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Strike Three!

Bearacuda
Bearacuda Posts: 3
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Had my XL since February, and just burned up my third gasket of the summer!

Fantastic. I wasted $30 worth of ribeyes(finished cooking them in the microwave - YUM!)

The latest gasket last 2 weeks that involved 4 cooks (two at around 350, two high temps at 650 (including the last)).

The good news is that it was just my family that was forced to eat that rubbery, nasty, premium meat finished off in the microwave. Thankfully, we didn't have any company over.

Although I've cooked some fantastic meals on this thing, and really enjoy cooking on it, I'm about convinced it isn't worth it given the gasket issue.

Fool me once, fool me twice, etc, I'm thinking this is strike three.

As I see it, my options at this point are to sell it, or turn it into a very expensive planter.

Regardless, I'll have to buy another gasket and install it before I sell it. And I must admit, I've gotten pretty good at it, including applying the Super 77 recommended by BGE.

Any recommendations on where to sell this thing, or for what plants/shrubbery/small trees might look good in it?

Or perhaps a recommendation for an alternative, SAFE gasket that I could use other than the felt I keep burning up?

This is getting very frustrating and very expensive very quickly.
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Comments

  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    Bearacuda,

    Forget the gasket or get one of the industrial strength ones.

    Steve

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • forget the gasket, you don't need one, cook away & be happy, forget the planter idea...
  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Umm, welcome to the forum! :)

    Don't sell it. MANY people here don't even use a gasket. Not sure why you felt you had to finish the steaks in the microwave in any case, so I can't comment on that.

    As for gasket replacements, there are several alternatives; Rutland, Nomex and Cotronics come to mind. I use a Rutland, available at many hardware stores, and have had no problems at all - even at 650-750°. Not tested near food, but many use it anyway.

    Search the forum for gasket info - there's TON of it here!

    Here's a fairly bad pic of my Rutland - been on since mid-winter..........

    4405279718_b3b8b4e0a3_b.jpg

    Hang in there - there IS a learning curve.

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

  • FlaPoolman
    FlaPoolman Posts: 11,676
    Are you burning gaskets or are they falling off? If your burning them I'm guessing your egg doesn't pass the dollar bill test. If they are falling off try permatex ultra copper. I've used that installing factory and rutland gaskets and have never had one come loose.
  • cookn biker
    cookn biker Posts: 13,407
    Sorry about your gasket problems. Try using it without one. That's what alot of us do. My large and medium only have one and they hold steady no problem. My large did 68 pounds of pork butt and held teady for 23 hours. I slept through that cook. No electronic thermometors regulating it.
    Also, I want to ask why in the hell did you microwave that nice cut of meat instead of broiling or searing on a cast iron pan?

    Please don't give up on your egg.
    Molly
    Colorado Springs
    "Loney Queen"
    "Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it."
    Bill Bradley; American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, former U.S. Senator from New Jersey
    LBGE, MBGE, SBGE , MiniBGE and a Mini Mini BGE
  • FlaPoolman
    FlaPoolman Posts: 11,676
    Michael that gasket is just way too clean :whistle:
  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Dude - it was NEW then!!! :lol:

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

  • 61chev
    61chev Posts: 539
    Wish I had a magic answer for you but not. I have had ny medium egg for over five years and still on the first gasket. Maybe if you sak your dealer he could help or I'm sure some of the other eggers can help some say they do not even use a gasket as for the high temp I have never cooked anything over 500 even for a sear
  • PhilsGrill
    PhilsGrill Posts: 2,256
    I agree with the dollar bill test. If the hinges were off the egg and just the dome on, you should feel how hard it is to pull a dollar bill out all around the egg.
    Now with the hinges on and aligned, you should be able to get that same exact tension and feel. If not, you will have a leak and the gasket may burn.
  • Grand Oeuf Vert
    Grand Oeuf Vert Posts: 1,631
    Gasket is a bad term. It's only a bumper. Your Egg will work just fine with out a gasket. (Just don't drop the dome on the base). No gasket on my large for over a year now. And I cook on it 3-4 times a week. No problems.
  • grillmandan
    grillmandan Posts: 270
    You have air gaps causing this.. look up the dollar bill test.
    If a dealer assembled the egg I would make a complaint to him.
  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
    Right now I. Am cooking 10 butts and 4 briskets on three eggs. They are all locked in at 250 and not one of them has reckonizable gasket..

