Moving Home with Your Big Green Egg

Vern, our van, demonstrating exactly how not to move a Big Green Egg. More on trailers below.

Moving house? Selling your Egg, or taking it to a holiday cottage for the summer? This guide is for moving your Big Green Egg from one place to another by road. It isn't about shuffling it a few metres across the patio. That's a different job (and if your Egg is in a nest with wheels, an easy one).

Ceramic is brilliant at holding heat, but it doesn't like being dropped, knocked or bounced. Most of the damaged Eggs we hear about after a move were damaged for the same reasons: they were moved in one piece, still sitting in their table or nest, with the internals loose inside, or they went in a trailer. Do it the way we describe below and your Egg will arrive in the same condition it left.

Step 1: Take your Egg out of its base

Whatever your Egg sits in, whether that's a nest, a table, a Big4Space outdoor kitchen or something you built yourself, take it out before you move it. An Egg in a stand has a high centre of gravity and the stand puts stress on the ceramic every time the vehicle brakes or goes over a bump.

Before you start, make sure the Egg is completely cold and the ash has been cleaned out. The ceramic is heavy, so have two people for lifting.

Step 2: Take your Egg apart

Once it's out of its base, separate the Egg into its parts:

1. Take the dome off. Loosen the top band so you can lift the dome away from the base. The dome is heavy and awkward, so this is a two-person job.
2. Take out the internals. Lift out the cooking grid and any Dual Zone Deflector Kit or ConvEGGtor, then the fire ring, the firebox and the fire grate, so that every piece is separate.

You can leave the bands on. The bottom band can stay where it is on the base, and the top band can stay with it once you've loosened it to free the dome. There's no need to strip the hardware off completely.

Step 3: Clean the internals and pack them back inside

Give the firebox, fire ring and fire grate a clean, then put them back inside the base of your Egg and pad them out with old blankets so they cannot shift at all.

Think about what happens if you have to brake hard. Anything loose inside the Egg will slide and hit the ceramic, or hit another ceramic part. If you look at how a new Egg arrives in its box, all that packaging is there for one reason: to stop anything moving. Do the same. Old blankets, towels or duvets are perfect. Pack it tight.

Step 4: Wrap every ceramic part and keep it flat

Wrap the dome and any loose ceramic parts in blankets and pack them so they can't slide or roll. Keep them flat.

Never stand anything ceramic on its edge. That means your fire ring, your ConvEGGtor, your Dual Zone deflectors, your baking stone and any other ceramic accessories. As soon as something standing up falls over, it breaks. Flat and padded is the rule.

Step 5: Move the stand or base separately

Your nest, table or base can travel assembled or flat-packed, it really doesn't matter. What matters is that it isn't packed next to your Egg, where it can bash into the ceramic on the journey.

Choose a vehicle with suspension (not a trailer)

This is the one people get wrong. Move your Egg in something with proper suspension: a car, a van or a lorry are all fine.

Don't move your Egg in a trailer. Most trailers don't have suspension worth the name. They rely on their tyres, so every pothole and speed bump goes straight up through the trailer bed and into the ceramic. That's far more shock than an Egg should take, and it's much more likely to crack something.

Which is why Vern, at the top of this page, is a warning, not a recommendation.

Putting it back together

When you get to the other end, unwrap everything, take the blankets out and put your Egg back on its base. Then reassemble it: internals in (fire grate, firebox, fire ring), dome back on, and tighten the top band.

Once the dome is back on, check it closes evenly onto the base all the way round. If the dome sits slightly back from the base at the front (an "underbite") or the gasket doesn't meet evenly, adjust the bands before you light it. We've made two videos that show you how, one for each style of band. Check which bands your Egg has and watch the matching one.

Older-style bands: correcting an underbite

Newer Quadralink bands: correcting alignment, gaps and gaskets

Moving your Big Green Egg: quick answers

Can I move my Big Green Egg in one piece?

We wouldn't. Take it out of its base, take the dome off and take the internals out. It's lighter, easier to carry and far less likely to get damaged.

Do I need to take the bands off?

No. Leave the bands on the base. Just loosen the top band enough to lift the dome off.

Can I move my Egg in a trailer?

We'd strongly advise against it. Most trailers have little or no suspension, so the ceramic takes every bump. Use a car, van or lorry.

How should I pack the fire ring and firebox?

Clean them, put them back inside the base and pad them out with blankets so nothing can move. Keep the fire ring and any ceramic accessories flat. Never stand them on their edge.

Something broke in the move. What now?

Give us a call on 07446 960303 or request a callback. We stock spare parts and can help you work out what you need.