Need Advice for Sealing my Offset

djeppert · Jun 26, 2011

Ok Brethren, I need some help with this one. I have tried 2 times now to seal the cooking chamber door on my offset. The most recent attempt was using Rutland High Temp. Gasket Cement, black. Both attempts have been big time failures. When I put the coals in the fire box to see if the door seals well, it appears to work. After several hours, when the smoker cools down, the seal becomes very brittle and falls off.

What am I doing wrong, and what sealant should I be using. I've spent $20 so far sealing this thing and still don't have a sealed cooking chamber. Please help, any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

CarolinaQue · Jun 26, 2011

I used high temp RTV gasket making silicone from the auto store. Haven't had a problem. Are you applying it correctly?

ssbbqguy · Jun 26, 2011

Try using either a rope type or flat gasket held in place with rivets(soft alum.) or high temp. silicone. It will seal in all temps and not turn brittle. Also to get good adhesion, one must clean the area very good to get any material to stick. Good luck. Steve.

djeppert · Jun 26, 2011

Maybe I'm not getting it clean enough. Is it best to use a grinder and get down to the bare metal? I just ordered some of the Rutland high tem red gasket making silicone since that seems to be the common theme by everyone here. Hopefully I'll get it this time.

CarolinaQue · Jun 26, 2011

How are you going to apply it? I'm not sure if you need to gring it down to bare metal, but a wire wheel wouldn't be a bad idea.

djeppert · Jun 26, 2011

CarolinaQue said:
How are you going to apply it? I'm not sure if you need to gring it down to bare metal, but a wire wheel wouldn't be a bad idea.

I was just going to use a caulking gun to put it on. Then, from what I have read you put wax paper over it and close the door to create the seal you need. Once it sets, peel the wax paper off and it should be good to go.

Boshizzle · Jun 26, 2011

Clean the area that the silicone is being applied to with naphtha and put Vaseline on the moving part that will be touching the silicone. Let is sit for about 2 days then separate the parts and clean off the Vaseline. The silicone will cure and the Vaseline will prevent the parts from sticking together. That's all you should need to do.

purplestarrider · Jun 26, 2011

once you get this done will you take pics?? I would love to see how you do it. i am needing to do some sealing as well on mine and i don't want to screw it up

CarolinaQue · Jun 26, 2011

Boshizzle said:
Clean the area that the silicone is being applied to with naphtha and put Vaseline on the moving part that will be touching the silicone. Let is sit for about 2 days then separate the parts and clean off the Vaseline. The silicone will cure and the Vaseline will prevent the parts from sticking together. That's all you should need to do.

^^^What he said^^^

FatDaddy · Jun 26, 2011

SO for this, would u want to apply the gasket material to the doors themselves or to the pit? I am thinking of doing this with my big off set, since it is far from being air tight lol.

CarolinaQue · Jun 26, 2011

The door.

djeppert · Jun 26, 2011

purplestarrider said:
once you get this done will you take pics?? I would love to see how you do it. i am needing to do some sealing as well on mine and i don't want to screw it up

I will do that. Hopefully it will turn out better this time.

CarolinaQue said:
The door.

My first 2 attempts I put it on the cooker instead of the door. Is that possibly why it came off?

ssbbqguy · Jun 26, 2011

Unless you can sandblast or get all the soot off the surface nothing will stick. Wire brush and solvent will work, but it has to be clean. Personally I don't like using anything that stinks around my food. Silcone and high heat bondo stinks. That's why I'm an advocate of using gasket material. I've used high temp silicone for longer than I like to admit and never found one that doesn't stink. Even after curing. The gasket material I use has adhesive on the back and I use soft rivets to insure attachment when I powerwash my pits. To each their own, but that's my .02. Steve.

Need Advice for Sealing my Offset

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