How many of you guys use your charcoal kettles on wood decks?

[kettlebb]

Good save Troy.


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[Darko]

So I  did a bit  of an experiment. Here's  2 pieces  of 16 year old cedar. One I soaked with  water  first  the other  I  left dry.  I lit 2 fire starters  and let them go.
The first pic is startup. the second is a few minutes in. The last is once the fire went out. The top log is the soaked one.

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[kettlebb]

Do the same test with a fully lit briquette


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[Darko]

I'll try that tomorrow. These fire starters burned for almost 10 minutes on top of the wood.

I think where the biggest issue would be it that an ember would fall between the planks where there could be a build up of combustible bits.

I would guess that there is a 99% chance that nothing will happen, but there is a 1% chance that something could happen. Now there are multiple ways of doing things that would take the odds to 99.9999%. But in the end... there is always a chance that something could happen.

[demosthenes9]

haven't done it, but what about making a "grilling area" on your deck and laying tile down.       

[Darko]

Here's  with  lit briquettes 1 hr in. Wet on the left.

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[toolhead]

good test.. looks like we have a lot of like minds here.. testing/ comparisons etc..

as mentioned my concern with using charcoal grills on my decks is the real world environment.

under decks you have leaves/ dead grass clipping and everything else that builds up.. an ember falls through one of the deck gaps and thats were the risk lies.

less concerning is charcoal on the actual deck, given you would be able to see that readily and address it..

im sure there are plenty of folks whom carefully use charcoal grills on their decks and have no issues and they have their own comfort levels.

ie.. how many CL ads do we see with kettles/ performers obviously being stored / used on decks.. lots

[captjoe06]

Thanks for the tests. I'm just not gonna do it.  I suspect if there was decent wind stoking a small ember things could be different. 


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[Darko]

Here's  a pic after the briquettes  have burned out. About 3 hrs in time.

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[kettlebb]

Good to know Darko thanks for the experiment.


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[Darko]

Thanks. It was fun to do.  I'm actually thinking about building a bunch of little decks around 12"x 12" with various materials and configurations just to see how they burn!

[kettlebb]

LMAO! If you have the miniature Weber kettles you could keep them for displaying the little kettles. Might even sell some here.


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[Darko]

I have 2 of the red ones. I'm still looking for a mini black.

[SmokenJoe]

Hey Capt Joe, I've grilled and slowcooked on my wooden deck for over 20 yrs and never had a problem 



Until I had a problem.  While dumping hot coals into my char baskets one of the suckers got caught on the bottom ring and dropped out onto the crack between two deck boards.  What you don't see here is that it was also hidden by a Whiskey barrel waiting to be cut up for oak chunks.  It was a slow cook and as luck would have it my back was to the slow burn.

Since this happened I've rebuilt the deck with new Western Red Cedar (the one in the pic is over 25 yrs old  ...  a pretty good run).   I still grill/slow-cook on my new wood deck, but I have three of the asbestos like floor covers from Home Despot.  It's just the size of a Perf Dlx.   When I use one of the daisy wheelers, I USE MY HAPPER COOKER INTERNAL ASH PAN without fail.

I'd much rather cook on the grass but my deck is on the main level of the house well above the ground.

As I see it;  the problem areas are transferring hot coals, leaving the ash-sweeps open when pouring hot coals (especially lump, small lump), and brisk wind agitating the fallout when the lid is removed.

At my house (with it's new deck), I do NOT do overnight cooks unless I'm willing to sit and monitor the kettle/WSM.

SJ

[greendoorchad]

I do, with a mat


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