Weber 26" Kettle Ash Sweep

[amr5152]

For those of you with both a 26" and a 22" kettle, do you notice a difference in how "smooth" the one touch ash sweep is? In my 22" there's virtually no resistance when I sweep ash, but a lot in my 26". Wondering if it's just me or general design differences in the bowls.

[FireMan]

It’s you.

Couldn’t resist the opportunity.

[amr5152]

That's a shame. I think I drew the short stick with this kettle. It does its job but I've had problems with it from the get-go.

[Jerod Broussard]

Both seem the same to me. I think overall fitting of parts may cause slight differences between kettles, regardless of size.

[amr5152]

Bummer, not what I was hoping to hear. This definitely isn't a subtle difference.

[Mr. Bones]

Is yer 26" a lot newer?

[amr5152]

No it's probably about 6 months old, with a bunch of cooks at this point. Still as tough as when I got it.

[RonB]

Check to see if one of the sweeps is dragging. You might make a slight adjustment and fix the problem. If that doesn't work, see if there is a way to loosen the whole thing up - maybe a nut is too tight?

If you can't fix it, give Weber a call. They have great customer service.

[Dadof3Illinois]

Mine have always seemed a little stiff....the sweep on my kettle that is...
If I just slightly lift up on the handle when using the sweep it moves much easier. Never thought of it as a problem though.

[Huskee]

I have the opposite problem of Dadof3Illinois, I have to push slightly down on my 26's sweep handle. 22 is smoove.

[johnsteen]

Just got a new 26 and have the same issue as you. I would rather push down than try to adjust it and possible make it worse.

[JeffJ]

I've had the exact same experience. The 22 is smooth as silk and the 26 has a lot of resistance and is "gritty".

[Huskee]

Gritty is a great descriptor.

[Polarbear777]

My 26 required re shaping the lid, adding a gasket and didn’t seem as well constructed. (The handle holes on the base were in the wrong place so I couldn’t install the handle if I wanted to use the lid holder, later drilled more holes myself ). All minor issues but it makes me think their 26” production line isn’t as refined.

It’s a shame because the 26” is the most versatile single cooker for the price and if it had more options, colors, accessories, QC, it seems like they would sell a ton more.

[Butchman]

I too need to push down slightly on my 26” handle. I let some oil drip down into the kettle bowl and that made it a lot smoother. It has gotten smoother the more I cook on it.

[FishTalesNC]

Kinda the same experience as Butchman... my 5 month old 26” wasn’t very smooth, and then a month or so ago I forgot to put a drip pan in during a cook. Now it slides better than my 11 year old 22”.

[sorensen_j]

Mine was really tough as well. I took the sweeper assembly apart and reassembled it, and now it is really smooth. The blades have to go in a certain order, I think mine was assembled incorrectly.

[amr5152]

Cool, I guess it isn't just me after all. It definitely doesn't seem right to me. But I agree the couple people above about it being smoother by pushing up/down.

[amr5152]

Update -- I looked at it today and it actually looks like the "grittiness" is the result of the sweep handle rubbing up against the metal right above it. So it makes sense that it's smooth when we push down slightly.

[JeffJ]

Yes! I read this and put light downward pressure on the handle and the grittiness disappeared.

[briano52]

I have two Weber kettles. The ash sweeps on both work just fine. Both are more than ten years old. Kinda hard to remember that far back, but I think that one of them was a little tight when I got it and then wore in after a while. I use my Webers a lot so they had a lot of time to get broken in.