Weber Smokey Mountain Door

[SmokinJeff]

Hello friends,

At 5:30 am (cst) I fired up my first WSM. 2 - 8 lb boneless pork shoulders and 3 slabs of St Louis Ribs (hand trimmed by me). Using the Minion Method for smoking today after ready some good reviews on this forum.

Temp is hold steady at 225/235 one hour later. My problem is the door is not so tight on the smoker and I am noticing smoke escaping from 2/3 of the door. I tried to shape it better but with it being hot, well thats not something I need to deal with at the moment, lol.

Will Weber replace it by chance? I just registered the smoker online and I am thinking about calling them.

I also used my Oregon Wireless AW129 Thermometer.

Thanks,

Jeff

[Vision]

They will.

[armor]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gasket-Weber-Smokey-Mountain-high-temp-Nomex-seal-mod-smoker-bbq-18-5-22-5-WSM-/170768327955?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27c295e513

[accuseal]

There are aftermarket SS doors that fit much better. There are also gasket kits available. I bought the SS door. Works great. Check out the VirtualWeber Bulletin Board under mods.
Www.tvwbb.com
r

Sent from my SCH-I905 using Tapatalk 2

[HeSmellsLikeSmoke]

The door is pretty pliable making it fairly easy to bend out of shape as well as back into shape once it is cool. A small amount of smoke escaping is inconsequential.

If you have too much leakage on this cook you can stuff foil into the cracks for a temporary fix.

[SmokinJeff]

Hmm, seems like all Weber needs to do is come here and read the boards and notice people have issues with the door. Why not make a hinged door with a tight gasket?

Seems too logical I guess?

[Shadowdog500]

If you have a big bungee chord wrap one around the smoker to help form the door to the smoker while cooking. I've had this bungee wrapped around mine for the last couple smokes with no problem.

Before:
http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/cc353/shadowdog500/2e4031d0092f71e07473fa4f00f1da7c.jpg

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/cc353/shadowdog500/eea4d0524f54d4dc78e18f02e3121e14.jpg

AFTER:
http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/cc353/shadowdog500/a386debe6f8c4355e719b9fedb907fdf.jpg


I just bought a gasket kit that I hope will seal things up a little better.

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/cc353/shadowdog500/8326bdd4d700095195c63a8aeba68e77.jpg

My door appears to be formed be refectory when it is cold, but it starts to spring flat once it gets to temp. I plan to form it a little tighter when I install the gasket.

Some here say to be patient and the gunk that forms on the walls will seal things up after a while.

Chris

[Untraceable]

anyone done multiple cooks with the gaskets installed? My door leaks but it seems to not matter at all. Id hate to put the gasket on and have it melt or get disgusting and have to try removing the adhesives off the chamber

[DLR]

I just put a piece of tin foil over the opening then put the door back on and folded any excess over the edge of the door with a little tucking it sealed up pretty nice I don't really use the acess door anyway.

[Chewtoy]

Had the same door issues and got a stainless door from cajun bandit.

http://cajunbandit.com/wsm-parts-mods/

A but pricey, but it did solve the problem.

[superlazy]

After a couple cook it should seal up nicely

[Fo Sizzle My Nizzle]

When I first started with my WSM I had the same concern. After gently bending the door for a closer fit, I picked up some fire rope at a local hardware store. I believe it's used for sealing wood burning stoves and the like. Between those two steps and building up some gunk after a few cooks I'm sealed up solid on the door. Now I just need to piece together some parts for some probe eyelets. The small amount of smoke leaking at my lid drives me nuts. Damn OCD.

[yakdung]

Why is this a concern? I own a 22 WSM and the door leaks a little and I haven't noticed any differences in the food it smokes.

[NU2QN]

I you are maintaining 225-235, that leak around your door is not affecting your cook. If you eventually have problems maintaining temps, that's the first thing I would mod or replace.

[mbshop]

when i got my 18.5 wsm, the door was warped every which way. after about a half hour or so its near perfect with very little smoke escaping. the middle is slightly out of round and clean and i have no problem maintaining 275 plus or minus. so just work on it a bit and it will be ok plus you save yerself some $$$$$$$.

[Happy Hapgood]

I see you live in IL. A little leakage is good in colder weather as it allows more O2 to the fire. I have to try to keep temps lower here.

Another option is to install it upside down.

I ended up buying a SS replacement. It really helped:

www.cajunbandit.com.

http://i49.tinypic.com/f1m8zo.jpg

[superlazy]

I guess I should mention this,
The cajun bandit does looks nice and I was going to buy one when I first got my WSM but shipping is almost as much as the door.. Forget it stock door works just dandy