Gasket Ideas.... FWIW

Fidel

all joking aside, I may try this on the mini first - simply because it is less work to do and remove if it sucks. Plus, I can do it in the basement in a more environmentally controlled environment.

I'll do a full on pictorial if I decide to give it a rip.

This is a terrific thread that will in all likelihood be forgotten in a few days, but terrific nonetheless.

stike

well. i just wanted to start a discussion (one we've had a few times, actually). what will be interesting to me isn't so much who chimes in and with what, but who does NOT chime in....

thread's an hour old with already 800 views.

jeffinsgf

stike wrote:

...you may have met many designers that overshoot and don't know the perfect solution right out of the gate, but i have also sat in meetings where every time a designer offered an idea, there was someone there to explain why it wouldn't work. and the funny thing was that guy never offered anything that WOULD work. was just there to shoot things down.

BUT, I did offer a solution that would work. Teach the assembly team how to install a gasket correctly. That and reinforcing the end user instructions on taking it easy the first few cooks would make a world of difference.

I kinda like the Permatex and Saran Wrap idea, though.

And, an inverted U-shaped silicone seal that wraps over lip would potentially work better and eliminate any skill involved in assembly and require no additional machining. -- If you could find a formulation that would withstand the temperatures on the inside edge.

Clay Q

Grinding flush the two faces is not prohibitive. If I can do it then manufacturing can do it with much more accuracy and efficiency.

Fidel

Wow, and I thought I had gone overboard using 40 grit on an orbital sander.

Fidel

The gaskets are not installed incorrectly, unless you have some knowledge of this that you aren't sharing.

And furthermore there is no proof other that a few anecdotal references that curing the gasket with a few cooks does anything.

Fidel

stike wrote:

thread's an hour old with already 800 views.

Yea, but probably 650+ of those is you and I refreshing to see if there are new responses.

EmandM'sDad

I already did my rain cap. I added a piece of Gore Tex tape (.060" thick) around the top where it sits on the dome. Seems to seal a little better.

stike

you are right.

didn't mean to say you weren't contributing, though that's pretty much what i said, now that i look at it.

i'm almost hoping the gasket on my small pooches it, so that i can try one of these ideas.
hahaha

peace

jeffinsgf

It seems pretty obvious to me that the gasket material has been stretched in installation. The pictures that I have seen and my own personal experience is that the most recent rash of gasket failures has been gaskets that "shrink" and come off the rim to the inside of the dome. At the EGGstravaganza in Springfield we saw several brand new units that it happened to. Of course, at the event few cooks were inclined to low and slow, since we were demonstrating and people want to see results. So most of the gaskets were exposed to high heats with the first fire. The demo unit that I purchased that day did the same thing a few days later. A careful installation of a new (old-fashioned wool) gasket and a few break in cooks and I've had zero issues in several months of near daily use. What inferences should I draw if not that the gasket is being stretched in installation and that it helps to take it easy the first few fires?

Big'un

What if you combined both ideas(Stikes and Fidel's) so that the new silcone gasket wouldn't keep falling off? ie. Having a routed channel in a dovetail groove, and then fill with silicone to compensate for any imperfections, and, it wont simply fall off. You could even add a minute structure(metal mesh) inside the grove,previous to adding the silicone, to aid in strength and the persistant wear and tear of opening/closing the lid. You would have a perfect seal, with added strength, that wouldn't fall off.

Fidel

Again, the plural of anecdote is not conclusion.

The gaskets are exposed to heat, they burn and contract as they do so. This doesn't mean they are stretched as they are installed.

You have no idea if the same gasket material, same adhesive, or same processes have been used. There are far too many variables even in your micro-environment to conclusively say that someone at BGE is installing gaskets incorrectly.

jeffinsgf

No, but it sure looks to me to be one heck of a good place to start looking.

