New WSM 18" owner with silly questions!


 
J

JessicaB

TVWBB Member
I'm the proud new owner of a WSM 18" smoker. I couldn't be more excited right now. I had a couple of quick questions.
First, the lid lets a small amount of smoke out and I wonder if there is any glaring evidence that it is out of round. I ask because the shipping box had seen better days and all dampers were bent in some way. I bent them back with great ease so I just let things be.

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Next, my WSM came with a fairly sizable dent on the side. I believed it would not cause issue with rust or during cooking, so I continued with my assembly and use. I figured I'd ask here to ensure I am not mistaken about the dent being nothing but cosmetic. I don't want to be neurotic, but I don't want to dismiss something I shouldn't. I intend to contact Weber or Amazon and just mention it. I don't want to return it.

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Finally, this is absolutely embarrassing, but it took a long time for me to get the rubber gasket into the hole when I assembled the smoker. It came out when I pulled the probe out despite my efforts to not let that happen. I assembled the smoker in less time than it took me to get that gasket it. I tried again for another 20 minutes last night and gave up to go drink a beer before I kicked the smoker. Does anyone have a super secret method of getting this thing back in? It's not greasy inside the smoker, which I wonder if that is causing the hardship. It is so basic and yet so necessary to get it back in that hole. :o

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One final question. I have a Weber kettle that remains covered. Has anyone noticed their kettle rusting on the damper when left covered and outside in the elements? I did buy the deluxe cover for that and the smoker itself came with a similar quality cover.

Thanks all! I've been lurking here and learning a lot. I'm excited for my next smoke.
 
Photo 1 does show a wider gap between your lid and the mid-section towards the upper right. The dent looks more cosmetic than anything that would affect performance, but eventually the porcelain coating could spawl/crack from use. Better to contact Weber and have them send you a new mid-section, I doubt they'll make you return the whole thing.

Tim
 
The grommet is hard to install.
Once I got mine in and made sure it was seated correctly, I have had no issues with it coming out.
It does look like there is an out of round condition between the lid and cylinder.
Sit the lid on the cylinder and see where the biggest spacing is at.
Spin the lid and if the wide spot stays stationary the cylinder is out of round.
If the wide spot follows the spinning lid the lid is out of round.
You can bear hug it gently and fix it.
Wear an old shirt when you show it the love.
 
Looks like the fellas have you taken care of. I justed wanted to welcome you. I look forward to seeing your cooking.
 
I am a brand new WSM owner myself. But I had a like issue and wanted to tell you about it and more importantly how Weber stepped up to the plate to make it right.

Bought the 22.5" off Amazon, was super excited. Showed up a few days later, went to put it together and when I went to put the lid on it wouldn't fit. Not even close. I had a huge gap. I tried the super hug to adjust etc. but this was way off. When I opened the box the grates were not level on the top like the unboxing videos on this site show, but instead were pushed down into the middle section. My guess is something pushed them down into the center section and that in turn bent it out of shape.

ANYWAY....

Called Weber, explained the situation. Was a Sat afternoon. On Monday they shipped out over night air a new center section AND just to be safe both grates (not the charcoal one but the two main ones). Had it on Tuesday. AND I did not have to send the old one back.

This is a major purchase, you should have pride in the smoker and not have to "live with" a dent (cosmetic or not). And if it is that out of round it may impact the cooking anyway.

PS - I found the gasket to be a pain as well. But the kicker was I actually got it on the first center section in just a few minutes (not knowing at the time it was out of round). When the new one came, I couldn't get the gasket on for the life of me. finally after enough twisting and pushing it just went in right. also, when they did send me the new center section they sent all new brackets for the water pan/grates and also a new gasket thing, so I did not have to take them off the old one either.
 
Welcome to both of you. That is why I love my Weber products. Weber takes care of any problems very fast and always with a smile. Good Luck and Welcome.
 
When you get your grommet put back in make sure the ring is all the way around. When I did mine I noticed that the rubber didn't seat all the way around. It looked like it was in place, but it wasn't. I used a very small flat head screw driver to pull the ring in. Now I doubt it'd pull out even if I try.
 
Great advice all. Thank you! I am going to contact Weber. Should the door fit in such a way that no smoke escapes? I've heard varied reports on that. The grommet will be put back now that the rain has stopped. It gets way too frustrating when standing there in the rain late at night messing with a part that makes me feel like I have gorilla hands. :D

Tom Golden said:
I would have not accepted it or would return it. It is not my job to fix a mess.
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I totally understand, but it arrived when I was out. I waited until 7 pm the night it was supposed to arrive and then I had to leave. If I didn't have another obligation I would have refused delivery, you're right on that. That is large enough to know that UPS isn't going to ninja their way to and from my porch like normal.
 
