New WSM manufacturing defect


 
A

Al - Northernmonkeyz

New member
Hi all,
Finally took the leap and purchased A WSM 47cm and it arrived yesterday.
I unboxed it excitingly only to come across a defect which I feel for the price is unacceptable.
There is a gap on the rim of the central section (see attached).
Is this a common issue?
I am concerned that I have been sold a duff unit thats likely to leak.
Many thanks
Al
 

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Looks to me like a burn through when welded. You could contact Weber. I am sure they will make it right. Or you could use that notch to run your temp probes through. That is assuming the defect is on the top of your center section. A lot of WSM owners, myself included purposely cut a notch for our probes.
 
ChuckH said:
Looks to me like a burn through when welded. You could contact Weber. I am sure they will make it right. Or you could use that notch to run your temp probes through. That is assuming the defect is on the top of your center section. A lot of WSM owners, myself included purposely cut a notch for our probes.
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Thanks for the reply.
I contacted the company i bought it from and they will send me a replacement part and said to dispose of the defected one.
Really good service which got me thinking.
Would there be a way to extend it using 2 central sections and add in more grills?
 
In all my years I've never seen that defect, but I don't think it would affect cooker performance. The lid "seals" against the flat surface around the top of the middle cooking section more so than against the vertical edge.

Glad to hear they're sending you a replacement!
 
Chris Allingham said:
In all my years I've never seen that defect, but I don't think it would affect cooker performance. The lid "seals" against the flat surface around the top of the middle cooking section more so than against the vertical edge.

Glad to hear they're sending you a replacement!
Click to expand...
Yeah pleased it will be sorted. Just wanted it to be shiny new and perfect
 
It's either a QC problem or they just let it go out as is.
Personally, If you wanted a notch installed by the factory, the last place would be over a seam in the metal.
Just another weak point.
 
Today I tried using this manufacturing defect for my meat probe and it was a disaster. I lit my usual 12 B&B briquettes with 3 wood chunks and the water pan was about 3/4 full. All vents were 100% open. My air probe was in the side grommet as usual.

Normally when I run all the probes through the grommet the air temp rises gradually to about 235F over about 20 minutes and then I close the 3 bottom vents to about 1/5 open. The temperature will settle in around 240-255F with the top vent 3/4 open.

Today after about 10 minutes after adding the lit charcoal the temperature was about 320F with a massive about of smoke streaming out from the sides of the lid. My lid has always sealed well in the past so this was unusual. After closing all the vents except one which was about 1/8 open and the top vent to 1/4 open the temperature dropped to 265F but would still run over 275F.

At that point I just removed the meat probe entirely which caused the lid to seal properly and the WSM behaved as normal except now I had way too many lit coals.

The point is that this notch is not deep enough to use as it and cause air leaks.
 
I know some of you just lay the probe wires over the sides under the lid but my 14.5 WSM doesn't seal well enough to do that.
 
The point is that this notch is not deep enough to use as it and cause air leaks.

So it is a bug, not a feature.

But with a little angle grinder/dremel-ing, you could make it a very nice feature.
 
I'm a bit nervous to take to cut into my WSM and I don't particularly like using power saws if I can help it. I assume if the notch is deep enough it should not leak enough to significantly affect the performance.
 
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