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My nightly question..Tonights Topic is Gaskets

Kinger
Kinger Posts: 147
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
When do you replace the gasket? I have a large and have done a lot of super hot cooking. I don't appear to have any major leakage but the gasket is definitely getting crispy. Should I wait until I am seeing leakage? How long does it take to remove and then replace a gasket on a Large?[p]JNK

Comments

  • wdan
    wdan Posts: 261
    JNK,
    I posted a response to a similar question someone asked last week. My advice is to not get anal retentive over your gasket just because it doesn't look pristine anymore. My egg is a little over two years old and has been used on average, 4-7 nights a week since purchase. At some point several months ago, I decided I must order a new gasket because quite a bit of regular forum traffic convinced me that I should replace my gasket. Thankfully, I put the new gasket in a cabinet and decided to let real events determine when my gasket really needed to be replaced...which is still a pending agenda item.[p]Here's my suggested guideline:
    First consider what the job of the gasket is.
    1. Keep heat and smoke inside the egg.
    2. Keep overly-agressive, unwanted air drafts out of the egg.[p]Then consider what is NOT the job of the gasket:
    1. To look pretty...NOT![p]If your food is still getting the smoke taste you want, part of item #1 is satisfied. If you can still maintain steady operating temperatures using only the bottom damper and daisy wheel, the rest of item #1 is satisfied and so is item #2 (even if your adjustments need to compensate for gasket leakage). If your fire is snuffed within an acceptable time limit after you close the bottom damper and put on the rain cap, you're in fat city.[p]If all of the above are working, but your gasket looks butt-ugly, contact me via my private e-mail and I will give you a shipping address where you can get rid of that green albatross you bought.

  • Toy Man
    Toy Man Posts: 416
    Up to you when you replace the gasket but if you do it, it does not take long.[p]Remove the bolt from the top band and remove the top.
    Try using a solvent like Goof-Off to remove the gaskets. Pour a lot on the gasket, let set for about a minute and it may peel right off. Then use more solvent and rags to remove the rest of the glue. Put the top upside down in the bottom to remove/install the gasket on it.

  • kjed
    kjed Posts: 55
    WDAN,[p]
    Well said! I fried my gasket over a year ago; I can see minor smoke leakage when I cook with a probe wire, as there is not enough gasket to seal around the wire. But, I don't have any problems maintaining a temp, or snuffing out the fire, so I'm not going to worry about the gasket until there's a problem.[p]Keith

  • JNK, there's no need to remove the old gasket. Just glue the new material over the old. I've never had a dome gasket.....only one on the lower section.