question about parts replacement on old Imperial Kamado

[MayDay]

Humpty came with what was probably the original wooden handle. It had a huge chunk missing in the middle and was falling apart anyways. So I just bashed the wood and took it off. For a replacement handle, I'll probably cut a piece of dowel, round off the edges, drill a hole through, split it in half, then glue the 2 halves together over the metal handle.

 

[osx-addict]

Humpty came with what was probably the original wooden handle. It had a huge chunk missing in the middle and was falling apart anyways. So I just bashed the wood and took it off. For a replacement handle, I'll probably cut a piece of dowel, round off the edges, drill a hole through, split it in half, then glue the 2 halves together over the metal handle.

Sounds good.. I'll probably do something on my lathe and cut it in half with my bandsaw afterwards but follow the rest.

 

[MayDay]

In regards to your comment about following the dutch oven cleaning & reseasoning.. I can do that in my larger Kamado and run it up to pizza temps (~900-1000 degrees) and char off the crap.. Works great to get the grease off the grills..

Your larger Kamado can take 900-1000F temperatures? Is it a claypot? Swamprb and CaptGrumpy were very emphatic not to take my claypot Kamado over 550F or so.... :?:
________________
Kamado/BGE, Cobb
Project Humpty

 

[osx-addict]

Your larger Kamado can take 900-1000F temperatures? Is it a claypot? Swamprb and CaptGrumpy were very emphatic not to take my claypot Kamado over 550F or so.... :?:

My Kamado is only ~3 years old and is not clay.. It can easily take 1000 degress.. I've had my thermometer significantly off the scale which ends at somewhere between 800-900 degrees.. Works great, but takes a toll on the lump saver which is now getting a bit warped
(its steel) with the high temps..

 

[osx-addict]

Someone here mentioned (probably not on this thread) that they bought a replacement BGE hinge assembly and used that with their Imperial Kamado/clone.. Just curious how much you (was it you Swamprb?) paid for such an item.. I was thinking of fabbing a sort of handle that might use the current dome indentation for the straps but didn't have any hinges.. This would allow the entire lid to be easily removed for loading/unloading.. The dome isn't very heavy (IMHO) and could be carefully placed on the ground while swaps/checks are done.. Not sure how practical it might be but it was a thought..

 

[osx-addict]

My Kamado is only ~3 years old and is not clay.. It can easily take 1000 degress.. I've had my thermometer significantly off the scale which ends at somewhere between 800-900 degrees.. Works great, but takes a toll on the lump saver which is now getting a bit warped
(its steel) with the high temps..

Ok.. Did some Pizza's tonight on the big Kamado and decided to fuel it up a bit more afterwards (the coals were pretty much gone afterwards) and get it good and hot to clean the grills.. Needless to say, I stopped watching the temps after it got to about 850 degrees.. I stuck my nose out the window an hour and a half later (give or take) and could smell the heat.. I checked the meter and it had wrapped around back to ~200 degrees which I think would make it somewhere near 1100-1200 degrees (at the dome).. Hope I didn't warp the poor 16" grill.. I'm not stupid enough to open the BBQ at this point.. I can barely touch the outside without getting burned (the Kamado's ceramics are fairly thick -- something like 1.5").. It's definitely heat soaked.. Anyway, we'll see what things look like in the morning after the temps are back to normal.. I do believe that's about as hot as I've ever gotten things..

 

[MayDay]

Ooops...

 

[MayDay]

Ok.. Did some Pizza's tonight on the big Kamado and decided to fuel it up a bit more afterwards (the coals were pretty much gone afterwards) and get it good and hot to clean the grills.. Needless to say, I stopped watching the temps after it got to about 850 degrees.. I stuck my nose out the window an hour and a half later (give or take) and could smell the heat.. I checked the meter and it had wrapped around back to ~200 degrees which I think would make it somewhere near 1100-1200 degrees (at the dome).. Hope I didn't warp the poor 16" grill.. I'm not stupid enough to open the BBQ at this point.. I can barely touch the outside without getting burned (the Kamado's ceramics are fairly thick -- something like 1.5").. It's definitely heat soaked.. Anyway, we'll see what things look like in the morning after the temps are back to normal.. I do believe that's about as hot as I've ever gotten things..

Uh-oh, I think you just fried your temperature gauge. The calibration may be out. You'll be lucky if it still responds. If the probe typically sees 1200F temperatures, best to get a 1500F gauge. Standard practice for gauges is to select one where the needle does not go off scale for the application. Additionally, many lower range gauges have parts that are not rated for higher temperatures. :icon_shock1:

IMHO, 1100-1200F seems rather high for cleaning the grills. Could probably get by at 500-600F....

