Summit Kamado leaking air like a mother!

[souroull]

Hey all,


Was tired of juggling about with the kettle so got me a WSCG a couple weeks back. To my surprise, the damn thing wont hold temps outside the box, so needless to say i'm disappointed.


I light up a fistful of charcoal and let it ride for 20 min or so which gets it to 250, however it wont stop climbing. Both vents at not even 1/8" open, which is practically nothing, and it will ride to 280-300 or so. Halfway to the smoke setting at the bottom and 1/4" at the top will see it climb to 350+.


So i throw in a bunch of wood in the fire and close the vents down fully to check for leaks, and low and behold, quite a bit of smoke is leaking out of the bottom vents, and much less from the base of the top vent (not the wheel).


I imagine its a pain to seal down the ash sweeper vents without some creative metal bending, any ideas?


Thanks!!

 

[mcyork28]

I have a Summit Kamado. It sounds like you just need to play with the vents a little more. If I'm smoking in the 250 to 275 range I have the bottom vent set pretty close or on the smoke symbol and the top vent just cracked.

I have seen mine switch the air flow direction so the smoke seems to be drafting out the bottom vent but I think what I have noticed is that it happens when the top vent is relatively closed and I shut the lid to fast. It has always corrected itself though. Try closing the lid slower or pause for a second just before you close it all the way.

Also, if you are overshooting your temp, try closing the vents down a little earlier. I start mine with a Weber cube or a RoyalOak tumbleweed and start shutting the vents down 25 or 30 degrees before it reaches my target temp. It's always going to keep cruising up until the oxygen that is in it is used.

 

[souroull]

thanks for the tips but i set both bottom and top damper barely 1/8" from closed as soon as i throw in the fistful of lit charcoal but still overshoot about 30 min later. Any more closed would be.... completely closed...

 

[mcyork28]

Maybe take a look at the ash sweep blades. Do any of them look like that are bent up a little. I had that happen on my 22 kettle and I couldn't control temp at all.

 

[SmoothBoarBBQ]

Did you do a proper seasoning? Usually during the seasoning process the oil and the smoke will create a slightly tacky mix that will seal up the small areas around the vents. With just about every kettle and kamado I've had this will happen for the first hour or so during the seasoning process, but after 2-3 hours the holes seal up just fine. I also had a small amount of smoke leaking from a door on an offset I had, but after a couple rounds of seasoning it sealed up that very small gap and I no longer had any issues.

 

[souroull]

Ash sweeper blades look ok, if anything they're on so tight that they're grinding on the base and are hard to turn, however the last inch or so is propped up a bit. i guess need to try do the shim/nail bend method.


As for seasoning, i did wipe an oil soaked paper towel all over the top damper but the leak seems to be coming thru the base of the vent and not the dial wheel itself. I ran it for about 5-6hrs starting off at about 300 and towards 500 at the end..

 

[Big George's BBQ]

The gasket to my Large BGE if in bad shape so it leaks I still can keep my temps- 150 for salmon and 225 for pork. Build your base with large chunks of lump on the bottom to promote air flow. I use 1 Weber starter cube to light it and slowly get my temp to where I want it- usually less then 40 min. It then holds steady almost always

 

[ChEgrad]

I’ve had a WSCG for about 4 years I guess. I can control temps pretty well at 240 and above. The very end of the tips of my ash sweepers are slightly elevated, but it doesn’t seem to be a problem. They do scrape pretty good on the bottom, but it isn’t hard to move them. Can’t remember if they started out that way.

Any other holes in the bottom? I think there is a vent for a fan somewhere that should be closed off if not in use I think - just looked at mine and it is an open hole. Not sure if it always was open. Thought it was plugged.

 

[Happy Hapgood]

Call Weber. Their customer service is second to none.