Cleaning Rims for New Gasket With Dome On

Judy Mayberry

This is a work in progress...I used a stripping wheel on an electric drill for the bottom rim and got most of the 8-year-old petrified gasket off. It just needs touch-up work now. RRP was very kind in helping me get started. I'd never used an electric drill before and I was a little intimidated.

There is no way I could remove the dome by myself, so I used the stripping wheel on the dome as far as I could till it was time to recharge the drill. The dark portion on the upper right of the dome is about half as black as when I started.

Meanwhile, I had to figure out how to remove the unreachable center back black layer with the lid up. First I tried a large flat file, constantly cleaning the file with a wire brush. That didn't work, but with a sharp corner on the flat front edge of the long file, I scraped off quite a bit.

I folded a sheet of 220 sandpaper over a long and flat 1/4" piece of wood that's been laying around for months, too potentially useful to throw away. It's magic! I could lay my palm flat on the thing, held on an angle across the rim, so it would sand evenly across the rim. It was a lot less work than using the drill was, actually. Still a lot of gray areas to remove with pumice.





QUESTION: Is there any special way of cleaning off the rims that have been sandpapered, before putting on the gasket? I know there are ins and outs that all you workshop people use. I remember someone suggested denatured alcohol. Or would just wiping it clean be enough?

FlaPoolman

Just wipe it Judy. It doesn't have to hold a vacuum or pressure just keep the gasket in place. You'll be fine.

RRP

Judy,

My only comment at this point is the darkness of the 12:00 to 3:00 area of your dome tells me there is some embedded smoke/grease issue that you might want to work on some more. BTW so readers may understand better you are planning to apply a Cotronics ashesive backed gasket - so my help via email has only been about cleaning - AND NOT ABOUT some OTHER gasket!!!

Ron

srq2625

Most adhesive strips really appreciate bonding to a dust-free/grease-free surface. It looks like you are well on your way to the grease-free portion.

There are many ways to get 99% of the dust. About the safest way is to simply wipe with a clean rag that has been lightly dampened with water. Some of that water will penetrate a very short distance into the ceramic, but wait 10 minutes and it'll all evaporate and you'll be good to go.

BobS

If you would consider a Rutland, it only needs to go on the bottom.

If you look at the warning DuPont provides for the Nomex(R) material it is not all that different than what you read about the Rutland. Neither one is approved for food contact.

Grandpas Grub

Judy Mayberry wrote:

...I used a stripping wheel on an electric drill...

... I tried a large flat file... but with a sharp corner on the flat front edge of the long file...

...220 sandpaper over a long and flat...

There are and have been several references to using power tools, grinders, sanders, wire wheels and so on with cleaning the gasket areas. These methods all work to some extent however using these methods may well be harming your egg and voiding the warranty.

In August of 2008 I was having some problems with my medium egg which resulted with some correspondence and phone calls with John Creel (BGE Service). Part of the issues regarded gaskets, and cleaning the surfaces of the egg's.

John went into detail and told me the factory has a method of 'truing' the surfaces of the dome and base to insure a "flat even match". In the conversations John continued said using power tools, grinders, gouges, sanders, wire wheels, sandpaper etc. may well damage the surfaces and can/will void the BGE Warranty on your egg.

Before using the sanding/scraping method please take a moment to phone BGE Service and ask if you are about to damage your egg and or potentially void the warranty.

BGE recommends using Acetone to clean and replace, however, for me that didn't work well. Using Acetone took a very long time to remove & clean.

With that said, there are simple and fast, methods to remove the old BGE gasket and clean the surfaces. It should take less than 30 minutes for top and bottom surfaces.

If you would like details email and I will send the methods that work well for me.

GG