Gasket Replacement

Spring Chicken · January 2006

A few months ago I replaced my 3rd felt gasket in six years with Rutland gasket following the instructions on Whiz's site. No sooner than I lit my Egg I noticed a smoke leak in the same spot as the other two felt gaskets. I let it go thinking I would fix it sooner or later. The other day I noticed that the gasket just gave out where the leak was and fell away from the edge. [p]Today was a nice day and I had some Rutland gasket material and cement left so I tried again. This time I cleaned it well and then I took a 2'X 2' sheet of 3/4" MDF plywood and laid over the openings of both the top and bottom. MDF is perfectly flat and it instantly told me that I had two high spots (both about 1/64") at 3:00 and 9:00 on the bottom half and one high spot (1/32") at 4:00 on the lid. It took the better part of an hour but I sanded the spots with a palm sander until I ran out of sandpaper. I checked it with the plywood every 20 to 30 seconds (that ceramic is tough) and the board rocked a little less each time. Finally, when I ran out of sandpaper the rocking was next to nothing, certainly less than 1/64".[p]I tried the paper test and the top was snug everywhere but near the area at 4:00. I figured the gasket should easily handle that small amount of slack so I glued the gasket in place, paying particular attention to the area where the problem was located. I settled the lid gently in place and let it rest without installing the bands. [p]Four hours later I installed the bands, checked it with a sheet of paper and was happy with the results. I lit the Egg and slowly raised the temperature over a period of an hour to 300°. Everything looked good so far so I threw in a little smoking chips to see if it worked. Wouldn't you know it, a small trickle of smoke came out at 4:00. Not nearly as much as before but still enough to be annoying.[p]When I get tired of this Rutland gasket I'm going back to the factory felt gaskets. My others lasted two years without a leak.[p]Now you know what I did all day.[p]Spring "Semi-Professional Ceramic Sander" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

RRP · January 2006

Spring Chicken, seeing that it was I who authored the full text from which snipets were taken by Charcoal Mike to narrate that piece on TNW site I feel I should at least offer my two cents on the wispy leakage issue that is an irritant to you. First of all in a mere 45 days my Rutland gasket will have been on my large BGE for exactly 5 years! Yup...5 years so I'm speaking from experience OK? Whenever I sold the 145 Rutland kits that I have, I always sent along 2 pages of instructions of do's and don't and hints. Unfortunatly the Reader's Digest version on THW site didn't stress points that I make in detail on my sheets. As for the leakage issue I suggest that the gasket be compressed back into itself so that it will cover the entire edge of the BGE. As a result the 84" gasket is reduced to about 70". In doing so that makes the gasket more dense and gives the adhesive more bite - but the gasket is still thin and not as dense as a felt one. On the other hand from useage the Rutland will become tighter and leakage will be less with every use. I have quit offering to sell kits to people for zero profit - unless they email me - once some people on this board felt that replacing the felt gasket every so often was better and safer than the Rutland gasket. OTOH as I said my 5 year anniversary is around the corner and whenever it does fail I will replace it with another Rutland unless by that time BGE will be offering something better than that felt product.

Unknown · January 2006

Spring Chicken, why doesn't the manufacturer remove the high spots prior to shipment?

SuperDave · January 2006

Hey Spring "Breakin' The Burn Ban" Chicken,[p] I did the same test with my egg when the gasket failed. I had installed a Rutland (purchased at the local Hardware store for 4.85 plus 3.00 for the cement) and had the same results you did. I had what John at the mother ship called a "wave" in my ceramics. He sent me a new dome and it worked great. It looked bad though. Had a ding in it before it was glazed, and had what looked to be a bad glaze job. I mentioned it, and he sent me another dome! No charge! Nice guy!!
I checked my new dome out for flatness but it already had the gasket on it. The base of my egg had two high spots and one low spot. I was able to grind down the high spots with a 4" hand grinder with a course zirconia flap disc installed. It took a while and wasted the flap disc, but it did the job.
I installed the new dome and only got to use it three times before the burn ban here in Oklahoma. After my last cook, I noticed the firebox was broken and e-mailed John again, and he sent me a new one with a cut from top to bottom in the back where the natural hot spot is. No charge! Really nice guy.
That proves to me that they want their followers to be happy with their product. I appreciate that. Yeah, they have a couple of issues, but they're willing to work with you to get through them. And John was quite concerned that I was using a Rutland gasket. Told me to remove it ASAP and put a felt one on. For health reasons. Rutland also recommended not using this gasket around food, so I took their advice.
If your set up still seeps more than you think it should, give John@BGE a shout, he'll fix you up!
Sad news here is, I've got two domes, and a cracked firebox laying on my porch, with an Egg with a new firebox that I haven't used once yet because of our burn ban. I can't afford the 1 year in the county and 1000.00 fine so I'm abiding by the law and praying for rain![p] I'm thinking about buying a small or medium and putting it in the garage and just opening up the door so I can go ahead and cook! My luck I'll burn down the house, and then get a ticket for burning it! lol...
Tell me how good the charcoal smelled burning, it's been three weeks since I've smelled it!
Have a great week![p]David
[p]

