Query for those of you who own a Primo with the current topper with the sliding vent control on the top. I do love this new cooker, however, the top vent control is getting stuck. I suspect from grease and other by-products of cooking. Wondering what cleaning advice folks here might have. Looking forward to the help!
Yup. This is a thing. I just take my vent apart from time to time, soak it in some simple green and water, then gently scrub it with steel wool. If I see any shiny metal after then I just rub it with oil and put it in the toaster oven. You are basically "re-seasoning" it. I got mine in 2016 and still have the original cap, it has not rusted yet. If it does I will just replace it with a Smokeware stainless steel cap. Being stainless steel I can just chuck that into liquid draino if I want.
John "JR"
Minnesota/ United States of America
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When they heat up, there are easier to turn. I replaced my chimney caps with the Smokeware caps. I like those better. They provide shelter from the elements, they are easy to dial in and they look nice. However, they have the same problem when they get gunked up.
It's funny, because the complaint used to be that they would move when you would open the lid. So people went to cranking down the top bolt to provide some tension. Or they did what I did, and replaced it with the Smokeware cap.
It is just kinda one of the those things. Every cooker has a draw back of some kind. My advise is to run the Primo with the cap off, then put it on once you are ready to dial in the temperature. My top cap almost never gets moved. Granted, I pretty much only use my kamados for smoking, so there is scant need for adjustments.
If you do replace that cap, hold onto the cast iron one. They make cool table weights for napkins and stuff like that on the outdoor table. I also use my old fire grates from the kamados as hot plates for pans and dishes. It is fun to reuse those. And they look cool on the table.
Ok, update for those of you with Primos with this type of top. After a long soak I discovered three screws that work via Allen wrenches. I included a size of said Allen wrench. This allows a person to take apart the entire top assembly and clean with a degreaser. I used Simple Green. It did require some elbow grease and steel wool (I may have take off some powder coating too), however, now that I know how simple disassembly is and how well it facilitates cleaning I’ll be doing this on a more regular basis to avoid the big problems with serious sticking.
I appreciate all of the responses and maybe this will help someone with a similar setup. Cheers!
Jerod Broussard, I do love this pit/grill/smoker. If I could only pick “one” pit (which given how infected with MCS I am isn’t possible) it’d be really hard between the Ptrimo XL and the Yoder YS-640.
The older style just has one screw. If I ever have to replace it, Im going stainless. Just so I can soak the cap in a lye solution and not worry about rust. But I have had my Primo for almost 10 years, and the cap is fine.
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