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Among the most favorite kitchen appliances, the Big Green Egg always has a special place, thanks to its multipurpose ergonomic design. Whether you use it as a griller, smoker, or oven, rest assured that you will get the best output.
But the most common problem it comes with is the lid lifting issue. In most cases, the lid of the egg doesn’t stay open and often falls and shuts down.
Resultantly, you find it challenging to place stuff inside or even flip the things within the grill.
Let’s look forward to how you can solve the issue of a Big Green Egg lid won’t stay open- once and for all.
Why My Green Egg Lid Won’t Stay Open – The Reasons
However, to get rid of the lid lifting issues, you have to figure out the reasons first.
There could be several reasons actually. In most cases, the Egg may not be placed properly. I mean maybe it’s not sitting level, but rather tilted forward or backward. Otherwise, the band is put upside down quite often in the case of a new Egg.
Even the hinge could be loosened. Or sometimes, the inside nuts on the spring loops need to be tightened to do the necessary adjustments. Next, the spring could be missing too.
Well, there are some other reasons behind causing such nuisance while cooking. Maybe you have cooked too hot to make the bands lose, or, maybe you are cooking on an unlevel surface.
But to be more specific, the lid opening issue is caused mainly by the loosened bolts. If bolts on any side of the hinge don’t seat accurately, you cannot expect to stay the lid open. It will automatically shut down repeatedly.
Whatever, the reason is, you must identify it first and then work accordingly to fix the issues.
Big Green Egg Lid Won’t Stay Open – Here’s The Solution
Now, it’s time to solve the problem. To make the lid stay open, you need to take out the guts first. Then loosen the bands, and run a ratchet strap through both the top and bottom vents.
Next, align and tighten the strap and keep the bands as level as possible. Finally, tighten the bands and remove the strap.
Now, replacing the guts would solve the issue.
However, aside from this way, in most cases hinge adjustment is needed to keep the lid lifted.
Not only hinge adjustment keeps the lid open but also makes it easier to lift it.
However, to do so, you must wait until the BGE cools down. Being made of metal, the hinge stays hot for quite a long time. So, watch out!
Or, you can try the fastest way to cool down Big Green Egg after cooking so that you can attempt the hinge fixing quicker.
First, you need to tighten the band around the lid. It should be tightened till it doesn’t slide or wobble.
You can use a crescent wrench to turn the two silver bolts on the band. You must keep the lid closed while tightening the bolts.
As there are two models of BGE lids, spring-assisted and scissor-hinged, you need to be more specific. A scissor-hinged model has the bolts back of the BGE.
And for a spring-assisted BGE, you need to tighten a single silver bolt to adjust the tension of the spring. And this spring is the key that aids in opening the lid.
Now, you need to check on the progress. Raise and close the lid to see if it opens smoothly and doesn’t shut down automatically. If everything is alright, you have successfully troubleshot your BGE lid.
However, you need the following tools to complete the entire process and fortunately, all the tools are available on amazon –
With the 7/16″ wrench, you can attempt the all-around band assembly by tightening all its nut caps. And the ½” wrench comes in handy to tighten the back bolts’ nuts.
Talking about the screwdriver, it’s a super-effective tool to secure the nuts of your nest(if you have one).
And that’s pretty much it. The process described above has a 99% success rate in solving the lid opening issue. If it doesn’t work, maybe your BGE is way too rusted to be troubleshooting. In that case, replacing the band is the only solution.
Also Read: Big Green Egg Reggulator Vs Daisy Wheel – Vent Cap Showdown
Big Green Egg Lid Replacement
After using your Egg for several seasons, your Big Green Egg might break. Or you will see the nuts of the lid getting rusty, and resultantly, the lid will not work perfectly.
What you need to do is to replace the lid then. But how? Let’s look forward below.
Well, for the whole process, you need a replacement lid and some stainless steel bolts instead of those rusty ones.
Now, take off the old lid by loosening the old bolts from the bands. Replace it with the new one and align it with the big green egg gasket. Finally, secure it by putting the new bolts on the bands. You just need a good quality wrench to do it without damaging the gasket, bands, or handle.
Also Read: Big Green Egg Fire Ring Cracked – Should You Worry?
How To Adjust Big Green Egg Lid – Big Green Egg Lid Adjustment
As a regular BGE user, I often had issues with its lid adjustment. Through trial and error, I have come up with a near-perfect way of adjusting the lid if you have already messed it up.
First, you need to loosen the bolts of both the bands, top, and bottom. Now hold the lid and base, then, align the lid. Check properly if it closes and lifts properly.
After that, you need to align the lower band to the upper ceramic bottoms and tighten the band so as not to move.
Of course, you need to align the top band as well, that too in a way so that it parallels the lower one.
At this point, spacers would help you to separate the two bands. Now, secure the upper band too.
That’s it!
