Bottom vents rusted shut


 
P

Patrick W

New member
Hi all,

I lazily left my 18.5 WSM disassembled in the rain a few times and now the bottom vents have rusted shut. I've tried oiling them and lightly banging them with a hammer, but the little handles just got all bent up and they only budged a little bit. It's particularly problematic because I need to be able to manipulate them when the cooker is smoking hot, so I don't want to have to wrestle with them. It's frustrating because the rest of the cooker is in good shape, but I don't feel like I can smoke successfully without being able to manipulate those vents.

Does anyone have any tips on how to loosen these up and get theme sliding open and shut smoothly again?

Thanks,

Pat
 
Call Weber Customer Service and order a 3 pack of replacement vents. They come with bolts. Then drill the vents that are rusted to release the rivets, I assume they are attached with rivets. Throw them rusty things away, put on the new ones, and never do that again!!!!!!
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Patrick, Welcome to the forum, boy are you lucky you found us.
 
Maybe try firing it up and see if you can move them once you get some heat in it? And then never do that again!!!!!!
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Oh and welcome to the forum.
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As it turns out, I was actually able to fix them myself. I took turns banging on them with a little hammer, squirting WD-40 on them and heating them up with one of those grill lighters. Two of them move quite freely now, and the third opens about halfway.
Thanks for the advice, nonetheless. To celebrate, today I'm smoking some baby back ribs, using the BRITU rub. Woo-hoo, back in action!
 
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