gasket failure issue

Dont let it stop you. In the big picture the gasket is a small issue. Even without a gasket the Egg still performs better than anything else on the market..as far as I'm concerned.
That being said, and this is an opinion that is disagreed upon by many, curing the gasket with several low temp cooks will prevent failure of gasket or adhesive.

I have a Large and my first gasket fell off after about 3 cooks, the factory replacement gasket didn't last much longer. I wasn't happy about having to fix something right out of the box that is supposed to last forever and understand your concerns.

They sent me a different gasket, I believe it was called Romex, that I had to glue on with 3M 77 spray adhesive. I cooked without a gasket for quite a while but finally went ahead and installed the new Romex gasket. It was kind of a pain but at least that one is still holding and seems better than the self stick felt ones.

I believe the problem is simply quality control, I don't think the original gasket is up to par with the rest of the unit and I am sure they know it. Most people seem to be willing to overlook the poor quality of the original gasket since the rest of the unit is so good but I for one feel like it should have been addressed a long time ago. I guess as long as people are willing to purchase the eggs the mfg sees no reason to fix the problem.

All that being said, after owning one for about a year I would buy another one even if I knew for sure the gasket was going to fall off. I would advise you to go ahead with the purchase expecting the gasket to fail and if it doesn't just be happy that you are one of the lucky ones!

After 4plus years with my Large, the original gasket simply doesn't exist. My lid fits very snug against the bottom and I've no issues.
In fact, nice not to have to worry about it. I'm a very simple Egger and enjoy the cook rather than having an OCD moment every time I lift the lid.
The Egg is not perfect, however nothing else can compare to it.

 
Welcome to the forum Hugh. You will love cooking on the egg, it is just amazing.

The gaskets have a long history. There was a run of gasket material that had bad adhesive.

Several years ago the felt gaskets failed usually due mostly to user related issues. A year or so ago evidently BGE received a run of felt gaskets which had a problem with the adhesive strip on the felt.

This 'bad gasket' issue was wide spread and failed easily. BGE took care of the problems with a new type material called Nomex. The first Nomex had some problems with the adhesive strip on the material. The next step was to ship the nomex without the adhesive strip and instructed users to use 3M Super 77 with the install.

From posts anyone who experienced a felt gasket failure was sent out a replacement Nomex at no charge. It was also posted that some new eggs were shipped with a spare gasket.

The 'bad adhesive' gasket eggs were in the supply line and every day people would post with problems. Now we see a problem here and there. It would seem there are a few eggs in the inventories that show up now and again.

At times there has been reported problems with the personal install of the Nomex. I wonder if the 3M Super 77 was not put on properly, that is more an individual issue.

Thankfully, were at the end of the 'bad adhesive' gaskets.

There are two BGE gaskets available, the felt and Nomex. Nomex will withstand higher heat temperatures.

You can see by the responses to your post that some folks don't care and don't use gaskets at all.

At this point in time I wouldn't think there is a pretty small chance you may get an egg with a problem gasket. If you do happen to get a problem gasket BGE has been fantastic about taking care of the issue.

The other problems with gaskets are us users. Gaskets can and do fail from misuse.

If a gasket fails, the egg still can be used to cook with.

Hope this helps answer your questions.

GG

the gasket on my large has yet to fail and its now a year old, the gasket on my small failed the first cook, I replaced with a new one under warranty and it has not failed again

Oh, I didn't see that in your post. I normally only make it about halfway through yours... Just kidding!
Both my Eggs still have the original gaskets which are in very good shape.

The only reason my gasket failed is because I BURNED IT UP running my egg at 1000 degrees for 2.5 hours. Flames were shooting out the top, sides and bottom. Scraped what was left off, sprayed the 3m 77 and laid the Nomex down. Worked great. Then I burned up the bottom back portion of the gasket. Cut it off, left it off and it has worked perfect every since. The egg is very forgiving to us newbies and allows us to make the uninitiated think we are amazing chefs. I secretly tell a few of my friends that I didn't do nothing, the egg does it all! Go get one and start cooking, you will not regret it!

As an owner of 3 eggs, I wouldn't hesitate to purchase and Egg despite the stories. Grandpa's Grub pretty much explained it. Get the nomex gasket and you shouldn't have any more problems. It really isn't a big deal.

i got my egg this past Christmas and the gasket came off after three cooks. There was a note in the box that my batch of eggs (made in August 2008) went out with adhesive issues on the gasket. I emailed the egg folks, they sent me the nomex and I followed Fred's video on Youtube. It didn't take too long, the acetone stripped everything off nicely, the 77M glue worked well and I'm back in action now, no problems. Get the egg, you won't regret it.

JPY

Start at the bottom of this email thread and work up. This is a copy of an email exchange between me and a BGE representative about the gasket issue.
*****************************************************


From: David Gillespie
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 3:08 PM
To: 'Bruce Bohannon'
Subject: RE: Gasket

Bruce,

Thanks for your reply.

My gasket was like yours, blackened and compressed. Then, at high heat it suddenly began to peel away, almost like the adhesive was melting. I had a $125 standing rib roast on the Egg when this happened! I used some other tools that were close by to keep the gasket from falling on top of the meat.

Gapping issues will be corrected when I install the new gasket, so this is a non-issue. But, I hope this is the last gasket I ever have to fool with.

Appreciate you pushing this through to your R&D team. In the meantime, I will make sure that my future recommendations for friends and family to buy the Egg require that the dealer remove the original gasket and install the high-heat gasket. Hopefully this isn’t a deal-breaker to the dealers...

Thanks for considering my small suggestion for improving a fabulous product.

Have a good afternoon.

David


From: Bruce Bohannon [mailto:bruce.bohannon@biggreenegg.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 2:15 PM
To: David
Subject: Re: Gasket

Hello David,

I am terribly sorry that this has happened to your gasket. I realize that this is frustrating and I am not sure why this has happened. I have a large Egg that is 2 years old and have done many high heat cooks on it and I have never had to fuss with the gasket. Now I will say that my gasket is severely blackened and compressed; even burned in some areas but this has not affected the quality of the seal between the two halves. I am assuming the burning of your gasket has caused gapping issues between the dome and base?

Once again I apologize that you have experienced this frustration but I am quite sure this new gasket will do the trick.

I am also sending your email to our R&D Department for review.

Please let me know if you need further assistance with this matter.

Thanks,

Bruce



On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 4:49 PM, David wrote:
Good afternoon,

Love the BGE, and I’m sure I’m one of the biggest fans.

But, I do have one complaint. There are several recipes that call for a sear to “lock in the juices”. Often times this requires temperatures above 600 degrees. But, when I “bring the heat”, I have melted 2 gaskets in my first year of Egg ownersip.

So, I’ve paid $35 for the high-heat gasket, then had to go pick up a can of the Super77 for another $10. Now I have to spend a half hour installing… BGE should install the high heat gasket at the factory and save customers the trouble. Part of the sales pitch is the tremendous diversity – the fact you can grill (high-heat) and smoke (low-heat). Hoping your operations team can get the high-heat problem corrected. Charge an extra $15 for the high-end, high-heat gasket and get it perfect on the front end.

Otherwise the feedback is that I like it, BUT…

Hoping my suggestion falls into the right inbox.

Thanks,
___________________________________

David