The piece that melted was the little nylon piece that attaches to the vent, NOT the actual nylon handle that you use to pick up the lid. Is this correct?
I pegged my performer's therm yesterday after I dumped a chimney of lit kingsford ontop of 1.5 unlit briqs. After everything ashed over, it was DAMN hot.
Never seen the temp gauge rise that fast. I'd say it was probably close to 650-700 degrees! Nothing melted, though... guess I'm lucky!
Mitch, you are correct. The "little nylon piece that attaches to the vent", called the lid damper handle, is the part that melted and oozed down the side. The lid handle is fine, as are the lid holder rollers.
The plastic vent handle on the 1995 Performer that I recently bought was melted pretty bad but not like that. The thermometer on my Performer pegs out everytime I put charcoal in it and I'm using Kingsford briquets.
