Cover your rig!


 
Phil Perrin

Phil Perrin

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I did the Christmas eve PP for mom. Came out wonderful. Christmas day came a bunch of rain. Did the goodies on the gasser and they came out fantastic. I covered they grill and smoker on the sunday after christmas. So here comes yesterday,and I'm gonna try the chuck roast. Guess what. The rain that I forgot to dump out of the smoker is frozen solid. DOH! I chipped out most of it and the rest evaporated during the cook. Needless to say,I'm going with the trash bag liner! Oh yeah,the roast came out pretty good too!
 
Water has been getting into mine and combining with the ash in the bottom and then freezing. Last cook I was afraid I would chip the enamel finish while removing the ice/ash mixture so I left most of it in the bottom. I was running late and did not have time to bring the lower part inside to thaw out before my cook. I fired it up with 1"+ of ice/ash mixture in the bottom and it worked fine. I will try to avoid doing it in the future though.
 
I kept my WSM outdoors last 3 seasons since the patio was completed. I had the same problem, but followed some advice from this forum about turning the mid section upside down when storing. This places the lid outside instead of inside the rim of the mid section preventing water from running inside.

Give it a try.
 
A month or two ago I had a mishap. The wind blew the cover that was sitting on the railing onto the Performer. At the time, the Performer was home to the chimney that was holding the lighted charcoal to go into the WSM. The cover torched!

So, no cover and rain got in.

Fast forward to Christmas Eve. I had the standing rib roast all ready. We host a large party that is almost entirely my in-laws. Needless to say I was primed. I went out to start the smoker and discovered a solid charcoal ring of ice. It wasn't coming loose easily. I decided to forgo fighting it and did the roast in the oven.

I got the ice cube out another day.

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Just the other day I was thinking about drilling a 1/4" hole or so in the water pan & the bottom of the WSM. It sits on a pan anyway, and I don't always cover it... I never foil the water pan, last cook I placed it upside-down so the juice would drip into the fire so I wouldn't have to wash it.
 
personaly i don't understand the concept of not covering the bbq/grilling equipement. i love my stuff and i take care of it. that stuff has cost me $$$$$$$. i'm amazed at all the pics here and on other sites of all the uncovered snow coverd equipement. not my business but-----.
 
I agree that covering is good, but I always turn my water pan upside down so water can't gather.

But here's my question: why is that nice cover the WSm comes with so @#$#@ tight? Why not have one that slips on easily rather than one that fits like jeans on a teenage girl and is just as much a struggle to get on?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by george curtis:
personaly i don't understand the concept of not covering the bbq/grilling equipement. i love my stuff and i take care of it. that stuff has cost me $$$$$$$. i'm amazed at all the pics here and on other sites of all the uncovered snow coverd equipement. not my business but-----. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I keep my charcoal grills in my garage and bring them out for use. My gasser is out back on my deck - covered. I want to build a covered and possibly screened in "shed" to do my grilling and bbq'in in. I'd put a contractor garbage bag over my WSM if I had to leave it outside.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by george curtis:
personaly i don't understand the concept of not covering the bbq/grilling equipement. i love my stuff and i take care of it. that stuff has cost me $$$$$$$. i'm amazed at all the pics here and on other sites of all the uncovered snow coverd equipement. not my business but-----. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I have always used the cover I bought for my gasser until.........I went to go use it the one night and the cover was frozen on it. It seriously took me close to 5 minutes to get that darn thing off. I decided that I didn't want to have to fight the cover for the rest of the winter, so I decided to leave it off. I always found that in cold weather, the cover seems a little brittle. I was afraid that I might tear it trying to get it on or off of the grill. Just mym opinion
 
I do cover both of my Webers that I keep outside. But last week I finished a smoke after 1:00AM during a snow storm. I didn't want to put the cover back on while hot. I then ended up falling asleep before it was safe to cover. Both my WSM and OTG are covered now.
 
