Gasket Replacement

bhugg said:

How big of a bead do i need of the copper?

Carolina Q said:

@RRP, you should get @nakedwhiz to update the directions.

slovelad said:

@bhugg sounds like something has gone very wrong. My guess is that you need to loosen up the dome and adjust it. 

Or youbhave the gasket way too scrunched up, but I can't imagine that being the problem 

nolaegghead said:

RRP said:

slovelad said:

@bhugg sounds like something has gone very wrong. My guess is that you need to loosen up the dome and adjust it. 

Or youbhave the gasket way too scrunched up, but I can't imagine that being the problem 

Right -the planes of his base and dome are now out of whack which they probably already were, but the thicker Rutland highlights that problem. What he has experienced is not that uncommon and I sent him the solutions via email.

If I may ask, Ron, why don't you share your gasket-related knowledge on the forum?  It seems like it would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance for replying.

My Rutland Gasket Still Leaks by RRP, Dunlap, IL

Your planes are out of whack. First figure out where the space is and how much. IOW Is the back sitting down first or vice versa?

Then depending on which do this. For instance if the back is sitting down leaving the front open...

Place 1 or more quarters on the gasket edge at the back and close your dome. Then loosen your band and press down. That should raise the rear a bit, but tilt the front of your dome downward. Tighten bolts, then remove the quarters. Since the gasket will absorb some of that thickness when compressed you might want to start with at least 2 quarters or even 3.

OR>>>

Here’s another trick using more of the Permatex Ultra Copper which really is a gasket maker/gasket adhesive. The idea is to take a thin flat bladed putty knife and lift up under the Permatex layer so as to not disturb the integrity go the Rutland braid in the offending area, squirt some more Permatex under it and press it down to embed it/raise the gasket a bit.  And in this case you only need to wait at least an hour or overnight but not another 24 hours.

OTOH if there isn't that much smoke then in time the creosote build up will block the air passages.

OR>>>

Tier1Terrier said:

Crisis averted!!!  I called this morning and spoke to Dewayne at BGE HQ Customer Service.  He was extremely helpful and guided me through the steps to level out the top.  It was extremely simple to do, even for someone who didn't understand the way these things are put together.

So basically here's what was the problem and what I did.  The first problem was that the lower band was not wrapped around evenly - it was lower in the rear than in the front.  He explained to me that the lower band should come right up to the edge of the lower gasket all the way around the lower half.  So I loosened the carriage bolt on the lower rear band and GENTLY tapped along the band using a block of wood and a rubber mallet until the band was placed evenly around the whole bottom.  Then I tightened the band.  From that point, the underbite had improved significantly, but there was still a bit of unevenness along the planes where the gaskets met and it still did not pass the dollar bill test.  In fact, the gap on the rear side between the gaskets was slightly worse, but I wasn't worried because I knew there were a couple more steps to

Next step was to adjust the front to back placement to fine tune the sitting of the top to the bottom.  There are two slotted acorn nuts on the top part of the hinge (above the spring) on both sides of the top that needed to be loosened so that I can 'wiggle' the top into a centered position.  So I loosened all 4 nuts, wiggled it into position, then tightened.  Now the top was centered properly (no under or overbite), but there was still unevenness on the plane of contact - in other words, it still failed the dollar bill test.

The last step was to somewhat repeat the first step (loosening the carriage bolt) except for the upper band.  Wherever there was the largest gap between the two gaskets, I GENTLY tapped the band upward which essentially pushed the lid downward by it's own weight.  Once I saw that the upper band was positioned in such a way that the entire top part of the egg sat nicely and evenly on the bottom, I tightened the carriage bolt of the top band and vuala!  It was fixed.  Dollar bill test passed all the way around the egg.  No more underbite (or overbite).

I'm happy as a clam!

bhugg said:

@RRP I have adjusted the lid and all seems well. Thanks again for the help.