DO NOT clean your WSM!!!

[Dave Russell]

this isn't about cleaning the COOKING GRATES....
it's about cleaning the INSIDE of the WSM. (the walls, the dome, EVERYTHING!)

Maybe i did not make that clear.

think i need a nap

Thanks a bunch for posting your observations, Jim. I knew exactly what you meant, but have a couple of questions. First, just how clean did the pressure washer get the inside walls, and secondly, are you sure that the washer pressure didn't bend the middle section out a round just a tad? Again, thanks for posting. I've thought about doing the same, and it would probably be a good thing for my 18.5" wsm.

 

[timothy]

I used my PW on my WSM once, never again. Holy BBQ greasy black shrapnel. I had that crap flyin all over me my driveway yikes. Spent more time cleaning me-self off and the driveway than what it was worth.
Now I just pay attention to the lid and scrape off any flakes. When the mid-section and grate straps look gunked up, I'll use an old 5 in 1 tool to scrape that into my fire-pit.

Tim

 

[Jim Lampe]

Thanks a bunch for posting your observations, Jim. I knew exactly what you meant, but have a couple of questions. First, just how clean did the pressure washer get the inside walls, and secondly, are you sure that the washer pressure didn't bend the middle section out a round just a tad? Again, thanks for posting. I've thought about doing the same, and it would probably be a good thing for my 18.5" wsm.

Dave, the interior walls are pretty clean, not as clean as the dome (which looks BrandSpankin'New!)
I cooked with it right away and I noticed no difference how the midsection sits on the base.... so, no out of roundness.
The gunk that forms on the top lip where the cover sits is also clean as a whistle. Should not have cleaned that so well.

 

[Clark "Harbormaster" Hodgson]

Just an observation that I made, I had a HUGE amount (about 1/8 inch) of very hard brown build-up on the inside of the dome of one of my WSMs. This stuff was so thick that it prevented the WSM from getting up to 250. I literally had to scrape it out with a 3/4 inch wood chisel and then temp control went back to normal.

I do clean the center section with a putty knife now and then, and have not noticed any temp issues.

Of course, I do try to keep the exteriors spotless because I love my WSMs.