    Would you like help fixing your problem?
  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
    GASKETS ARE USLESS!!! It will cook as good or better without one. ;)
  • Jeffersonian
    Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
    I agree with the majority of my fellow Eggers above: The gasket is the Egg's appendix - it doesn't do anything terribly important and is only there to fail and get replaced. I haven't had a gasket on my LBGE for years and I haven't missed it for a moment.
  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    Bearacuda, Welcome to the forum. You didn't say what happened to the gasket. Did it burn up or fall off. In any case skip the gasket for a while. Go naked so to speak and while doing so consider what some of the others are using if you want to replace the gasket.

    I'm not sure what happened during your steak cook that you could not continue grilling the steak then getting upset and...there are a lot of folks using this forum that have at some point had similar issues.

    I use this forum as a tool and I have learned a lot in just 18 months. Good luck with your decision. Tim
  • Bearacuda
    Bearacuda Posts: 3
    Appreciate all of your great replies!

    To address a couple of the themes presented (and add a few more questions):

    1. Perhaps "burned" gasket wasn't the appropriate description. This one (applied with added Super 77) and the last one (applied without) seemed to get stuck somewhere, and when the lid opened, the upper and lower just peeled off. So perhaps more of an adhesion issue rather than "burning" - although it was clearly burned around the inner edges.

    2. For those that go "naked" on gaskets, how does that work for long, slow cooks? I love being able to essentially "set it and forget it" for multiple hour cooks at low temps. Can you hold a steady, low temp for multiple hours without a gasket?

    3. Nomex - is it safe around food? [I've read bad things about the Rutledge gasket due to fiberglass].

    4. On the microwave...a product of pure frustration. Gasket came off after I flipped them the first time, I managed to keep it off the steaks, but it smelled nasty. So I took them off. Should have done something else inside, but I was so freaking mad...

    Thanks for all of your thoughtful replies to a frustrate newbie.
  • Many more knowledgeable people have answered your gasket question. I'll just say welcome and DON'T SELL YOUR EGG.
  • cookn biker
    cookn biker Posts: 13,407
    Your second question has been answered by me and Celtic Wolf. No worries.
    Molly
    Colorado Springs
    "Loney Queen"
    "Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it."
    Bill Bradley; American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, former U.S. Senator from New Jersey
    LBGE, MBGE, SBGE , MiniBGE and a Mini Mini BGE
  • Misippi Egger
    Misippi Egger Posts: 5,095
    I don't have much left of my lower gasket on my large, and I ran it last night fro 12 hours, maintaining a dome temp of 175-180* (smoking jalapenos).
  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
    #2-No problem.I have done 24+ hour cooks on my large,lo-n-slo,set it and forget it.(250 dome)That is WITHOUT the aid of GADGETS.ie. gurus,digi-q's,stokers. ;) I have NOTHING against these products and think they are TOP QUALITY from the responses I see on here.I just choose to cook natural. :)
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    Bearacuda,

    Think of the gasket as a cushion between the ceramic surfaces. It will not affect the performance for low and slow. Keep cookin and decide on your solution later.

    Steve

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • guzzijason
    guzzijason Posts: 143
    I went 3 years with no gasket. And I don't own a microwave.

    I'm convinced that the only real reason they put gaskets on these things is to protect against ceramic-on-ceramic damage if you close the dome too hard. I'm not sure what other purpose it serves.

    Bottom line: it works just fine without a gasket.

    __Jason
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    Pat, for the most part I think you have hit the nail on the head.

    Aside from visible air gaps or alignment problems it would seem the majority of failures are the adhesive not being able to hold up with the temperatures at the gasket level. Failures seem to be bad adhesive. I don't think there has been any gasket problems posted with people that have used permatex.

