For those wanting a different door seal than a rope seal that won't stick / stay or hi-temp silicone

[pcjack]

I have been struggling with the idea of obtaining good seal, without using hi-temp silicone (cancer warnings suck) or the rope seals that don't stick worth a dang and people complain about.  Today, I used a stove and fireplace sealant by Red Devil.  Rated for up to 1200 degrees.  Though it goes on like a putty and is a little stiff when working with it, it truly works great.  I was concerned that it would not work very well when I first got the product, because it came out like a rock-hard dry rod when dispensed using my caulk gun, so I called Red Devil.  The lady at Red Devil took the batch number and said it only has a shelf life of 6 months, I told her I bought it the week before and it was hard in the tube to the point it would not dispense from the caulk gun, so they went ahead and sent me two brand new tubes.  New tube went on pretty good, almost like a flexible plumbers putty, but you mash it to the door lip, spreading it out evenly with your fingers.  I coated the lip of the cook chamber rim with olive oil on a paper towel so the product doesn't stick and then closed the door to make an impression on the seal.  Anywhere there was no door seal impression, I added more and re-seated the door again to the cook chamber body.  After a few passes, I had a good seal.  Once the product is set where you want it, you fire up the firebox and heat the seal for a couple hours to cure it.  Needless to say, it works great.  Though my smoker is a very recent build, my door disappointingly always leaked on the top and bottom.  As of today, no more leaks.  I am very pleased with the results.  The product costs about $12 a tube, one is plenty sufficient for a 120 gallon or smaller cooker, unless you have monster gaps.  I only used 2/3 a tube and I went heavy on the seal.  For two door smokers, I would buy two to make sure you have enough.  I bought 2 tubes just so I know I won't run out, but I was good.  Ended up giving the second tube to a buddy who has a Brinkmann that leaks, so it didn't go to waste.  Images speak better than I do, ask any questions you have and I will help any way I can.

Lastly, you guys so ROCK!  The support, the idea sharing, the recipe sharing, the deep thoughts you guys put into these designs, absolutely amazing.

You guys are like my bbq brothers, thanks for everything!

Reddevil_stovesealant.jpg

• pcjack
• Oct 15, 2016

Reddevil_stovesealant.jpg

• pcjack
• Oct 15, 2016

What the seal looks like when mashed flat and sealing properly:

IMG_4122.JPG

• pcjack
• Oct 15, 2016

The joy of what no leaks looks like:

IMG_4136.JPG

• pcjack
• Oct 15, 2016

TBS rolling, cook chamber sealed well, product cured.  Works great!  Hopefully it will stand up to the test of time.

Smoke well, my brothers.......

 

[fwismoker]

Cool, I was looking to replace some  silicone at some point and that high heat putty looks like a good substitute.

 

[pcjack]

*Danger Will Robinson*

So it has been on only for a few weeks and I have already had a chunk fall off.  Not sure if this is a warning sign or just a one-off issue.

Keeping my eye on it, so don't rush out and but that tube yet!

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Nomex Lava Lock is what you want. With proper prep it won't come off. I tried taking a piece off of a camp stove we have. Wasn't fun!

 

[pcjack]

Dirt....

Awesome, thanks for the info. Will look into this. I would much rather use something that doesn't have cancer warnings all over the packaging. lol

 

[wimpy69]

lavalock self stick Amazon-1/2x1/8x15'--$10.74

 

[pcjack]

Dirt,

I see that product comes in 2 different forms, Seal tape and food-safe silicone. Which did you have the best luck with?

Many thanks for the input!

 

[kaveman42]

Would you recommend this stuff for putting together a new smoker? I recently purchased the Landmann vertical offset smoker which is very similar to the old brinkmann people have. Would I be able to use this on the location where the two halves of the firebox are screwed together and where the firebox meats the CC?

 

[pcjack]

Here's what I do know about it so far, I am not going to suggest anyone to try and use it on doors or any moving parts type of application. When I initially installed it, it seemed to work great. Sealed and held. Over the past month, the stuff has dried/cured and has started coming off the door lip in chunks. Now I'm afraid it's going to end up in my food. I would not recommend this for cook chamber doors or firebox doors or anything else with moving parts, especially anything over the top of food product.

What I would recommend this for is sealing holes or gaps on permanently mounted hardware parts. For example, I rebuilt a Brinkmann offset smoker (aka ECB) for a friend the weekend after I completed by own build. The firebox was rusted out completely on the ECB, so I picked up a small compressor with a bad motor and stripped it down to make a firebox out of it. The metal on the cook chamber is so thin that I accidentally ended up making a few weld holes when I was attaching the new firebox and with the thin metal being what it is, I just decided to use this stove sealant to fill those tiny holes and gaps between the firebox and cook chamber. For this, the sealant product works great. I did this rebuild right after finishing my big smoker and sealed both smokers the same day with this product, so both have the exact same amount of life on them and the stuff on my doors did not hold. On this firebox joint, it works great.

Hope this helps...

 

[pcjack]

Update:  I ordered the LavaLock silicone style.  Let's see how it does. 

 

[pcjack]

So I ordered two tubes of the LavaLock silicone style from Island Outdoors on ebay. I resealed my smoker and tested it out over the past couple weeks. I ended up using 1 1/2 of the small 3oz tubes. I initially wasn't wild about the seal color being bright orange, but the seal is very good. There's also a hidden trick in the orange color that I was not aware of until after it was installed and running: if your seal is not perfect, as the smoke leaks out, the leaky area turns black from the smoke, indicating where you could use a little better seal. This is a great trick for those that really want that perfect seal. I have been using this new seal setup for about a month, works fantastic! Thanks guys for the valuable input!