Any success with Lavalock gaskets or others?

[jbrad889]

Anyone else have any success with adding gaskets around the lid opening? I added Lavalocks and now my pit will not reach above 460ish. Wondering if anyone else has had the same issue. My initial burn in only reached 565 with an ambient temp of 40. Now it’s close to 50 and can’t get it to even reach 500. Wondering if sealing off the edges really had that much effect.

 

[bbq4ever]

My advice is to call weber support. the SmokeFire should get to 600 without any mods.

 

[jbrad889]

The point of the mods was to improve smoke retention, not heat. As I said in my OP, the pit wouldn’t reach higher than 565 on the intial burn in without any mods. My question is for those who have done mods like gaskets, have they seen any ill-effects from them.

 

[Frank Neher]

The point of the mods was to improve smoke retention, not heat. As I said in my OP, the pit wouldn’t reach higher than 565 on the intial burn in without any mods. My question is for those who have done mods like gaskets, have they seen any ill-effects from them.

It appears some grills like mine had trouble reaching 600 degrees. They are sending me an auger replacement we'll see if this helps

 

[GriLLMaRksRseXy]

The point of the mods was to improve smoke retention, not heat. As I said in my OP, the pit wouldn’t reach higher than 565 on the intial burn in without any mods. My question is for those who have done mods like gaskets, have they seen any ill-effects from them.

I have some that I will eventually put on my unit once I work through my other issues first. I have used that product exclusively on many grills in the past. Your temps should generally only go up since you would now be forcing hot gasses up the unit and out the vents located fairly close to the temp gauge. It really should not go down in temp. I am going to assume something else is going on. I would suspect checking the fire pot and cleaning it out. I was able to get to 600 on initial burn in and one other time but when I fired it up to burn off a few weekend cooks I struggled to get to 555. I could clearly see it was time to clean out the pot. Haven't done it yet but I bet I get back up to 600. If not it is time for my first call to Weber support.

 

[JesusQuintana]

If your grill is not getting up to 600 you have a faulty auger. Call them and they will send you new one. Mine would only get to 450 and I replaced the auger and it went right to 600 no problem.

 

[DanaM]

I installed the LavaLock felt gasket the day I assembled the grill. I was able to reach 600 in about 15 mins for the initial burn-in. A pork tenderloin I cooked came out great, with a very nice smoke ring and smoke flavor, cooked at 225.
I’ve got a few other issues I’ll be working thru when I get back in town today, that have nothing to do with the gasket.

 

[abmet]

DanaM or Grillmarks, do you have a link to the LavaLock you are using? Did you install on the lid? Have any photos of it installed?

 

[DanaM]

Here are the pics of mine, from both sides. You can see the smoke ring it’s created already.. I’ll have to get back to you on where I got mine, but I think it was from Amazon. I bought it for my Weber 22” Kettle a couple of years ago, it works great there too. I had just enough left over to do my EX6 lid.

 

[DanaM]

From Amazon:
LavaLock® 1/2" x 1/8" High Temp Nomex BBQ HT Gasket Smoker Seal, self Stick Grey https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JO00S04/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_LtSvEbSP9H4H0

 

[abmet]

Thank you! Very much appreciated!

 

[Frank Neher]

It appears some grills like mine had trouble reaching 600 degrees. They are sending me an auger replacement we'll see if this helps

I got my new auger chute assembly in the mail I replaced it the only physical difference I see between the revision D and the revision F is the auger is a little bit longer coming out the tube. I'll keep you posted if this makes a difference. It was a pain to replace and although the instructions were some help they weren't that great because they were telling you how to take apart different pieces not the entire assembly out

 

[Vinny-L]

Any updates on new auger?

 

[MENCHY954]

I added the gasket before my first cook and it seems to make a difference. I have no smoke leakage where the gaskets are.

 

[jbrad889]

My new auger hasn’t done much to improve the temp, I’m at 495 up from 460.