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Sealing a CharGriller?

bowhnter

bowhnter

Quintessential Chatty Farker

Batch Image
Batch Image
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Location
Van Alstyne TX
Name or Nickame
Mike
I have seen some tips on using aluminum foil to help seal lids to chamber and firebox.
I am looking for a fairly easy and permanent way to seal the gaps when I close the lids.

I have called 3M and some others COs but haven't come up with anything approved yet...
Is there a sealant or some kind of heat resistant gasket that can be used for this purpose that is food safe?
 
look into gaskets for woodburning stoves. The come in various sizes of round or flat ropes. I used it in the gasket channels Ive made for the banderas. I think our photo gallery has pics of it in the modificatiions/gasket channel mod.
 
motley que said:
i personally havent found the gaps to be a big deal, have you had some problems?
Click to expand...

I do have some problems keeping temps stable.....maybe it's not an issue and wouldn't make that much of a difference to be worth the trouble..??

Maybe it's me :icon_blush: :confused:
 
Mike, also look around the body of the cooker-- mine had alot of holes that I needed to fill as well. One other thing I did was to line the body of the cooker w/ firebricks, which helped a ton in maintaining temps. I used the foil approach, because I'm lazy, and it worked well for me. I also used a piece of aluminum flashing and a piece of stove pipe to extend the stack up a couple of feet....
smokinproatdusk.jpg
 
backyardchef said:
Mike, also look around the body of the cooker-- mine had alot of holes that I needed to fill as well. One other thing I did was to line the body of the cooker w/ firebricks, which helped a ton in maintaining temps. I used the foil approach, because I'm lazy, and it worked well for me. I also used a piece of aluminum flashing and a piece of stove pipe to extend the stack up a couple of feet....
smokinproatdusk.jpg
Click to expand...

Nice, BYC. Now if you could only find him a heart (Dorothy mod). :biggrin:

Did you add a baffle inside or invert that main chamber charcoal tray as a makeshift baffle? I've been thinking about adding a permanent one to mine and picking up some firebricks.
 
I flipped the firegrate in the main chamber and used the firebrick as an additional baffle, which forced the heat to ride up along the curve of the baffle. Worked really well. You can't see it in the picture in my last post, but there's a smaller piece of flashing inside the lower section that is rolled up and fitting snugly inside the factory stack.....
 
Thanks for the help. I have a baffle in the chamber next to the FB, and extend the smokestack down....I think most of my problem is if I don't use the bricks or water pan to keep the temp stable.

It just seems to me that too much smoke and therefore heat comes out of the gaps. Doesn't sound like too many of you worry about it or have an issue though.
 
You could use a Rutland (stove) gasket on the firebox areas, and I have used Permatex High Temp Red RTV silicone gasket maker on the cook chamber door . Or how about a felt gasket for a BGE on the cook chamber?
 
The stack

Whats the reason for extension of the exhaust????
 
bowhnter said:
It just seems to me that too much smoke and therefore heat comes out of the gaps. Doesn't sound like too many of you worry about it or have an issue though.
Click to expand...

One big reason for extending the stack was to get the smoke out of our faces, but I found that the extended stack also improved the draw and the eventual flavor of the food-- the smoke didn't linger as long in the chamber. The bricks did a fantastic job of holding the heat resulting in less fluctuations as long as I kept the fire running clean. I also used a little basket for building my fire and relied mainly on small sticks for my fuel. In retrospect, lump and chunks would've probably been easier.....
Firebox.jpg
.
lploglight.jpg
 
Hey, whats that box inside the fire box for?

Also, how did you seal the smoke stack? More foil?

Those are some great pics(I also use a Char Broil), but I haven't done anything other than rotate the charcoal grate so as to raise the coals.

So far, on cold days, all I've done is throw wet beach towels over the cooking chamber.
Its hillbilly I know....
 
The basket is for holding the coals together and making it easier to stoke the fire when needed. Around the base of the stack I used some gasket tape, but having a piece of rolled up flashing that went into the stack pretty much made all of the heat and smoke go right out the stack and not leak around the base.

Here's what my smokin' pro looked like in her winter clothes-- the cardboard is a wind break:
DSC00780.jpg
 
backyardchef said:
The basket is for holding the coals together and making it easier to stoke the fire when needed. Around the base of the stack I used some gasket tape, but having a piece of rolled up flashing that went into the stack pretty much made all of the heat and smoke go right out the stack and not leak around the base.

Here's what my smokin' pro looked like in her winter clothes-- the cardboard is a wind break:
DSC00780.jpg
Click to expand...

And this is what she looked like when BYC took the blanket off...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ummm, Mr.'s Backyard and Smoke in da eyes.....whats this deal with the baffle and brick thing I've heard so much about?
What its purpose?

Is this something I can use on my CharBroil?

Oh yeah, I'm gonna give the ECB a paint job this weekend, with pics of course...
 
Single Fin Smoker said:
Ummm, Mr.'s Backyard and Smoke in da eyes.....whats this deal with the baffle and brick thing I've heard so much about?
What its purpose?

Is this something I can use on my CharBroil?

Oh yeah, I'm gonna give the ECB a paint job this weekend, with pics of course...
Click to expand...

We're not really "Mister" type folks Fin and not sure if I can help you since I'm pretty new on all of this myself.

But I'll take a stab and the smart folks will chime in and correct me later.

Firebricks are what they sound like...bricks that are heat resistant for use near fire, without exploding like a normal brick might. They could be used to line the bottom of a smoker to provide an extra thick layer of insulation and, more importantly, evenly distribute heat throughout the main cooking chamber.

I'm hoping to pick some up this weekend and try them out in my chargriller. I'll keep you posted! :biggrin:
 
So like you line the bottom of the fire box or cooking chamber with these fire bricks and they help disperse the heat?

As far as the Mr. thing goes, my way of being respectful. From now on I will refer to you as Smoke in Da Eye!
 
Single Fin Smoker said:
So like you line the bottom of the fire box or cooking chamber with these fire bricks and they help disperse the heat?

As far as the Mr. thing goes, my way of being respectful. From now on I will refer to you as Smoke in Da Eye!
Click to expand...

Hopefully Matt (BYC) can tell us! I haven't bought mine yet.

Aside from making me feel old, the mister thing is kind of cool. I actually seem to be one of the only people in new york city who hold the door open for the person behind me so anything we can do to keep common respect alive is well deserved. Cheers.
 
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