Grate/Drip Pan Cleaning & Gasket Sealing

[Uncle Bob]

Welcome to the forum!

The lids are not going to seal 100% even without shipping damage, and recteq’s position is that’s to be expected. The people that choose to seal them up with a gasket material like LavaLock do so for multiple reasons. Some don’t like the looks of the staining on the stainless steel where it comes out-that doesn’t bother me as I like patina on a well-used tool. Some believe that it keeps more smoke in the chamber, for flavor-above @Uncle Bob explains well why the physics of combustion says ‘Nope, doesn’t work that way’. Some don’t like the clang of metal on metal when opening the lid-I’m in that camp myself. Some want to direct as much smoke as possible through the smoke box of the RT-700s that have them, and I’m in that camp as well. There may be other reasons for doing it, but that’s all I could come up with this morning.

Frankly, it’s an expense and a pain to apply the gasket and not needed from a functional standpoint, other than directing smoke through the smoke box may give marginal benefits. My wife asked me to gasket her new RT-340 because she too doesn’t like the metal on metal clang, but the all-weather vents are gasket free. A search here for ‘LavaLock’ will, I expect, give you more info than you want on the subject!

Nice summation Greg, it would make a good "sticky" post if we did those here.

I think part of what influences folks on this matter is commentary elsewhere in the general outdoor cooking universe. For instance, one of my charcoal burners which was built primarily as a griller, not a smoker, had lid, seam, and stack base leaks aplenty. I spent about 45 minutes sealing the various gaps with rtv and lavalock around the lid, a step I haven't found necessary on the RT. The difference is the fan and controller vs. only intake/exhaust flaps/gates. With the induced draft of the charcoal burner too much air was leaking in making temp control for smoking a bear. It was doable, but fussy because of too many variables. Once sealed it is relatively easy to control since it narrowed down the variables to two; intake ports, exhaust port. So what was necessary/useful from another form of outdoor cooker, might look like good general practice, but once aware of the differences in application, it's not a direct correlation.

 

[C. Keeper]

Charcoal world seems to be less forgiving than pellet grills. Air control for charcoal long burns is a must.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Charcoal world seems to be less forgiving than pellet grills. Air control for charcoal long burns is a must.

True, but then we live in a world of technology goodies to "solve" such problems. Controllers and fans are part of the package with pellet grills, but aftermarket companies are out there to help the charcoal devices (you probably already know this, but might be new info for some) become forced draft systems. BBQ Guru, Thermoworks, Fireboard, and likely others, each have controllers, fans, and adapter ports to connect to the cooker housing for a wide variety of brands/models. Depending on skill level, they can make charcoal burners almost as painless as pellet cookers.

 

[Foodkid]

I hardly ever clean the grates on the 590, but I will rinse off my aluminum grill grates after every use for storage. I use foil on my drip pan and change that when needed. I am a stickler about vacuuming the inside of the grill and the firepot. I will do that at least every third cook or after one long cook. If you allow ashes to build up in the firepot you can have problems. as far as a gasket goes, rec teq support does not suggest sealing the lid see this post from the Rec-Teq forum. URL to follow

https://www.recteqforum.com/threads/should-i-seal-my-rec-tec-grill-answered.16/

For a vacuum, I use the bucket head from home depot. It does a marvelous job

 

[C. Keeper]

True, but then we live in a world of technology goodies to "solve" such problems. Controllers and fans are part of the package with pellet grills, but aftermarket companies are out there to help the charcoal devices (you probably already know this, but might be new info for some) become forced draft systems. BBQ Guru, Thermoworks, Fireboard, and likely others, each have controllers, fans, and adapter ports to connect to the cooker housing for a wide variety of brands/models. Depending on skill level, they can make charcoal burners almost as painless as pellet cookers.

Hello,
I tried the forced air devices and wasn't overly impressed. The one thing I did notice with the forced air charcoal was the mess that it made, much worse than a pellet grill IMHO.

 

[OmniWP]

How's it going everyone!

I'm a newbie to pellet grilling, and have done 5 cooks since getting my bull last week. Ive read a few posts and tried a few things, but am wondering about a couple of them now and need some input.

