Air Leaks - Help


 
L

Luke G Chicago

New member
I have 18" and 22" WSM's and both leak air and smoke from just about everywhere. The seals just aren't tight and temp control is an issue. I inserted a clay saucer in the water pan and that seems to cut down on the time it takes to get the smoker up to temp but when i use my Stoker to keep the temp at 225 it will burn through coal quickly.

I want to make my smokers more air tight, do you have any ideas or solutions?
 
Luke, Welcome to the world of Weber Smokers et al.

To help you please let us know the following:

How many cooks per smoker? ie 1-10, 10-20, so many I lost count.

Have you checked all section for roundness or out of roundness?

Have you tried to manipulate the doors to fit better if they are leaking?

Once we know some of the specifics it will be easier to provide a possible solution.

Mark
 
I have lost count of how many cooks I have done. I would so more than 40 at least.

I checked the roundness and tried to bend it back into shape and I also bent the door to fit as good as possible. Its just beat up a little.

I thought of fire rope and maybe some tape to seal the door if I could find some that might work. I just don't know.

I use mine for competitions and they are beat up a little.
 
What D Arita did may work for you.
http://tvwbb.com/eve/forums/a/...0069052/m/8711017716

After doing enough cooks to get the WSM "seasoned" and after trying to rebend the door and bend the center section of my WSM to be round, I still could not get the charcoal to extinguish on its own with all the vents closed.

I purchased this
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004OVAYJ8

and using D Arita's ideas, I cut the seal in half width wise resulting in two long narrower strips. I added a seal to the door opening and the top lip of the center section in order to get the charoal to extinguish on its own with all vents closed. Where the lower charcoal bowl and center section meet on my WSM was fine so I did not add a seal there.
 
If you are adding seals to the middle section where it contacts both the charcoal bowl and the lid, and possibly the door opening on the middle section, I would guess you would need at least two rolls to do both WSM's. Two rolls may be cutting it close depending on what you intend to seal.
 
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