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High-Que Nomex gasket survives a pizza cook...

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guzzijason
guzzijason Posts: 143
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
... but barely. Last night, I did my first pizza cook since installing the Nomex. Previously, this has spelled doom for the standard gasket for me.

I like to do hi-temp pizza cooks - this time, the Egg was at about 825º when I put the first pizza on. The High-Que gasket survived the night, and while it's still intact, it does look a bit charred. Especially on one side of the Egg, which appears to have taken quite a bit of heat, judging from the white section of ceramic. I don't think the stock gasket would have stood a chance.

BTW, the firebrick under the pizza stone worked great for me... elevated the stone just where I wanted it. This may be my favorite set-up so far in all my pizza experiments.

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And a few pics of the end results. Made 3 pies total - 2 margherita, and 1 clam. Of course, just as I started putting the pizzas on, the sky opened up, and things got a bit chaotic. I got distracted, and the first margherita got a bit over-charred - but still was delish. I wasn't sure if it was going to be edible, but it was surprisingly good still - probably one of my best attempts at mimicking a true Neapolitan style pizza.

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__Jason
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Comments

  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
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    Looks like it held well. Nomex, be it High-Que, BGE, or Aramid will withstand high temperatures.

    What you are looking at is a unequal dome alignment. Guessing you have high spot at the 7 to 11 o'clock area. Looking at what appears to be 9 o'clock you see the black transferring to the outside of the gasket and egg. Specifically in that area if you did a dollar bill test that area would have a very easy pull.



    gasketnomex2.jpg

    gasketnomex1.jpg

    gasketheatfelt.jpg

    These burns are direct heat from a MAPP torch 4" from the Nomex.

    My theory with Nomex, Felt or any gasket is with the adhesive. Once the adhesive gets hot enough liquify heat will transfer to the gasket material and then the gasket will fail if the heat at the gasket gets hot enough.

    For example there has been very few Rutland gasket failures posted. As I recall the one or two that have been posted have been adhesive failures only. Much the same with Nomex - Amarid and Cotoronic. I don't recall any silicone only gasket failures.

    Anyway, the blackening you are showing is not much to worry about. I would do a dollar bill test and try and get that 9 o'clock area better seated on the base. If your gasket were to fail that is the place that most like go first.

    GG
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 25,893
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    melting point of a Rutland itself is 2,200°
    Re-gasketing America one yard at a time.
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  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
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    I think cotronic is around that, permatex supposedly good to 700° and with nomex/amarid, Dupont (nomex) claims charring and decomposing after 650°.

    I thing the problem is as much or more with the adhesive being used. Once it melts I have to think that produces more heat transfer to the gasket material. The ceramics of the egg also greatly help as a heat sink for the gasket material.

    After taking more care with the original felt gasket install in combination with keeping any furniture away from the gasket level and searing using the spider the felt gasket has held strong for over 3 years on my large.

    Sustained high temperatures are going to put the gaskets/adhesive to their limits.

     


     
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  • PhilsGrill
    PhilsGrill Posts: 2,256
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    Wow 825? That's about 400 degrees higher than I do mine and mine come out perfect.
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  • emck
    emck Posts: 2
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    where did you find the stone, it looks pretty nice.
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