Gasket replacement XL BGE

Tim (Watkinsville)

So I smoked my felt gaskets several weeks ago cooking pizzas. I am trying to decide between regular felt and Nomex. FWIW, the next time I do pizzas I plan on cooking them no higher than 450. My questions are:

What is your experience with felt vs Nomex?

and

Has anyone replaced the gaskets without disassembling the egg? That is, do I have to remove the dome?

I have seen the excellent videos at fredsmusicandbbq.com and he removes the dome. On my XL, I would need help getting that big boy removed. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!

Ripnem

Tim,

The Nomex is a much better gasket. I have gone with it on the bases only. Still have a great seal and only one gasket to deal with. Also taken gravity out of play. Lastly, not sure it plays a roll, but my eggs don't freeze shut.

To get the dome (rim) clean and have good access to the entire rim, you will want to remove the dome.

uglydog

Tim, I replaced the fried felt gaskets on my large with Nomex gaskets, both on the dome and on the lower body. Followed (mostly) the videos on Fred's site, including removing the dome and placing it upside down in the lower body to hold it while replacing the gasket. The Nomex has worked out well for me so far, and I usually do pizzas at 600°F dome, or higher. There are some (Fred) who claim to have fried Nomex gaskets at higher temps, but so far it has worked well for me. I think it would be very awkward to replace the dome gasket with the dome in place. Let us know how it works out, with pics, please.

Uglydog

Tim (Watkinsville)

Thanks for the opinions. I had never considered going with Nomex on the bottom only. That is very appealing to me! I am leaning towards that approach. I'll take pictures and post when I do the replacement.