Spring Chicken · January 2006

SuperDave,
What I would really like to see is a large, very flat sanding table that would allow the BGE bottom or top to be locked in place while the sanding table slowly turns or moves back and forth to cut away any high spots until it is perfectly flat. Then you would have a perfect seal.[p]After six years of owning an Egg, I'm very much aware of the Mother Ship's concern for making things right. I just hope I don't have to take advantage of it that often.[p]Spring "Spending Tomorrow Making ABT's for Fredericksburg" Chicken

Spring Chicken · January 2006

George,
I'm pretty sure there's a excellent quality control program in place and the felt gaskets usually handle any small irregularities quite well for a decent amount of time. But it's felt, not a high temperature material, so when we do high-temperature cooks it probably shortens the life of the felt a little each time until it just wears out.[p]My new small Egg has felt and the three times I've cooked on it proved to me the seal is good. But I've only had it up to 400° so far. It might get a workout Tuesday night in Fredericksburg.[p]Spring "One Puff of Smoke Away From Being a Leak" Chicken

Spring Chicken · January 2006

RRP,
Five years! Wow! It would be nice to have a gasket that lasts that long. What you say make sense but I happened to be in a hardware store and saw the kit. I purchased it on the spot. In doing so I missed out on important details that you covered in your instructions.[p]I read posts from time to time where people have "fried" their gaskets by taking the temperature to the 700°+ range. I often wondered it they fried the entire gasket or just at one place where there may have been a very small gap.[p]Surely, BGE did some serious testing of different gasket materials before selecting felt as the preferred product. I would like to think there is a high temperature felt product available for our use. Maybe soon.[p]Spring "A Leaky Egg Is Still Better Than No Egg" Chicken[p]

SMITTYtheSMOKER · January 2006

Spring Chicken,[p]I've heard rumors that BGE has a "High Temp" gasket that is about ready to roll out...maybe this will be an answer to this problem.[p]-Smitty

Spring Chicken · January 2006

SMITTYtheSMOKER,
I heard the same rumor. Let's hope so.[p]Spring "Rumor Getter Goer" Chicken

SuperDave · January 2006

Spring Chicken,[p] Yes, that would be nice. Makes you wonder why they don't include a maching step or truing step in the initial manufacturing process. This is probably the most common, repeated complaint about the Eggs, and it just seems to me that it would be easier to deal with before the cash paying customers get a little steam under their collars!
John told me the number of "waves", which cause the leaks is approximately 1 in every 2000 or so made... but it seems to be more than that based on the number of comments here on the forum.

Bigfoot · January 2006

Spring Chicken,
I may be missing the point - but my egg leaks a fair amount of smoke at the seal, but I can still hold 200 degrees with ease - does it really matter if it leaks as long as it can hold low temps?[p]I fried my gasket on day one over a year ago with a TRex Ribeye and have done so MANY times since.

Spring Chicken · January 2006

Bigfoot,
When mine wasn't leaking around the gasket I could close the bottom vent and replace the rain cap and I would have plenty of lump left for the next cook. As the leak got worse I started seeing less and less usable lump and more ash after shutting it down. Apparently there is just enough air coming in via the leak to maintain a smoldering fire.[p]It's designed to work best without a leak, so that's what I want.[p]Spring "Not Intirely Leak Proof" Chicken

Bigfoot · January 2006

Spring Chicken,
OH!!! THANKS! Now that you mention that - I do see the same thing, less left over lump. I have a Rutland Gasket, just never put it on. Not sure which way to go now.... Must ponder this over some DP Wings

tach18k · January 2006

Bigfoot,
One the other hand, I went about 1 year wiout a real gasket, had a burnt one forever, but I got good high temps and no overburn on old lump. All seems the same to me.

Toy Man · January 2006

More like 1 in 2 IMO.[p]Toy Man

Dixie_Flyer · January 2006

George,
that's a good question...I just bought a small and the gasket on the lid fell off completely after 10 minutes on my first cook, so it's obvious that there is a defect...and the daisy wheel cap didn't fit properly so I took it back to the dealer and got my money back because the BGE people would not replace the lid and the daisy wheel

Gasket Replacement

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