I hope your gauge will be ok in the morning. :icon_frow

 

[osx-addict]

You're correct -- I goofed up the gauge.. It now reads about 170 when its cold.. Oh well.. I'll have to find a new one that goes higher than 700..

 

[MayDay]

Bummer!!! :icon_sick

 

[swamprb]

osx- I'm confused here, are you cooking on the Medium Imperial Kamado or your K7 from Kamado.com? There are a few others that have Komodo Kamados and Kamados but I never see any pron from them?

Anyway, I've been trolling the Kamado.com Archives and checking out other repair jobs on the claypots, and the recurring theme is over the years is nobody really knows much about them and if they do they aren't talking about them as doing so is kind of off topic for the Kamado forum. I would like to know more about the Kamado cement you use for the repair you made on your K7?

Jim Beams IK paint job looks great, the BBQ paint I use for a base coat dries to a matte finish. Then I saw these colors from the New IK.
http://www.imperialkamado.com/i_announcement_color.htm

 

[osx-addict]

osx- I'm confused here, are you cooking on the Medium Imperial Kamado or your K7 from Kamado.com? There are a few others that have Komodo Kamados and Kamados but I never see any pron from them?

Sorry.. I was using the K7 Kamado (new one) as the little Imperial is still out of commission.. I *could* in theory have it running tomorrow if I had a few hours to cleanup the hinges.. They aren't cleaning up in the electrolysis bath as well as I had hoped.

Anyway, I've been trolling the Kamado.com Archives and checking out other repair jobs on the claypots, and the recurring theme is over the years is nobody really knows much about them and if they do they aren't talking about them as doing so is kind of off topic for the Kamado forum. I would like to know more about the Kamado cement you use for the repair you made on your K7?

That was were I initially posted for help on my Imperial until I stumbled across this forum doing a search.. I never did get a single reply from that post on the Kamado forum. Regarding the Kamado M61/M62 cement, this stuff is claimed to be better than furnace cement and is used on all of the hot-faces (as they call them) of the dome/base and supposedly are stronger than other cements including Rutlands. Unfortunately, the hard part is actually getting some of it (Kamado can be a pain as I'm sure many of you know for getting orders filled -- it probably took me ~4-5 months to get the M61/62 that was sent -- luckily they never charged my credit card for it!)..

Anyway, I had some issues with some of the hot-face flaking off on the flat dome lip (where the dome mates up with the base to form a seal) causing a huge airleak (the leak area was on the front and was(and still is) about 15-20" long) -- the hot-face flaked off -- it was probably the M61 or M62 and it didn't bond properly with the dome's surface.. The original M61/62 (I believe I used the M61) that I put on came off after doing a few pizzas several months after it was put on..Oh well.. The wierd thing about the M61 is that it is feels like you're rubbing snot with tapioca on, -- this stuff is really GOOEY.. I had some left over M61 and M62 (the M62 hasn't been used yet) and I sealed it in a vacuum sealer bag and chucked it in the freezer hoping to preserve it. Anyway, the M61 still cured over time in the freezer and became a rock -- I threw it away. The M62 months later is still usable and is still in the freezer. I've yet to try it and don't know whether it shares the same gooey texture that the M61 has. I just searched my Kamado archives and the claim is that M61 has a 3 month shelf life and was primarily for the older Japanese Kamado's (per Richard's comments)

Feel free to order some from Kamado (sales@) but be prepared to wait a while to get it.. You'll also need to know how much you want -- 1lb, 2lb, etc.

 

[osx-addict]

Ok.. Quick question.. I was able to hack together the old Imperial Kamado again using some odd pieces of hardware for the draft door, etc.. Anyway, I went to a local fireplace joint and purchased some Rutlands peel-n-stick fiberglass tape to seal up the air gap between the dome and base (equivalent to the felt on BGE's). Anyway, I fired it up later on Saturday and found that I had some minor air leaks around that same area.. Do I need to put another line of Rutlands tape on the dome as well (I put the first set described above on the base -- the same way the BGEs and Kamado's have it). I'm thinking that perhaps having a double-layer might keep the thing more air tight.. Needless to say I cooked a few hot dogs on it and shut it down only to find it still cooking along the next day (albeit very slowly).. I ended up putting some (too-large) fiberglass rope on the top damper to ensure a tight seal there.. I'll probably re-do that with some more of the above mentioned Rutlands if I can find some more locally as it was very easy to install and is much better than the rope equiv..

I'm also tempted to put some on the back of the draft door to ensure a tight seal there as well.. What do you all put in to ensure a well sealed combustion chamber? Am I going beyond what everyone else does? I guess I'm used to my much newer Kamado that can be shutdown fairly easily thus saving charcoal from burning unnecessarily afterwards..