How snug should the center section fit?


 
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Rick S

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I put my WSM together tonight, and it looks like I may have a slight out of round condition in my charcoal bowl. The Center section appears to be acceptable between 17 7/8 and 17 14/16 all around at the bottom. I measured at 12:00, 3:00 and in between 12 & 3 like it said in the troubleshooting section of this site.

The center part would still slightly rock back and forth when I put it in the bowl. If I put it in a little firm, the outer ridge of the cooking section would sit a little ways into the bowl instead of on top. I measured the bowl, and it did appear to be about 1/8" out of round. Is this enough to be concerned about? I don't know if I should try to bend that part back into round.

I bought a pair of those Genie Garage door handles, and they look great on it. You do have to bend them slightly but it's very easy to do.
 
It doesn't sound too bad. I think a lot of folks do just fine with units far more out of round than yours.

I'd fire it up and use it a few times. If temperature control is OK, and if at the end of the cook you can close all vents and extinguish the coals, leaving unlit and partially lit briquettes behind, you're good.

If not, you can carefully tweak the bowl, or give Weber a call and ask about a replacement.

Regards,
Chris
 
I tweaked the bowl, a little too much. I had small cracks in the finish around the endge of the bowl. Not many, and I was able to dab some bbq black grill paint in those areas. To see them you'd have to get down on all 4's and look. In the end, the bowl measured 18 5/8 equally all the way around.

I test fired the smoker. I only used 1 chimney full of kingsford and sacrificed a couple of wood chunks to make some smoke. I didn't load any food at this point, I wanted to see if it leaked around the bowl. I did have a few whifs of smoke around the door and a very small amount around one part of the lid ( I've seen worse come off of my kettle)I didn't see one whisper of smoke come out around the edge of the bowl. I practiced adjusting the dampers to regualte temps and it worked better than my modified Gormet ECB could ever hope to. I shut all the vents and the grill was cold in an hour. I'll re-use those coals tonight.

Yep! It's a keeper.
 
Don't worry too much about whiffs of smoke. It's normal for some to come out around the edge of the lid, the door, sometimes even the charcoal bowl. This will diminish when those parts start getting coated with smoke & grease.

Have fun,
Chris
 
Thanks Chris!

I just finished the first WSM cook. I did a fully cooked ham ( since I have plenty of Kettle cooked Turkey, why not). I was so impressed about the way this thing held its temp. I followed your directions for fully cooked ham, but I did it with a dry pan and cooked it at exactly 325f ( lid temp) till it hit 135 f. Keeping the lower vents at 50% held the temp all the way through the cook.
 
Mine was that way when new as well. Weber replaced the bottom part (quickly and free). That helped a little. All parts are 'in-round', it's just that the middle section's diameter is a fraction of an inch too small for a perfect fit. When new it would slightly rock--just a little. Now it's quite firm (grease and whatever). It has always been sturdy despite this. And it's pretty well sealed--smoke only comes out of the vents unless I have a Polder probe running under the top lid, breaking it's seal.

I wouldn't worry about it.
 
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