Just got my 22.5 wsm..... Door was a joke


 
J

John_H

TVWBB Member
I just got my WSM 22.5" delivered today. I was super pumped to get it as I'd had the 18.5" for about 5 years. I unpacked it and put the aluminum door on. When I locked it in place I had 3/4" gap on BOTH sides. It was a total joke. I'm a huge Weber fan but unless they planned me cooking at 400 I'm not sure what they were thinking. Additionally, I was going to cook on Wednesday night. (2 days from now). I told them this. They said they would ship another door. It would get to me by Friday. 4 days from now??? I guess I'm just frustrated. Especially since I read so much about how people are having to use things to seal the door. This seems like a pretty easy quality control issue from Weber but they don't seem to be doing anything about it.

Frustrated,

John
 
Mine had a gap too.. I just reformed the door to fit as close as possible. Then during my first cook, it leaked at first and then stopped. Worked out well.
 
I wouldn't call my door on my 18.5 air tight but 3/4" on the 22.5 on both sides is extreme. I don't know how I'd control temps like that even with reshaping. Not to mention, Why would the purchaser need to do this? Again, I'm a big WSM fan but why do they let their quality control slip so much
 
John...

Fixing that gap is really easy. Gently bend it to a Very Slightly smaller radius than the body of the middle section. You can get it to where there is absolutely no leakage !!!! Takes patience and a light touch, but Very Doable !!!

I put gaskets on my 22, but not on the door ! Didn't need it. Eventually I did replace the door, but only after years of excellent service from the factory door.
 
I totally agree with Bob, however if it really bothers you, take a picture of the the door/gap and send it to Weber customer service. They will send you a new door, guaranteed
 
I got my 14" recently.
The door didn't fit, but like the others, I just bend it into place.
Seems fine now
 
put the door on, adjust slightly until it is the desired fit. Not a huge issue. It will probably take less time then the phone call you made to Weber CS. On the bright side, now you have 2 doors.
Tim
 
Your door will work just fine with a little pressure. What Bob Bass told you is the way to go. That said, I did replace my door with a CB door. The CB door is very heavy and stainless steel and looks beautiful. I still have my old door and it works just fine, I just like the look of the CB. Ten minutes and a little pressure and you will be good to go. Good Luck.
 
Last edited:
Try bending it. You can't mess it up worse than it is. The cajun bandit doors sometime require some bending as well.
 
Careful adjustment is necessary on lots of production items. Musical instruments are rarely "set up" from the factory, it can be a hundred bucks to get them set up properly. This is a little patience and time, if you tweak it it will be just fine, your patience will be rewarded.
 
As has been discussed many times before, poor fitting doors are not a "quality control issue", they are a design issue. According to Mike Durso, the engineer who worked on the design of the 22.5" WSM, the company was unwilling to spend the time/effort/$$$ to properly model the door so it would have a good fit. As a result, every door that's stamped out at the factory has a poor fit.
 
OK, so now that I've had about 16 hours to settle down, I spent some time at lunch and messed with the door. although it's not really sealed It's much better than before. I may just add some weather stripping type stuff around the door. Does anyone know if there are instructions on how to do this on this site, and what type of heat resistant strips you need?
 
John_H said:
OK, so now that I've had about 16 hours to settle down, I spent some time at lunch and messed with the door. although it's not really sealed It's much better than before. I may just add some weather stripping type stuff around the door. Does anyone know if there are instructions on how to do this on this site, and what type of heat resistant strips you need?
Click to expand...


Maybe this could help you https://flic.kr/s/aHskE4C7hH
 
Chris Allingham said:
As has been discussed many times before, poor fitting doors are not a "quality control issue", they are a design issue. According to Mike Durso, the engineer who worked on the design of the 22.5" WSM, the company was unwilling to spend the time/effort/$$$ to properly model the door so it would have a good fit. As a result, every door that's stamped out at the factory has a poor fit.
Click to expand...

So, they are intentionally manufacturing a door that doesn't fit properly and relying on the customer to fix the issue? That doesn't sound like good business to me. If they know of the design issue, they should do something to remedy it. At a minimum, provide instructions in the manual on how to properly adjust it or better yet, include a gasket kit.
 
ChadVKealey said:
So, they are intentionally manufacturing a door that doesn't fit properly and relying on the customer to fix the issue? That doesn't sound like good business to me. If they know of the design issue, they should do something to remedy it. At a minimum, provide instructions in the manual on how to properly adjust it or better yet, include a gasket kit.
Click to expand...

It might be worth it for someone to make a youtube video showing how to do it. I don't know if I could type it out and make it make sense even though it's pretty easy once you've seen or done it.
 
It's not just the door, if the center section is way out of round that can compound an alignment issue.

Tim
 
The mention of the center section got me to thinking. That center section is just a tube and I would imagine that in shipping it would be very easy for the box to be jostled or dropped and that could easily allow the center section to go out of round. I don't think that is a big deal to have to bear hug the center section to get it to round. I will be buying a WSM14 in the next few months and would not be surprised or upset if I have to deal with an out of round center section or reform the door. Just my thoughts and ramblings.
 
I have a 22 inch WSM and my door was out of whack for a while. I spent a good hour trying to get it to fit properly. There was still some smoke getting out the door so I bought a high heat nomes seal and it's been great since.
 
I agree, small adjustments are not out of the realm of reason, major work is unacceptable. Tweaking thing for improved fit makes sense, poor design opposed to bad QC is another issue. I'm getting less inclined to want the WSM if I win the Christmas prize!
If the design is that out of whack, I know a guy....
 
Last edited:
In fairness I wanted to give an update. I spent some time trying to mold the door and I think it now has an OK fit. Additionally I called Weber and they are sending out another door. I haven't fired it up yet but have ordered "High Temp Pure Nomex Grill Gasket" on amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00J47KQJU/tvwb-20

My whole thing is that I want all temp controls regulated by the top and bottom dampers, not by some wild card of gaps in the door that could be affected more or less in wind conditions etc.

Thanks for all the tips!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top