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Cooking gasket

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Unknown
Unknown
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
I am going on the sixth year of my large Egg. I still have the original gasket. Not that I have some special gasket, but I rarely allow my Egg to get over 500 degrees. If I am searing a steak, the lid is open. Maybe that is why I still have the original gasket. [p]MC Jerry
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 25,897
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    Jwirlwnd,
    Go ahead and brag!!!
    LOL
    what you say has some reasonable support, but I'd bet dollars to donuts that you have a perfect match up of the planes on your dome and base. Many of us don't and we have waves which require gaskets in the first place. It's like trim in a home - if everything was perfect most trim would not be necessary.
    Count your blessings - you have an exceptional BGE, you lucky devil you!
    Re-gasketing America one yard at a time.
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  • jwirlwind
    jwirlwind Posts: 319
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    RRP,
    It is true. I do have a great fitting lid. I have never had any problems yet. Knock on wood.
    Then, some of you put some high heat on the Egg. I have had mine to 800 a couple of times, but rare. [p]MC Jerry
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    Jwirlwind,
    i think 800 qualifies as "750 plus degrees", which is what the BGE site says is acceptable.[p]
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
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    Jwirlwnd,
    The gasket on my medium is about 3 years old and has endured many 1000 degree burns. It is also in pretty good shape. It's leaks and burping, as far as I'm concerned, not the temperature of the fire. One more test to run, then I'll publish my thoughts, if anyone gives a damn, lol![p]TNW
    The Naked Whiz
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  • Thermal Mass
    Thermal Mass Posts: 31
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    The Naked Whiz,
    Another data point for you...my 3 month old Large lost substantial portions of its gasket cooking a pizza the other day. The Egg did not go above 575, and the pizza was cooked using the platesetter, and the stone on the extended grid. The gasket burned about 80% through from inside to out at the 6 and 3 o'clock positions (if the handle is at the 6).[p]Other relevant info:[p]- I have had only 1 flashback, about 2 months ago while cooking duck direct. The gasket was fine.
    - The Egg was no where near too hot, and never has been.
    - My Egg does not leak smoke, yet.
    - My gasket did not intrude into the Egg over the lip on the inside. The gasket was well positioned.[p]In my case it was not burping that caused my gasket problem. Your leak theory may be the issue, but I believe at this point that it is curvature in the dome (a lack of a true horizontal surface) or base that is the root cause of my gasket problem. The other possible cause is a lack of alignment between dome and base. My Egg has a very slight overbite toward the 7 o'clock position. However, this overbite is very minor. I considered straightening it, but realized that I might not be able to get as good a fit as it is.[p]Are you planning to include several types of leaks in your explanation (such as those due to curvature and dome/base mismatch)?[p]Mark

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  • SmokinGuitarPlayer
    SmokinGuitarPlayer Posts: 698
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    The Naked Whiz,
    I am just "breaking in" a medium and have been very careful with assembly, alighment, seal, etc. etc. paying particular attention to seal with the dollar bill test etc. [p]2 low and slo cooks aprox 10 hours total. [p]3rd cook .went to 500 deg or so and started seeing smoke coming from the seal .. on the one side ... seeping out ...
    burped and opened egg and the seal was melted about 2/3 of the way through ...inside to outside about 10% of the circumference. It just started "eating" the gasket! [p]Also, I have been asking customers to let me know if/how their gaskets work and offering free replacements so I can see how they are burning and keep in close contacxt so to speak.... so I might have a lot more data some day. I'm taking very careful attention to the seal when I assemble the customer eggs so maybe that's why I haven't had to replace any so far, we shall see. My first and "personal" Egg, which my wife bought from another local dealer and started me on this venture, was delivered with about 1/8" opening at the hinge which of course caused the gasket to burn on the first cook because there was a huge leak and I was a newbie and had no idea of how things were supposed to work. So I guess I got an "early" lesson on gasket issues.
    Fred A. Bernardo , owner of Tasty Licks BBQ Supply in Shillington, Pa. 
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    Thermal Mass,
    That's almost exactly what happened to my 2 months old large while also doing pizza not over 550 except my gasket burned from the 6 o'clock to 9 o'clock side similar to yours. I have a bit of gasket overhang to the inside of the egg towards the rear at the hinge but surprisingly that was only slightly singed but not burned like the opposite side.
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  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
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    Thermal Mass,
    I don't plan to go into all the different ways the seal might not be perfect. The point is that hot air is getting to the gasket interface, one way or another. It isn't caused by the ceramic getting so hot that the ceramic damages the gasket.[p]TNW
    The Naked Whiz
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    The Naked Whiz,
    something tells me you'll publish your thoughts whether or NOT anyone gives a damn.[p]booYAH![p];-)
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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