I would get Amazon or Weber to replace it for you. For 300 bucks I'd want one that wasn't beat up.
 
I contacted Weber on Monday and before end of day they were shipping me a lid and a center piece. I'd decided not to fight the grommet again unless the pieces do not arrive before Saturday. All I had to do was give a serial # and a photo of each of the two issues. It was easy as ever, easier than calling Amazon tech support about my Fire TV in fact!
 
JessicaB said:
I contacted Weber on Monday and before end of day they were shipping me a lid and a center piece. I'd decided not to fight the grommet again unless the pieces do not arrive before Saturday. All I had to do was give a serial # and a photo of each of the two issues. It was easy as ever, easier than calling Amazon tech support about my Fire TV in fact!
Click to expand...

I am glad you replied, i was wondering how this turned out.

This was exactly what i had to do. Give the serial #, snap a few pics and they sent me replacement parts next day air. And I did not have to send old parts back.

I can't imagine you won't have the new parts by Sat. if you talked to them Monday I bet they went out that day or Tuesday, and you might have them by tomorrow even.

good luck on the grommet (ha ha). Like I said the first time I did it I got it in within 2-3 minutes thnking that was a pain. then on the new/2nd one (replacement one) it took me forever. The dog heard a few choice words as well. but then it slipped in.
 
I don't have the grommet on my WSM's but have installed similar ones on other things.
Soaking it in hot water for a few minutes makes it more pliable, than dry it, and either use your pinky to rub a small amount of veg oil around the hole, or use a toothpick to add a small amount to the groove of the grommet.

Tim
 
Keith R said:
I am glad you replied, i was wondering how this turned out.

This was exactly what i had to do. Give the serial #, snap a few pics and they sent me replacement parts next day air. And I did not have to send old parts back.

I can't imagine you won't have the new parts by Sat. if you talked to them Monday I bet they went out that day or Tuesday, and you might have them by tomorrow even.

good luck on the grommet (ha ha). Like I said the first time I did it I got it in within 2-3 minutes thnking that was a pain. then on the new/2nd one (replacement one) it took me forever. The dog heard a few choice words as well. but then it slipped in.
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They said 6-10 business days and I got the center ring on Wednesday. The lid is shipped, I got the shipping notification today. I still consider that great because it is not as though my smoker is unusable. I bought 2 pork shoulders at about 8 pounds each to smoke tomorrow. I'm pretty excited.
timothy said:
I don't have the grommet on my WSM's but have installed similar ones on other things.
Soaking it in hot water for a few minutes makes it more pliable, than dry it, and either use your pinky to rub a small amount of veg oil around the hole, or use a toothpick to add a small amount to the groove of the grommet.

Tim
Click to expand...
That may work well! The lip is absolutely tiny. I would say the thickness of a toothpick or a hair thicker is a pretty accurate description. I don't think I have huge hands, but I feel like a gorilla when I'm installing it.
 
Flour, the answer is flour! That silly thing kept me occupied at 6:40 am this morning for a bit. It was slipping and sliding around in spite of cleaning it and drying it well. I wiped down the outside and inside just near the edges of the smoker too. No joy. I then took a pinch of flour and figured it can't hurt. It went in after about 5 minutes of fiddling. Flour. Haha
 
Jessica;
I had no trouble putting my grommet in simply because I had some prior experience with this type of item. However, after using it a time or two, I realized that a slot in the top of the barrel is a far better solution to the probe lines. I cut a slot just like I had in my previous 18.5 and Mini-Joe. MUCH, MUCH better that trying to fish the probes through the silicone grommet and having them interfere with removing the grates, etc when using more than one grate.

I used an angle grinder and it was a piece of cake.

Jeff has a nice video to show how it is done (see post #9):

http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?50942-Another-slot-mod&highlight=cutting+slot

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
(Cross-posting this from another thread, which also discussed the difficulties of installing the grommet).


Assembled my WSM 18" on Sunday 7/10.

Trying to get this grommet in the hole was hard. I saw the recommendation to use flour on the grommet, but wanted to try manually doing it first.

Finally got it. It took me more than an hour of on again, off again trying.

The trick was to squeeze the edges and make the middle bubble outward, then start pushing the outer edge through the hole.

Assembled:

http://imgur.com/a/BJ9h6/layout/grid


I have a Flame Boss 200 coming soon, will assemble that on the WSM too.
 
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