Leaking Egg

[Jim Burgin]

I have a small smoke leak in about 20% of the lid of my Egg. As well as letting smoke out, will this let air in and make it difficult to set temperature? Should I try to replace the seal/gasket? Thanks much, Jim Burgin

[fuzzydaddy]

I would start with adjusting the bands to get a good all-around seal and top/bottom alignment. Here's a thread at the EggHeadForum that might help. Scroll down to user RRP's post.

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1...ome-adjustment

[EdF]

I agree. I've been running without a gasket after too many Neapolitan pizza cooks for 3-4 years. Doesn't really seem to matter, given a lid adjustment.

[5698k]

You'll eventually burn your gasket with a leak. Agreed, check your band/lid adjustment.

[Breadhead]

+1^ what everyone said.

[LA Pork Butt]

Jim Burgin Under certain circumstances my egg will leak- usually when there is heavy smoke production and the air openings are small. It will even back out of the bottom vent sometimes. When the heavy smoke production lifts I can't tell there is a leak. It souldn't present any difficulty in setting temp. I would think the hot air will go out and drive any cooler air back. Remember the cool air is drafted from the bottom and the hot air escapes at the top of the lid as evidenced by your seeing smoke. If your leak is in one place check your lid alignment and to see if part of gasket is damaged in the spot where the smoke leaks.

[scottranda]

I've had a small leak for a while. But, I haven't fixed it. Doesn't matter much on any of my cooks.

[BGWolf]

Following these instructions, I got my BGE aligned nearly perfectly with no leaks:

So basically here's what was the problem and what I did. The first problem was that the lower band was not wrapped around evenly - it was lower in the rear than in the front. He explained to me that the lower band should come right up to the edge of the lower gasket all the way around the lower half. So I loosened the carriage bolt on the lower rear band and GENTLY tapped along the band using a block of wood and a rubber mallet until the band was placed evenly around the whole bottom. Then I tightened the band. From that point, the underbite had improved significantly, but there was still a bit of unevenness along the planes where the gaskets met and it still did not pass the dollar bill test. In fact, the gap on the rear side between the gaskets was slightly worse, but I wasn't worried because I knew there were a couple more steps to
Next step was to adjust the front to back placement to fine tune the sitting of the top to the bottom. There are two slotted acorn nuts on the top part of the hinge (above the spring) on both sides of the top that needed to be loosened so that I can 'wiggle' the top into a centered position. So I loosened all 4 nuts, wiggled it into position, then tightened. Now the top was centered properly (no under or overbite), but there was still unevenness on the plane of contact - in other words, it still failed the dollar bill test.
The last step was to somewhat repeat the first step (loosening the carriage bolt) except for the upper band. Wherever there was the largest gap between the two gaskets, I GENTLY tapped the band upward which essentially pushed the lid downward by it's own weight. Once I saw that the upper band was positioned in such a way that the entire top part of the egg sat nicely and evenly on the bottom, I tightened the carriage bolt of the top band and vuala! It was fixed. Dollar bill test passed all the way around the egg. No more underbite (or overbite).

[tbob4]

Huskee - I believe this thread is a keeper for this response to what is likely a common problem.

[Huskee]

tbob4 Done!

[Mosca]

Mine leaks sometimes. As long as it is holding temperature I don't consider it a big deal.

BGWolf 's procedure looks pretty straightforward. If I were to do it without any instruction, I would probably just put the top down, loosen all the bolts and nuts so that the lid sat on the base the way I wanted it to, and then tighten everything up, going around and doing each fastener little by little, the way one might torque down a cylinder head.

Also, if you decide to replace the gasket, know that it is ridiculously easy. It took me maybe 20 minutes from start to finish, including scraping off the old gasket and cleaning the surface, which took about 15 minutes; the gasket application takes about 5. And, my "kevlar" gasket has lasted 5 years, and looks like it could go another 5.

[Spinaker]

Where did you get a Kevlar gasket?

[Mosca]

They called it kevlar, that's why I put it in quotes. I don't know what it really is. Here's one:

https://www.amazon.com/Standard-Gasket-Adhesive-X-Large-Kevlar/dp/B004OVAYJ8/?tag=amazi0a8-20

[Breadhead]

I bought a gasket kit last week. After cooking lots of bread and pizza at 550° to 800° it finally got toasted after 5 years. Once I get the gasket on I'll do the dollar bill test and if there needs to be an adjustment of the top, that will be done too.👍

[BGWolf]

I use a Rutland Gasket on my XL BGE. It is a stove gasket and withstand higher temperatures than other materials. I've had very good luck with this gasket. It's installed on the base only More information here: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/rutlandgasket/gasket.htm . If you're interested in contact @RRP on the Big Green Egg Forum.