If your kamado isn’t keeping a set temperature, it is 99% likely you have a sealing issue. Don’t worry, it’s not hard to fix.
First, an Explanation
Your kamado works by sucking ambient-temperature air in through the bottom vent, super-heating that air by pushing it through the burning hot coals, and finally allowing the hot air to escape through the chimney top so more can come in the bottom. You need air to fuel the coals. More air-flow means a hotter grilling/smoking temperature; less air-flow means a cooler grilling/smoking temperature.
However, when you have air getting into your kamado grill/smoker outside of the expected control vents, you have a problem. It’s no longer within your power to fully control the temperature of your grill. The result? A kamado that wants to climb in temperature no matter how much you close down the controls, and extra fuel usage for every cook.
How to Find a Seal Problem on a Kamado
- Check your gasket. The gasket sits at the opening of the grill. Usually the base of the grill and the dome of the grill will have a gasket stuck on with adhesive. This is your seal. If it’s damaged, or missing, that is likely the problem.
- Check your dome alignment. If your dome is offset from your base, it might not be doing a good job sealing up. This just requires a visual inspection to confirm. Look for smoke while grilling, or look for soot marks just above where the dome meets the base. Soot marks are a sign of smoke leaking out during previous cooks.
- Check the touch points on the seal. Another issue could be one side of the dome is connecting too much with the base, while the opposite side is up slightly. You might notice this with a visual inspection. Look for obvious gaps between the dome and the base of your grill. Look for soot marks above where the dome meets the base. If you don’t see anything out of the ordinary, try the “paper test”. Basically, just open the grill, put a piece of paper onto the gasket material (leaving part of the paper sticking out of the grill) and close the grill on top of the paper. If the paper slips out when you pull on it without any force at all, that means there isn’t enough pressure in that area to form a good seal. Do the paper test all the way around your grill. If any part of the grill fails the paper test, you know where the leak is.
- Check the chimney top. This is much less likely, but sometimes the chimney top could be letting more air escape/come in than you’d expect. Check that the chimney top doesn’t have soot marks around the bottom.* This is a sign that you might need to replace the gasket material underneath the chimney top.** Close down the chimney top all the way during a smoke, and verify that no smoke is escaping from, or around, the chimney top.
* Please note that soot/grease on the top of the chimney top is normal, as that is where smoke is meant to escape the grill.
** Most kamados, like our Saffires, have a chimney top that just pops on over the gasket material. Ask your manufacturer if this is the case for you. Chimney tops tend to get stuck on with grease; to remove one get it hot first during a cook and remove it after the cook using oven mitts. (This will prevent you from snuffing out the fire, and will use up the remaining charcoal in your grill.)
How to Fix a Seal Problem on a Kamado
- Replace any gaskets that aren’t sealing correctly.
- For gaps between the dome and base, you need to adjust your dome. If you own a Saffire, contact us for support. We think our customer support team is really amazing!
(Disclosure: This FAQ written by the customer support team.)
