WSM Leaks


 
BobCef

BobCef

TVWBB Member
My new WSM leaks air like a sieve. Door, and both joints. Hard to maintain temp without adding fuel. Burns a lot of charcoal. Closing dampers does help but then temp drops too much. Is this normal? Is there a fix? Any help would be appreciated.
 
Thanks JR I just ordered the kit. What did you use to clean all the grease off before gluing on the gaskets?
 
Bob, how many times have you used you WSM? They will all have minor leaks when they are new, but after several cooks, they will seal themselves up nicely. Also, resist the temptation to clean the inside of your smoker..this will remove all the wonderful gunk that has built up to seal the smoker. As for the door, they are notorious for leaking. A little time spent "adjusting" the form of the door will produce a pretty good seal as well.
Good luck, let us know how it turns out,
Tim
 
Tim the gap in the center of the door is close to 3/16" and then touches as it reaches the outside edges. There is no way it's going to seal. I ordered the gasket kit and hope that will help.
 
You will have to "hand form" the door a little bit. They all seem to get bent to hell in shipping ( or not made correct to begin with.) I would still gasket the door and the lid, but hold off on the lower section. I gasketed mine, and now I wish I hadn't as it make putting the middle on the bottom difficult.
 
Tim thanks for the reply. Besides the burn in I have used it a total of 3 times. These aren't minor leaks. Smoke pours out of the door and the lid joint. It has a 1/8" gap in the middle and touches on the 2 outer edges. It appears to have a slight concave curvature rather than convex to match the barrel section. The knob area would have to be bent outward and the edges inward if that makes any sense. I ordered the gasket kit so hopefully that will help.
 
Yeah, that makes sense. IT is almost like it got flattened slightly. Mine was the same way. I had to re-curve my door with my hands and my knee until it fit "better" not good, but better. Then I added the gasket.
 
The barrel is probably out of round, you may be able to bear hug it into round enough, the door is easy, just take your time to hand shape it till it fits snug. Mine was bad but it came around in a few minutes of bending and tweaking. Without any after market parts or gaskets, and some nice gunk build up, it barely leaks and the coals go out quickly when shut down.
 
The fact that the temperature drops too much when you close the vents, tells me that the leaks are not really the issue. Experiment with closing the vents, but not all the way!
 
i have about two dozen cooks on mine and haven't added any gaskets. Leaks are minimal and temp holds like a charm when i smoke. I'd give it more time IMO. YMMV
 
Bob, I looked at the gasket material on Amazon yesterday, and if you look closely at on of the pics, you can actually see the door to the WSM is out of round!! It may take a few tries, but if you take your time, you can get a good fit by bending the door into form by hand.
Again, good luck,
Ti,
 
Had a few leaks on my WSM but got some Nomex gasket which I put around the door and on the top joint.
I has stopped the leaks. I did have problems keeping the temp below 235 which I put down to leaks. It is better now.

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Sometimes, the barrel or even the top of the WSM can be a bit out of round from shipping. Measure carefully, then just (wearing OLD clothes) hug the top or barrel to bend it round. Go easy, and check as you go. It WILL go back in to round with a little careful "help".

My 18.5" was near perfect and after using a few times no longer leaks smoke.

My 14.5" lid was out of round and had to be "hugged" a couple of times. Now, it works fine.

I didn't find it necessary to add the gasket kit to either. That is not to knock the gasket kit or the replacement door but I just didn't need to do that.

I LOVE my WSM's, too:o...

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
Robert McGee said:
Sometimes, the barrel or even the top of the WSM can be a bit out of round from shipping. Measure carefully, then just (wearing OLD clothes) hug the top or barrel to bend it round. Go easy, and check as you go. It WILL go back in to round with a little careful "help".

My 18.5" was near perfect and after using a few times no longer leaks smoke.

My 14.5" lid was out of round and had to be "hugged" a couple of times. Now, it works fine.

I didn't find it necessary to add the gasket kit to either. That is not to knock the gasket kit or the replacement door but I just didn't need to do that.

I LOVE my WSM's, too:o...

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
Click to expand...

This was my experience, too. Make sure the sections are not out-of-round before you go to the trouble of adding gaskets - you may not need them. The WSM doesn't need to be completely air tight to work right. If you can control your temperatures, and if shutting the vents causes the remaining charcoal to extinguish in a reasonable time, then (in my opinion) it's tight enough.
 
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