So, you're going to assume that 20 new Eggs, coming off the same shipment, sent to the same location, do not have the same gasket material and adhesive? Yes, it is conceivable that they don't, but I'm going to have to go with "improbable".

Fidel

My assumption is that the gasket you replaced is not necessarily the same material and/or adhesive as those other 20.

The replacement gasket material you used may have been sitting on a shelf somewhere for months or years in the little plastic bag. Conversely, the gasket placed on those 20 new eggs may have been old. It is highly doubtful it all came from the same batch.

fishlessman

to make this easier, glue a rutland down with the silicone, then encapsilate the rutlant with a thin layer of silicone. no more rutland fibers to be worried about flying around, i think this would be easier than trying to just form a silicone gasket.

fishlessman

just went to your site and silicone is 450, they list kalrez as 600 but kalrez is a really expensive oring material. ive used teflon encapsilated silicone for orings before, not that much more money bought in bulk and the teflon is more durable, same temp though at about 450. the silicone will hold higher temps used more like an adhesive, but it doesnt come back to shape when pressed at temps much higher than 450

Unknown

I would coat the rutland in silicone, then to protect the silicone, wrap a coltronics around it. because of the fiber issue, i think it would be prudent then to warp it in a felt gasket, adhered with super77. then, because of the danger of fumes, not use it for a week. then, because of the danger of carbon monoxide produced by charcoal, i'd use my gas grill, which, because of the danger of a gas explosion (see MDSD for propane, attached as a PDF), i have previously converted to electric. in order to protect against electrocution due to rain, i installed the now-electric grill in my kitchen. where the electric range use to be.

just a thought.

(it's me, stike)

fishlessman

how bout just gluing down a tin foil rope that will eventually conform to the wavy lid, is tinfoil still food safe i think i solved myself a few problems when i descided not to use a gasket anymore now i just light fire and cook food. ill probably try a gasket again someday, but i really dont see why, i went over a year cooking on an egg without a temp gage so i guess hitting the exact temp doesnt bother me much

1/2 Chicken

I just put on a new Nomex gasket with the 3M spray. Has there been any reports of these failing??? A few cooks on mine including over 600* or so and it's been perfect. Point being... maybe the Nomex will solve all the gasket issues.

stike

fidel gave me griedfor saying "tinfoil". must be a new england thing.

there are those who have asserted that aluminum foil is dangerous, either exposed to the heat of the lump, or in contact with food. i think the safest thing we can do is shoot ourselves.

fishlessman

never gave tinfoil much thought, now i gotta know if an aluminum hat is as good as an old fashioned tin foil hat.

stike

you make a good point. i'm not trying to say the egg gaskets sucketh. the HQ at BGE have settled on the Nomex and super77, and i think anyone with concerns should stick to that.

i got prodded by safetyman's question, and started brainstorming physical (as opposed to glue) gasket mounting solutions

stike

anyone with a brain left uses lead for their tinfoil hat.

is lead ok around food?

fishlessman

i think they might be right about the aluminum being bad for you. they put the tabs on the box many moons ago and it wasnt until this last year when someone mentioned them that i made the connection for what they do. years and years of having the roll jump out of the box and unrolling across the room. has to be the aluminum in the foil that caused the brain damage not to realize what those modern day miracle tabs are used for.

stike

"conversely"? you're starting to sound like me.
fancy science boy. i see you are putting that word-a-day calendar to good use.

viz: "notwithstanding the veritable plethora of aforementioned gasket materials and the subsequent knowledge gained by the membership from empirical data, it should suffice to say that erstwhile wool felt gaskets (and their attendant adhesive solutions) have been supplanted, for the time being, by nomex and super77"

:huh:

(still have not done thing one with regard to my taxes!)

Fidel

I work with dozens of attorneys all day every day..I have no choice but to let their big words bleed over into my every day vernacular. Whoops, I did it again.

stike

when they start with the errata and dictums and pacta sunt servanda crap, you just tellem, "absconde obesito illegitimo"