodd:
What he told you is just not passing the sniff test from a technical perspective, my experience using in rain & snow in Alaska and Canada, and the fact that he is buying from you instead of getting it replaced under BGE's lifetime warranty.
I wouldn't take his word for it and I wouldn't repeat it to dissuade people from buying a ceramic komodo.
I could really care less if his story passes your sniff test. What is undeniable is that ceramic cookers do crack. How and why they crack are certainly debatable.
Where have I used the fact that it can crack to dissuade anyone from buying a ceramic cooker? They work fantastic and the chances of it cracking are small.
The only thing I said is I personally wouldn't leave it unattended for long periods of time after hearing several stories from people that have had cracks. There was a guy on the BGE forum that had a crack he didn't notice and fired his up in the normal fashion but it was getting way more air than usual and he had a runaway fire that got so hot it caught his wood "nest" on fire.
Your most recent example is yet again another case of cracking before it was temperature stabilized.
Lighting it is definitely one of the times when ceramic is vulnerable to cracking. I certainly heated mine as slow as possible (vents not all the way open and light with the firestarter blocks) when lighting in the winter in Alaska and Canada. I don't heat it slowly (vents wide open and light with Looftlighter) when it's above 60.
Moving it is another time when it's vulnerable to cracking. Both of my moves with it were with professional crate builders and I checked it very closely before lighting it.
If you look at the BGE warranty and the items they don't cover one of them is moving it with a fire in it. Trying to roll it out of the rain while cooking seems a lot more likely than what your buyer told you.
After it's all temperature stabilized with the food in it I have no qualms about leaving it unattended.
May 25, 2019, 01:19 PM
SHOOTIN BLANKSI am another that would set a Masterbuilt electric at night with a couple pork butts and go to bed. Pop them in an Igloo cooler and take to work the next day and feed the coworkers. Always made sure I had plenty of water in the pan so it could not possibly run dry.