    A while back I had another gasket failure. This was a BGE repair kit, prior to the bad batch of adhesive, I opened the egg to turn some food and the gasket was falling off. The gasket was in great condition but one can clearly see the adhesive just separated from the egg and felt. Normally what happens is the adhesive melts.

    The gasket fell off the ceramics.

    gasketfail1.jpg

    Then I was able to pull the adhesive off of the gasket like an old piece of scotch tape.

    gasketfail2.jpg

    I have an 3M ATG gun with adhesive and just rolled the new adhesive membrane on the gasket and so far it is holding solid.

    All in all it was an interesting failure.

    Kent
  • You have had your egg 6 months and your first post is to sell your egg because of your gasket. You don't need a gasket to cook ribeyes. Have you tried any low and slows - how about some pics.

    Sell it if you like Bearacuda but methinks it will be your loss in the long run.

    Sell it and get a weber, a stick burner, or maybe even a gasser :sick: or all three. You could probably get into a real nice pit with an infrared for $5,000 or you could change your gasket.

    I'm on my tenth gasket on three eggs and not even
    thinking about selling an Egg - in fact I have two ferocious dogs guarding my eggs

    4th gasket on the XL
    2nd gasket on the Small
    3rd gasket on the mini

    One felt and one nomex on the XL and now my 2nd rutland

    One felt and now a rutland on the small

    Two felts and a rutland on the mini

    As you can see, I'm a rutland zealot

    I don't think I used enough high temp glue the first installation of the rutland on my XL.

    This last time I installed the rutland, I built up the high temp glue (gasket material) about the thickness of the felt gasket on the base only. Then I lightly pressed the gasket in by hand. After about an hour I closed the dome on the gasket - works mightyfine. The thickness of the rutland and the gasket material approximates the the thickness of two felt gaskets.

    Hopefully I was tackful in my suggestions - I'm on my 3rd Kilt Lifter.
  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
    Let's have one,me and you! ;) :laugh:
  • cookn biker
    cookn biker Posts: 13,407
    oh, he's fun Hoss!! ;)
    Molly
    Colorado Springs
    "Loney Queen"
    "Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it."
    Bill Bradley; American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, former U.S. Senator from New Jersey
    LBGE, MBGE, SBGE , MiniBGE and a Mini Mini BGE
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     

    Post after post we have seen a lot of folks saying no gasket is needed. The gasket on my large is in pretty bad shape to say the least.


    Been a lot of posts about gaskets are not needed and I too can control temperatures with a very poor gasket on the large. I had a gasket failure on the medium but finished the cook just fine.

    I wonder what BGE feels the need of a gasket is, anyone bother to ask? Will non gasket use affect the warranty?

    It would be interesting to know if there is a 'good' adhesive solution. We have seen a lot of Super 66 failures, which could possibly be to due to the installation/installer, but Super 77 is not a high temperature adhesive according to a lot of past posts.

    GG
  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Hmm, this is what my OEM gasket looked like shortly before I replaced it. No adhesive failure - the gasket was simply disintegrating.

    4201844228_cdb2238b9d_b.jpg

    In retrospect, I probably didn't need to replace when I did, but I was a noob - what did I know?!

    As for my mini, I had adhesive failure AND the gasket melted!

    No regrets on the Rutland.

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

  • Buster Dog BBQ
    Buster Dog BBQ Posts: 1,366
    You problem isn't your gasket. Either their is a gap in the dome or you're a bad cook. Besides, your gasket would be more useful on the low and slow then something hot and fast like a ribeye.

    Many on here cook without a gasket with no worries. I have been ranked in the top 100 out of 4000 teams 3 years in a row in chicken and I don't have a gasket.
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    No question about it the Rutland sure seems to hold up well for those high temp cooks.

    Since using TVJ's spider I haven't had the need to take the egg over 500°. Until the above failure a week or so ago I haven't had a problem with a felt gasket in over a year an a half now, that's on 4 eggs.

    GG