How Important Is an Air tight Seal.

Skittletop · May 2010

I've been trying for a couple of weeks now to get my bands attached nicely so they form an air tight seal between the egg and the dome.

Unfortunately I can't get it perfect. Once I get to the last few turns of the nut, the back of the dome rises slightly and gets me all angry.

Reading some of the suggestions on the forums here, I've tried using a cargo strap to force the two pieces together then tighten the top band slowly. But once the cargo band comes off the back again will raise slightly enough for me to see light through around half of the dome when looking through the chimney. The dollar bill passes through with no friction at all.

Failing this, what do you all suggest I do. I bought my egg second hand, so don't have any guarantee to fall back on (don't even know if this would be covered though.)

1.) Live with it, and try and keep my temps in the lower 500.

2.) Install a thicker (nomex gasket) but this wouldn't be ideal as the two pices aren't sitting correctly in the first place.

3.) Purchase new bands (are mine deffective if I can't get to seat right?)

4.) Take it to a professional and pay to get the two aligned.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

Little Steven · May 2010

Skittletop,

I wouldn't worry about it. If you can hold 250* that is all that matters.

Steve

Unknown · May 2010

5.) relax, have a beverage, cook something, and don't worry about it

Car Wash Mike · May 2010

I haven't had one in years. It is so bad, I don't even have to open the daisy wheel at all when using my stoker. The smoke just flows out the sides.

Mike

BillHill · May 2010

did you try to flip your bands

thebtls · May 2010

A GOOD SEAL IS OVER RATED UNLESS YOU ARE DOING LOW AND SLOW WITH A BLOWER. FOR 98% OF ALL OTHER COOKS IT JUST ISN'T THAT CRITICAL, ESPECIALLY IF YOU CAN HOLD TEMPERATURES RELATIVELY STEADY. MY TWO CENTS...WORKING WITH A BLOWN GASKET FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS NOW.

Capt Frank · May 2010

All good advice here, but I am wondering if your bottom band is on properly? I can't imagine the top band moving unless there is stress from the bottom. Have you tried tightening both down together slowly?
Just my thoughts, but like the others said, "don't worry about it"

Capt Frank
Homosassa, FL

TNmike · May 2010

All of the above is good advice but just curious which size BGE do you have. Mike

Jersey Doug · May 2010

I have a similar issue with our Small Egg. I came up with a counter-intuitive solution that made it a lot better:

1. I assembled the Egg with a new gasket as best I could per conventional wisdom and measured a gap of about 1/8" centered above the band bolts.

2. I loosened the band bolts and put a shim a generous 1/8" thick 180º away from the problem area (just to the right of the handle).

3. I pushed down hard on the dome while I retightened the band bolts.

4. I raised the dome, removed the shim, lowered the dome and found a greatly reduced gap in the back.

What this trick seems to do is allow the bands/hinge to close a bit more before the dome makes contact in the front. It's still not as snug as our Large Egg that I haven't had to fiddle with at all, but it's a lot better.

Hotwater · May 2010

When I first got my Egg (Lg) 2 yrs ago, I had similar problems. Most of the advice said to make sure the bands were 'seated' as far down as they would go on the lower part of the egg and as high as it could go on the upper part - and even all the way around.
I did this and had the same experience you did with the back gapping.

One thing I learned was to make sure the bolts for the hinge at the back were barely snug, but not too tight. If too tight, they cause the back to lift just enough to ruin the seal.

Still, I had to experiment with the band on the upper part being fully 'seated' at the rear and not fully seated in the front (had a small offset from fully seated in the front - less than 1/8 inch).

I kept the lower ring down as far as it would go, evenly all around.

Finally got it to where a piece of paper placed between the closed halves had a lot of 'drag' when pulled, from any place around the circumference.

As others have posted, that kind of fit may not be necessary - but with my OCD tendencies, it helps me feel better ;-)

Mr. & Mrs Potatohead · May 2010

Well…
You’ve gotten a lot of opinion thus far and here are...
My 2 cents worth! It is pretty simple!
If you can’t control the fire or you have major “hot spots” because of large air leaks...Not to worry!

Skittletop · May 2010

Wow Guys what a lot of replies, thanks for all your help!

To summarise.

BillHill: I will try flipping the bands, I'd thought about this after I'd posted. But I'd already started a fire

Tension bolts are to the left when looking the egg straight on?

CaptFrank: No, I'd securred the bottom first then the top, I'll resit and retorque the upper and lower bands gradually and equally.

TNMike: My egg is medium sized.

Jersey Doug: Sounds intersting, I'll give the shim technique a go.

It's also great to know you guy's aren't so anal about air tight fluffy gaskets, makes me feel a lot better about smoke billowing outta the back of my egg

It's a shame the hinge mechanism doesn't have a toe in like adjustment, for tweaking the alignment once the bands have been cranked on, or the bands had an uppper and lower lip to guide them. Feature requests for BGEII?

Some of my own experiences for others in a similar situation.

Loosening the bolts to make a good seal is NOT A GOOD IDEA! As the dome will likely fall out once it gets hot. Luckily, myself, Charlie the Cat, the dome and my deck all survived unscathed, the short ribs were not so lucky

I actually tried fitting the bands without the hinge mechanism to make for a snug fit, before I realized it would be impossible to refit the hinge. Doh!

Thanks Again!

tarheelforever · May 2010

Maybe I'm out to lunch but when I didn't have a gasket for a few weeks I went through way too much lump. My guess is I couldn't choke the fire down good enough without the seal.

How Important Is an Air tight Seal.

Comments

Categories