Also Read: Egg Genius Vs Flame Boss 400 Vs 500 – Which Is Right For You
How To Unstick Big Green Egg Lid
Though it’s kind of a weird issue, most often people using an Egg have to go through this situation where the lid of the Egg gets stuck.
What you can do as a quick fix to resolve the issue is to take off the lid of the blue top part first. Then ignite one of the charcoal starters and drop it in the green egg.
When it will heat the Egg, the lid will loosen up and you can thus unstick the stuck lid.
Also Read: Big Green Egg Shelves Vs Mates – Which Suits You Best
How To Realign The Big Green Egg Lid
Realignment of the lid of an Egg is as easy as aligning it. You just need to loosen the bolts of the upper and lower bands. Place spacers in between so that they remain separated while you are adjusting the lid.
Now, adjust the dome as you want it. Usually, the problem occurs when it’s not aligned with the base properly. So, push the lid forward until it matches the level of the base. Then re-tighten all the nuts and bolts.
How To Line Up Big Green Egg Lid
To line up the lid on a BGE, you must try to keep the bands parallel to the ceramic edges. To do so, you need spacers that come from the same dealers who provide your favorite BGE charcoal griller.
Things to remember, you should install the spacers accurately in between the bands. Then ingraft them tightly.
Most importantly, start with the lower band to tighten and keep adjusting as long as you are not satisfied with the lineup of the bands.
Also Read: The Fastest Way To Cool Down Big Green Egg (Simple & Effective Hacks)
How To Align Big Green Egg Lid
With a little bit of time and patience, you can easily align the BGE lid. Of course, you need a few tools like a ½” wrench and a ½ or 7/16 socket
Before that, you must know that the lid alignment means it must close properly when you shut it down.
Start with slightly loosening the bands so that you can barely move them. Don’t make them too loose. With the ½” socket, you can easily do that.
Now, with the 7/16 socket, loosen the nuts and bolts of the top band so that it slightly moves during the hinge adjustment.
As everything is loosened properly, now push the dome forward until it reaches the place where you need it. After placing the dome to the right place, adjust the bottom band accordingly.
Once everything is sorted, I mean both the bands are in the right place, snug up the nuts and bolts using the wrench.
Hopefully, you can align the lid without any hassle if you follow these steps carefully.
Big Green Egg Lid Frozen Shut – What To Do
What do we do to melt something frozen? Naturally, we heat it up, right? The same goes for a frozen shut lid of your BGE.
To be honest, you might face a frozen shut lid due to the inactivity of the charcoal griller, ambient heat changeability, etc. Then try heating up the Egg by lighting the charcoal in the firebox.
Thus, warming the Egg will eventually lead the lid to be opened. But you must be sure that you can safely ignite the charcoal through the draft door.
There is another way though. You need to wait for the Egg to cool down completely and then try placing a flat object between the dome and the base gasket.
For example, a putty knife is an ideal selection to loosen the seal around the lid and to let it open eventually.
Nevertheless, I want you to remember a friendly tip. Never force the lid to be opened. Always be gentle while you are trying to lift the frozen shut lid so that it doesn’t damage the ceramic.
To the worst, you can even end up damaging the gasket of the BGE. After you open the lid, please check the gasket if it’s okay or needs to be repaired.
How To Install Lid Springs On Green Egg
If you are a new BGE user, it’s quite challenging to install the lid springs.
However, to assemble the spring mechanism, you need help from the zip ties and the plastic brackets it comes with. You should fasten the spring assembly to the bands with the green screws provided with the griller.
Now, take a band and attach the spring assembly to it. You will find two sets of holes left in the band.
Basically, the spring is a flat bar with two holes which you need to line up with the first two holes of the band of the square-cut side. Always keep the head of the spring inside of the band.
Now, fasten it with the green screws and use the acorn nut outside. Finally, hand tightening everything will end the process. Of course, you should do a final tightening when you place the bands on the grill for added safety.
Can You Use Big Green Egg With Lid Open
No, not at all. It’s strongly suggested to cook on a BGE with a closed lid. In fact, the exclusive design of BGE is meant to be cooked while keeping the lid closed.
Yes, you can open the lid when you are checking on the meat. Other than that, you need to make sure that the lid is entirely closed during the whole cooking duration, for good reasons, of course.
As a BGE griller holds heat inside, you must follow the instructions to keep the consistency in temperature control in a BGE. In that case, you can check out some of the best temperature controllers for Big Green Egg.
Conclusion
As a backyard cooker, the Big Green Egg is literally incomparable. You can prepare a variety of dishes following a variety of methods such as baking, grilling, smoking, etc.
However, if you find that your Big Green Egg lid won’t stay open, follow the steps above to resolve the problem. I hope with the right products you can do it yourself at home.
At first, you might feel a bit intimidated by the entire process. But trust me, it’s no rocket science. Just a matter of loosening some of the nuts and bolts, checking on the alignment of the lid, and tightening them again.
Hopefully, you will be benefited from the detailed guideline above in this regard.
Happy grilling!
