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Replacing Gasket what went wrong?

Beef
Beef Posts: 3
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
I followed the instructions to replace the felt gasket. After the first use gasket slipped and burnt. Any suggestions to get me back to using my egg??

Comments

  • Rezen73
    Rezen73 Posts: 356
    In all honesty, you may not even need your gasket. Mine burned out last year sometime and I never replaced it... and it works just fine.

    Of course, if you use your egg to smoke stuff, and you see smoke billowing out where the gasket should be, then you probably need to replace it ... otherwise, don't sweat it, and just be careful lowering the dome lid.
  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    Could be one or several problems. Was the ceramic clean enough to form a good bond? Did you add spray adhesive (Super 77)? Did you let it cure for 24 hours? Did you keep the temperature low for a few days? Do you in fact have a good seal?

    When the dome is down, a slip of paper should be held firmly anyplace around the rim. If that is not happening, there is a gap, and hot gasses will eat into the gasket, and any adhesive that it not completely set will liquify.
  • XLentEGG
    XLentEGG Posts: 436
    Go back to the store and get at the very least a white higher temp felt gasket. This one does not come with any glue on it. Gaskets get better and more expensive from this point.
    Get the spray glue that the package recommends and a can of acetone, and a scraper for taking paint off of glass. ( single razor blade type)and some Scotchbrite.
    Remove the dome and clean ALL of the old gasket and glue off.The rest is following the instructions on the package.
    Heres a pic of mine I did a couple of week ago.002-1.jpg
    More meat please !! :-)
  • Beef
    Beef Posts: 3
    I cleaned the rim very well, did not use any other spray adhesive. It seems that the gasket shrunk. I looked back in the forum and found people talking about nomex, don;t know if that's the same as the stanard felt you buy from the BGE store
  • Brokersmoker
    Brokersmoker Posts: 646
    I just bought the nomex gasket yesterday and have not yet installed it, but check out Fred's site http://www.fredsmusicandbbq.com he has a 3 part video on how to install a nomex gasket, that I thought was very helpful.
  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    For awhile, a year or two ago, I believe BGE was putting Nomex on new models, or at least offering it as a replacement. Nomex is white, as opposed to the grey of the standard gasket.

    BGE does recommend the addition of the Super 77.

    If the gasket did not actually burn, just slid loose, you might be able to re-affix it.

    As mentioned, the need for the gasket is an object of discussion. After the Egg is used for awhile, the soot and crud that gathers at the rim is enough to seal the gap for many people.

    Other people buy Rutland fiberglass gasket material. Being not food safe, that is only for the bottom gasket, so fiber can't fall into the food.

    Some people have used a mix of Nomex on top, and a liquid copper sealer (I forget the name) on the bottom.

    A few have even bought Cotronix ceramic rope, which is $$$ per foot, but good to a few thousand degrees.

    At any rate, I just look at like buying new auto tires. Its inevitable.
  • Beef
    Beef Posts: 3
    Thanks will try that instead. Happy Fathers Day! Enjoy the rest of the weekend! Hopefully my next post will be a sucessful one
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    As far as BGE goes, the gray gasket material is Felt and has adhesive membrane attached to the felt.

    The white gasket material is Nomex, high temperature material, and other than a few early shipments there is no adhesive attached to the Nomex. The shrinkage was originally brought to light from Fred, Smokinggutarplayer. Folks will take the Nomex and generic brand and put it in a dryer for 15 to 30 minutes.

    There are two issues, the adhesive failure and or gasket failure.

    There are several reasons your gasket install failed. Not knowing the removal, cleaning and install procedures makes any suggestions just a guess. Some cleaning solvents can prevent a good adhesion of the adhesive.

    The last time I watched Fred's video his helper spread, I believe it was acetone, all around the gasket. That is very inefficient. Use 91% alcohol and work in 8 to 10 inch sections. Use acetone for the final clean of the ceramics. By doing so one can remove & clean both the top and bottom surfaces in less than 30 minutes.

    I have had good luck with the original felt gaskets as long as I have a good base/dome alignment and don't take the egg much over 550°. I can expect a felt gasket failure when the egg hits 700° for much more than 8 or so minutes.

    I caught this gasket failure just before the heat melted the felt. I located some adhesive membrane, reapplied and the gasket is holding fine (so far).

    atg1.jpg

    atg2.jpg

    atg4.jpg

    Applied the adhesive membrane using an ATG gun.

    atg3.jpg

    GG
  • Groctor
    Groctor Posts: 1
    Love my BGE but the gaskets are my second least favorite thing.

    Last year my original gasket got charred to oblivion after a few high temperature sessions. I tried one of the Nomex gaskets online, but I guess I wasn't accurate enough with the spray adhesive and it coated a few unintended areas of my egg (and myself) that have no business getting sticky. Worse than that, the next meatzza I cooked tasted like it was smoked in plastic. Lots of alcohol, some acetone, and heat to burn off the over-spray...and everything eventually returned to hardwood smoke bliss.

    The spray adhesive seems to burn off over time and needs to be reapplied. I have gotten better at it, but it still leaves bad sticky stuff everywhere and the reapplication process takes a toll on the gasket. It is almost time to replace my Nomex gasket now, and I do not want all the trouble that comes with the spray. I googled around and found a Nomex gasket with high temperature adhesive already applied from a company called high-que. It looks easier and cleaner to install(and I read a good review of this particular one) but does anyone here have one? How do they hold up?
  • smbishop
    smbishop Posts: 3,053
    This is what I did, no problems since the install..
    Southlake, TX and Cowhouse Creek - King, TX.  2 Large, 1 Small and a lot of Eggcessories.