Warning: Do Not Use Your Charcoal Chimney on Concrete

If you own a charcoal grill you may use a charcoal chimney to get the coals ready for cooking. I use one and usually put it on my concrete sidewalk, but after what happened last night I won't do that anymore!

The charcoal was in the chimney and nearly ready to put into the grill and just before I walked over to do just that, there was a loud POP sound, the chimney tipped over spilling the red hot charcoal onto the sidewalk.

After I picked up the chunks of charcoal, I noticed that a chunk of my sidewalk was missing! The charcoal had heated up the concrete so much that it exploded! You can see the chunks of concrete and the end result in the photos below.

From now on I'll be putting the chimney on the grate of my grill while the charcoal heats up, and I would recommend that you do the same!