Gasket

[Smokernyte]

Hey all question for yeah? Is it worth while to put a gasket around the lid to keep heat and smoke in. I have a pitboss sportsman 820 and I have noticed a lot of smoke and heat loss around the lid. I am a beginner.

 

[Jimsmokes]

I was able to loosen the screws and shift the lid around to get a better fit on my 1150. It was fine like was but being a body and paint. Fit and finish bugs me if it ain't right.

 

[cjhmdm]

I added a gasket and locking clamps to mine to get as good of a seal as possible.

The problem with just adding a gasket is the top of the lid sits more tightly than the rest which causes a gap on the sides. Adding the clamps solves this issue.

 

[Private]

Hey all question for yeah? Is it worth while to put a gasket around the lid to keep heat and smoke in. I have a pitboss sportsman 820 and I have noticed a lot of smoke and heat loss around the lid. I am a beginner.

IMHO, it would be a waste of time/effort/money. I know some folks get very fixated on "sealing up" the smoker, but I think they are just over-complicating a very simple system.

You want smoke to flow across your food, then exit. You do NOT want to trap the smoke. If the smoke can't flow out, the creosote in it will condense out and leave a bitter taste.

Even with a gasket, all you can hope for is to push the smoke out the stack. There is nothing magical about the smoke going out the stack. it is just a decoration.

If you look at other smoker designs by Danson (company. that owns pitboss) - like Louisiana Smokers, they just have exit holes in the back instead of a stack. The smoke just needs to have a place to flow out. I actually talked to a couple of the "name" smoker designers (some of the Thiessens, who own Dansons, and the Traegers) at a trade show a couple of years ago , and they all said that they put stacks on most grills because people expect them, not because they are needed). Note that vertical smokers need some kind of "stack" or vent on top to let the smoke out, and they usually have door gaskets, but that is a different discussion.

Now, if your lid is fitted poorly and too much smoke is coming out around it for your liking, loosen the screws and reposition the lid. We have used dozens of pitboss smokers (and other danson designs) over the years, and we usually have to reseat the doors on new units (even had to gently treak the doors on a few to get them to sit right). Its a bigger issue on vertical smokers, but it isn't very difficult.

As far as trying to keep the heat in - again, I am not sure it is worth the effort unless you are smoking in very cold temperatures, and even then, you don't want to trap the smoke. You want the smoke to exit, and heat will go with it. That said, we did some experiments with insulating blankets, etc. and heat loss was not really a big issue until ambient temp dropped into the 30s. With insulation on the units we were able to smoke down into the single digit ambient temperatures. Restricting airflow was a non-starter. The smoke cooled too much and condensed in the unit. It certainly wasn't fun cooking in that weather, but it put a lot of smiles on faces to get hot, smoked food when it was that cold.