Lid Bail Fail

[Larry Wolfe]

I bought a lid bail a couple weeks ago for my OTG.  Put it on in roughly 15 minutes this morning after I got the brisket going on the Performer.  Light a cigar (Bolivar if anyone cares), opened a beer and decided to do a quick burn off on my new and improved OTG now with a lid bail.  Dump in roughly a chimney full of lump, lit it and it was proceeding to burn off the old grease as I wanted it to and as I have done on my Performer many times.  I look over and to my distraught the phucking roller is melting, I don't mean getting soft, it is literally melting.  WTF is going on here.  The fire was a very typical grease burn off, probably in the 600-700 degree range.  This should NOT have melted.  Anyone else have this problem?

Here it is all nice.



Here it is all Assinghamed up.





The other one is perfectly fine.  The fire was directly in the middle of them and they were both installed identically.

[Jeff]

Larry
Ive seen many of these rollers have a stainless steel washer between them and the kettle itself to act as a barrier for the heat.  Did your setup have any washer in between?

[Larry Wolfe]

Larry
Ive seen many of these rollers have a stainless steel washer between them and the kettle itself to act as a barrier for the heat.  Did your setup have any washer in between?

Yes, it had two small washers which I put on the inside along with the lock nut.  I have another set of roller's fortunately.  But....I am not sure the washer would have helped.  Gonna find the schematic and see if it was my error.  The grill has cooled off a bit, but that roller won't turn now.  I may just leave it and let it act as a slide vs. roller.  If the washer was supposed to go between, I'm an idiot.  But the more I think about it, I probably am an idiot.  Even so, I don't think it should have melted.  Thanks Jeff, gonna look into this.

[Larry Wolfe]

This was all I could find......

http://help.weber.com/manuals/pdf_files/Charcoal/Performer/Owners%20Guides/Performer_OwnersGuide_78763_021308.pdf

[Duke]

The rollers will only handle so much heat. I would just take the rollers off and leave it like that. It will work the same and you will never deal with the melting again.

[Jeff]

Well...you could also take that damaged roller off....drill the hole out round again, and try putting a larger washer in there...maybe the same size as the outside edge of the roller.  It might deflect the heat better...or it might absorb it too from the kettle bowl?  Either way, I'd try that before I put the spare roller on and melt that one too.

Or just try Shaun's idea and remove it. 
Its still strange that only one of them melted.  Did you have the charcoal banked closer to the melted roller?

[Larry Wolfe]

Well...you could also take that damaged roller off....drill the hole out round again, and try putting a larger washer in there...maybe the same size as the outside edge of the roller.  It might deflect the heat better...or it might absorb it too from the kettle bowl?  Either way, I'd try that before I put the spare roller on and melt that one too.

Or just try Shaun's idea and remove it. 
Its still strange that only one of them melted.  Did you have the charcoal banked closer to the melted roller?

It's very odd to say the least.  I have had my Performer literally on fire after a long greasy butt cook and this has never happened.  In any event, I'm gonna leave it as it is for now and go with the flow.  If it begins to hang up, I will remove or replace. 

[Duke]

Just keep in mind it might melt more and weld itself onto the wire bale rod and be really difficult to remove. I have removed a few like that and it can be tough.

[zavod44]

I have melted the ones on my performer like three times.  Weber will send you new ones, but I melted those too.  After the third time I just left them all deformed.  At about 600 they start to go, at 800 they looked like melted candle wax and drizzled a string of plastic onto my deck.  Obviously they aren't designed for heat that high, but it doesn't say that anywhere.  As for that tiny washer it prob wouldn't have made any difference at 700-800 degrees.  If you feel you need a roller go get an aluminum tube, cut it and slide it over the wire. 

Brian

[Troy]

I've melted mine a few times now on my performer. Each time Weber sends a whole new bail system. Now I just let them be melted. They still work.