My parents have a neighbor that has had a Weber sitting outside uncovered for over 25 years in rain, sun,snow,and ice. I have not seen it up close in nearly 20 years but from a distance it seems to be in good shape. I still cover mine but I don't believe its needed
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Michael G.:

But here's my question: why is that nice cover the WSm comes with so @#$#@ tight? Why not have one that slips on easily rather than one that fits like jeans on a teenage girl and is just as much a struggle to get on? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I second that. I put it on ONCE. It was like trying to put on a pair of leather pants 2 sizes too small.

While I understand the concept of wanting something that won't blow off, that could be achieved my putting a strap and some velcro on it. A rare bad design on an otherwise fantastic product.
 
Does anyone know why Weber designed the middle section such that it fits inside of the lower section instead of over it? And the same thing with the top section fitting inside of the middle section. It would have seemed better to design a lip on the bottom of the middle section that fit over the bottom section, and a lip on the top section that fit over the middle section. Wouldn't that eliminate rain, snow, etc. from getting inside the smoker? When I first got my WSM and started putting it together I was convinced I was doing something wrong and couldn't understand why it was designed that way. Am I missing something? Thanks.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by BrianD:
Does anyone know why Weber designed the middle section such that it fits inside of the lower section instead of over it? And the same thing with the top section fitting inside of the middle section. It would have seemed better to design a lip on the bottom of the middle section that fit over the bottom section, and a lip on the top section that fit over the middle section. Wouldn't that eliminate rain, snow, etc. from getting inside the smoker? When I first got my WSM and started putting it together I was convinced I was doing something wrong and couldn't understand why it was designed that way. Am I missing something? Thanks. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

This one is easy.... Have you noticed that goopy ash-fat mix in the bottom of your charcoal bowl?? Imagine that running down the sides of your smoker!! haha

Basically it keeps all the fat inside and off your deck/driveway.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by BrianD:
Does anyone know why Weber designed the middle section such that it fits inside of the lower section instead of over it? And the same thing with the top section fitting inside of the middle section. It would have seemed better to design a lip on the bottom of the middle section that fit over the bottom section, and a lip on the top section that fit over the middle section. Wouldn't that eliminate rain, snow, etc. from getting inside the smoker? When I first got my WSM and started putting it together I was convinced I was doing something wrong and couldn't understand why it was designed that way. Am I missing something? Thanks. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey, a fellow Richmonder...Welcome!

As Scooter said, it's done that way on purpose to keep the "goopy mess" inside the WSM and not on the deck. If when not in use you turn the middle section upside down and reassemble it, it will be exactly like you thought it should be and will keep the rain out.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Michael G.:
I agree that covering is good, but I always turn my water pan upside down so water can't gather.

But here's my question: why is that nice cover the WSm comes with so @#$#@ tight? Why not have one that slips on easily rather than one that fits like jeans on a teenage girl and is just as much a struggle to get on? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Get the cover for the 18" One Touch kettle. Consider it "relaxed fit"

Brett
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Michael G.:
I agree that covering is good, but I always turn my water pan upside down so water can't gather. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
We are talking about water getting in the WSM and collecting in the charcoal bowl. Water will drain out once it reaches up to the bowl vents, but that gives you a solid chunk of ice in the bottom of the charcoal bowl and most likely your charcoal grate frozen solid to said chunk of ice in charcoal bowl.
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I'm in the turn the mid section upside down camp, works like a charm as my old weathered cover no longer fits the WSM. Doesn't really matter that it doesn't fit as it's far from water tight. Just takes a little longer for the charcoal bowl to fill up if it's covered verses not covered. If you don't want to do the turn the mid section upside down thing then a trash bag is the best way to go.
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i use my deluxe kettle cover on my WSM. it doesn't go all the way down, but it keeps the water out and i hasn't blown off yet, not even during the east coast november nor'easta!

i don't cover my OTG and the lid did slid about a 1/4 of the way off during said storm and filled my ash catcher with water
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