Door Leak Question

[SuperDave]

I've read bits and pieces of other threads/posts on the topic of door leaks but was hoping for some more discussion.  Three sides of my door jamb are as clean as when I opened the smoker from the box which indicates a great seal.  The top, however, is a much different story.  By design, is the door supposed to be 100% tight?  I've got a pretty large gap across the top of the door that I don't think will seal on its own.  What are the rest of you living with?  And how is it supposed to be performing by design? 

 

[NDKoze]

When I first got mine, I did notice some leaking in my upper right corner especially during the heavy smoke period. But as my smoker has built up seasoning around the leak points, the leaks have pretty much gone away.

If you actually have a gap where you can see through, I think that would indicate a problem with the seal. If, however it is just leaking smoke, I wouldn't worry about it too much as it will eventually go away.

 

[SuperDave]

I think I could exchange credit cards with someone inside my smoker.  I'm wondering if I need to start thinking about rigging a gasket of some sort.  On this weekends smoke, a piece of backer rod around the door helped quite a bit. 

 

[NDKoze]

I think I would email/call Steve and see what he says. I wouldn't think that you should have that much of a open space since it is a compression door seal.

 

[swthorpe]

I only see a little leakage of smoke around the door jam when it is going through the initial heating cycle and hits the point where puffs of smoke are coming out rather than a stream of smoke from the top hole.  After I get passed this point (usually 180-200F on the first heating cycle), then I don't see any smoke leaking from around the door.    If you are seeing smoke leaking from around the door during the entire smoke, then you might want to add some kind of gasket to help close the gap.  I think I have read on the forum where high temp tape has been used, but I can't be positive about this...perhaps a search on leakage will turn something up.

 

[DivotMaker]

Dave, contact Steve.  If you have a gap that big, it's not normal.  There is a workaround - high-temp tape, but I can't recall the exact post.  PM "Old Sarge" (Dave) about it - he's the one who posted it.  Simple fix, but still a bit unusual to need it.

 

[Paul Case Luca]

Interesting. I'm going to photo my smoker and see if what I see the first 30 minutes is normal for others. I see for the first 60 minutes or so a good leak from the front door at top. I've had mine for over a year and have smoked about 100 times ... So there is no more sealing that can occur.

To describe it... It would be the equivalent of two cigarettes lit and resting on the front door of the smoker. This lasts for 20 minutes this heavy. Enough that if I didn't have an elaborate venting system in the garage to pull that smoke from the front door away one would have to leave the garage. 

I always just thought this was normal.

On a side not can OSU stop turning the ball over in the championship game???

 

[Barrel99]

Sometimes I get a little smoke from one spot in the door. Lasts during the initial burn then dies out. Never give it much thought except to think that there must be a ton of smoke in the box at that time.