Sealing upper vents in a Weber Kettle

[JHB]

When I try to shut down my 22" kettle after a cook, the upper vents leak - I can see smoke coming out of them. It takes a long time for the fire to die down, and this wastes charcoal. I've installed a gasket and use binder clamps to hold the lid on tight, but it still takes a 2-3 hours to shut down. I've had some luck leaving the vents open and stuffing an old cloth into them - this cuts the shut-down time in half. However I wonder if some sort of re-usable putty might seal the vents even tighter. Has anyone tried this? If so, what putty do you use?

Is there any other trick I should try? It just annoys me to waste money burning charcoal in an empty grill.

[smokenoob]

do you have a good seal on the bottom vents?

[JHB]

The bottom vents look normal. The fact that I cut the shut-down time in half by fiddling with an old rag in the upper vents leads me to focus on them first, but if anyone has any ideas about how to seal the lower vents, I'm certainly interested.

[Richard Chrz]

I may be wrong in my thinking, and I love my webers, but I’m not sure webers are built that tight, and expectations may be to high. I think you will have to take the grate out and separate the unburned charcoal.

[JHB]

I agree that Webbers aren't built tight. I'm trying to see if I can homebrew a way to make one tight.

[Jessterr]

Curious, how old is your kettle and have you had this problem the whole time you’ve owned it?

[JHB]

The kettle is about 10 years old. It never sealed well until I installed a gasket. After that it shut down quickly for a few months, but then started to take longer again. So some sort of new leak had developed. Since I started to see smoke coming out of the top vents at the same time, I figured that's where the problem was. There's no way to tighten the vents, so I'm trying to block them.

[Steve R.]

Looks like all else has failed, so grab a roll of metal duct tape. It wouldn't take much to cover those 4 holes.

When you install a BBQ Guru adapter on a WSM, the tape is provided; so it should work for sure.

Or there's probably a way to use magnets.

[Uncle Bob]

Amazon.com: High Temp Masking Supply .718" x .937" STP3 Silicone Rubber Plugs - 25 Pack : Automotive

[JHB]

Thank you. Those look about right. I'll give them a try.

[Razor]

A life time supply! 😁

[Mosca]

Don’t overthink this. Throw a damp towel over the vents.

[Alan Brice]

MIC DROP!

[Smoke n Beers]

@ Alan Brice👍

[JHB]

I tried this last night and it worked pretty well, about as well as stuffing a rag into the vents. When I get the silicone plugs next week, I'll try them and compare.

[JHB]

I have now tried the wet towel and the silicone plugs and they work equally well. For my part, I'll stick with the plugs because I don't have to annoy my wife by carrying a soaking wet towel from the kitchen sink out to the patio. Of course, Webers are not precision instruments that are carefully designed so that each one has the same air leaks, so my results may not help anyone else.

Thanks to everyone for their advice.

[Mosca]

Yeah, if I had the plugs I’d use them, too. They’re more purpose-made.