Thoughts on gaskets on a 26"?


 
J

Jacob - Grillin’

TVWBB Fan
Trying to decide whether or not to put a gasket on my 26"... I'm a little hesitant as they tend to cook off on the green eggs with super high temp cooks. I doubt I will be doing much low and slows on the 26", but I've also read they tend to leak more than 22"

Thoughts? If you run a gasket, which one do you use?
 
I think the best gasket for a kettle is just frequent use so grease/smoke clogs all the air gaps. Sometimes the bowl or lid can be slightly out of round making leakage worst though so that is something you can check with a tape measurer. I wouldn't bother with a gasket unless it was a dedicated low temp smoker. The amount of leakage you will have is likely to be minimal and frequent grilling usage will just rub/burn it off anyways.
 
Thanks Bill. That’s kind of what I figured. I’m comfortable very carefully bear hugging a lid or bowl into shape. I’m going to run it without a gasket like my other Webers
 
I put some red high temp RTV on the rim of mine and it works great. No leaks at all. vaseline on the rim of the kettle so you don't weld the thing together, and let it cure. I did a burn on it before I started cooking with it to be sure it was cured all the way around, and it's great.
 
I've never needed to seal any of my kettles. Like Bill mentioned, over time it will sort of self seal itself because wherever the air leaks are going, it'll bring more carbon that direction and over time will seal itself up.
 
I have had 4 26" ketttles and none of them needed a gasket. The old 26" had a grill grate that was lower than the current ones, not sure why unless Weber thought food was going to fall off of the grill. I like the new grill heigh better.
 
My 22" Master Touch Kettle , that I bought about this time last year, has a bad leak. It has not come close to sealing. And it gets a lot of use, 2 and 3 times a week , sometimes every day of the week. But I don't think it hurts anything. This is my third Kettle, first one in 1989, second one in 1999, and this one is not as well built as the first two.
 
Yea, my old OTG has the Weber slide aside lid holder and the tool holder, and with 4 clips it still built up enough gunk to get a decent seal.
 
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