Grate & Drip Pan Cleaning

I've seen a few people with drip pan mods, and different preferences on cleaning grates etc. From what ive found over the past week for myself is there doesn't really seem a point in cleaning the grill grates entirely every other cook? Am I wrong? It makes sense I think to scrub off heavy build up on the grates, but not so much to scrub down all the rails if there isn't build up all over the grates? Maybe a quick scrub across it all, but not "deep" cleaning them every time. After all, you want your grates to be seasoned right?

Same thing for the drip pan. Some foil them, and replace the foil every other cook. Some don't foil, and just scrap off heavy build up that falls on the drip pan. It makes sense to me to foil so that grease doesn't build up too much and start a grease fire, but wondering if its best to not foil and just scrape off heavy build up so that the drip pan can become seasoned also?

My question is how often do you clean your grates, what are your go to cleaners/ solutions you soak them in, and how often do you deep clean your grates is so?


Gasket Sealing The Door, Hopper, Etc

I myself just sealed the door of my bull. Don't really see a point in sealing the hopper from what i can see. However ive seen some say they put gasket on the upper and lower part of the door only, but not the sides. Since putting gasket on all four sides under the lid, it seemed like when I set a temp point it took longer than without the gasket to reach the last 1-2 degrees? What have you found to be best? Im not so sure its a good thing to keep all smoke from escaping, and wondering if taking the gasket off the sides on the under side of the door is better?

My question is what should I do? Im sure many have done what I am doing now, and have found out what is typically best. Please let me know your thoughts.


Thanks in advance for your help!

Josh

Grates: https://grillrescue.com/products/gr...B7cP2wRLCafN_wGXerZ_708DOb1pE8dIaAj-eEALw_wcB
I love these! Wire brushes are very DANGEROUS chocking hazzard

 

[Ostrichsak]

Grates: https://grillrescue.com/products/gr...B7cP2wRLCafN_wGXerZ_708DOb1pE8dIaAj-eEALw_wcB
I love these! Wire brushes are very DANGEROUS chocking hazzard

Fifty bucks?! Yeah nah.

 

[Buckeye1]

Only reason I put a gasket on my lid is because I don't want to deal with trying to keep the stainless steel around it looking clean. Bonus: it closes nicely and "feels" better as a result of putting a 1" strip of LavaLock around the perimeter. I couldn't care much less about the minimal (if any) difference in efficiency or smoke-on-meat. Not sure why everyone is so focused on those aspects as not everyone chooses to do it for the same reason.

That is the reason I sealed mine.

 

[Rlhanson]

Welcome to the forum!

The lids are not going to seal 100% even without shipping damage, and recteq’s position is that’s to be expected. The people that choose to seal them up with a gasket material like LavaLock do so for multiple reasons. Some don’t like the looks of the staining on the stainless steel where it comes out-that doesn’t bother me as I like patina on a well-used tool. Some believe that it keeps more smoke in the chamber, for flavor-above @Uncle Bob explains well why the physics of combustion says ‘Nope, doesn’t work that way’. Some don’t like the clang of metal on metal when opening the lid-I’m in that camp myself. Some want to direct as much smoke as possible through the smoke box of the RT-700s that have them, and I’m in that camp as well. There may be other reasons for doing it, but that’s all I could come up with this morning.

Frankly, it’s an expense and a pain to apply the gasket and not needed from a functional standpoint, other than directing smoke through the smoke box may give marginal benefits. My wife asked me to gasket her new RT-340 because she too doesn’t like the metal on metal clang, but the all-weather vents are gasket free. A search here for ‘LavaLock’ will, I expect, give you more info than you want on the subject!

Edited to add:
@Rlhanson , one thing I forgot to mention-I’d never seal the lid to fix shipping damage. If that’s why you are inquiring, then contact recteq and request a replacement. They have the best service in the business, and they will make it right.

Thanks for the sound advice! I’m not going to do any sealing

 

[Bytor]

I applied lavarock around the lid of my 340 mainly just to keep the outside of the barrel cleaner. Personal preference, but I like it, and it's not that expensive to do. For the grate, I will usually just wipe with a paper towel, or if need be, a wire brush followed up with a paper towel with a non stick spray, usually Vegalene.