What to do with knobs and latches?

[whoodle]

Hi Vets,

I was wondering what you all do when your gas door knobs char and fall off. Mine was gone in about a month. Second, my latch lockdown has become unreliable, it slips out to the unsealed position. Before I start messing around I thought you folks could save me some R&D. I kind of would like to have a vent assembly on the gas door. That way I could let some air by during hot burns to cool the screw that goes into the knob. I Queried Dennis a couple weeks ago but haven't heard back.

[Firemonkey]

Dennis has some door knobs that have threaded inserts in them to solve your issue. Which revision of KK do you have? On my Gen2, I need to keep the gas door open about an inch or two for the burner to be centered in the grill, and allow proper airflow for combustion. Maybe you could pull your door open slightly to keep it cooler? I remove the burner completely when using lump.

Sorry - I cant help on the latch, mine stays tight. maybe filing a small notch on the underside of the catch would be enough resistance to hold yours in place?

[Conodo12]

Interesting set of issues and it is best to let Dennis handle as these fall under "customer service".

If you email Dennis: [email protected] you will get a response even if it is automated. You will get this message almost immediately:

Hello,

Thank you for contacting KOmodo Kamado. It's now high season & I often have more mail than I can answer immediately, especially on weekends. Please bear with me if it takes a day or so to get back to you. I will get back to you ASAHP.

Thanks again for writing.

Dennis Linkletter

KOmodo Kamado Refractory BBQs

Surabaya, Indonesia

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[DennisLinkletter]

Re: What to do with knobs and latches?

Hi Vets,

I was wondering what you all do when your gas door knobs char and fall off. Mine was gone in about a month. Second, my latch lockdown has become unreliable, it slips out to the unsealed position. Before I start messing around I thought you folks could save me some R&D. I kind of would like to have a vent assembly on the gas door. That way I could let some air by during hot burns to cool the screw that goes into the knob. I Queried Dennis a couple weeks ago but haven't heard back.

Hi Will,

My apologies, your Email arrived and was opened and subsequently fell thru the cracks while I was rushing around on my brief trip to the States last month. I usually try to mark with a flag all inquiries like yours but I do drop the ball sometimes.

My hypothesis is that you have one of the cookers where we dropped the fire-basket below the firebox to bring it closer to the flames of the gas burner.The the unintended result was extremely high temps under the firebox which result in the screw holding the teak knob on getting sooo hot it chars and destroys the knob.

Solution:

Next week when I get back to Surabaya, I'm going to weld up some stainless inserts that will hold the charcoal above the level of the bottom of the firebox.

I will send these out with new knobs that have dense acrylic inserts that can handle much more heat than the wood can..

[whoodle]

Thanks Dennis,

Any thoughts on the latch popping open? It loses reliability about 400-500 degrees. Maybe file off the little nubs that stop the latch?

[DennisLinkletter]

Probably easiest to upgrade to a Gen II CNC cut latch with t

Thanks Dennis,

Any thoughts on the latch popping open? It loses reliability about 400-500 degrees. Maybe file off the little nubs that stop the latch?

Sometimes the latches fabricated from stainless rod like yours get crunched and tweaked while being closed..

Probably easiest to upgrade to a Gen II CNC cut latch with the roller..rather than to bend and mess with the old style one.

I'll check and see if we have any in So CA.

[whoodle]

Hi Will,

My apologies, your Email arrived and was opened and subsequently fell thru the cracks while I was rushing around on my brief trip to the States last month. I usually try to mark with a flag all inquiries like yours but I do drop the ball sometimes.

My hypothesis is that you have one of the cookers where we dropped the fire-basket below the firebox to bring it closer to the flames of the gas burner.The the unintended result was extremely high temps under the firebox which result in the screw holding the teak knob on getting sooo hot it chars and destroys the knob.

Solution:

Next week when I get back to Surabaya, I'm going to weld up some stainless inserts that will hold the charcoal above the level of the bottom of the firebox.

I will send these out with new knobs that have dense acrylic inserts that can handle much more heat than the wood can..

Hi Dennis-

Happy New Year. Just wondering when I can expect these new knobs???

The draft knob just fell off too.

Also wondering about your latch fix for me too?

Oh yeah, what about that other charcoal?

The Wife

[DennisLinkletter]

Don't worry we'll work it out..

Heylo Will,

First of all please accept my apoligies for the delay in you getting your new knobs..

My hypothesis is that you have one of the KK's that have a charcoal basket which sits lower than the firebox. This design was to bring the basket closer to the burner.

The problem is that it traps enough heat below the firebox to heat the screw attaching the knob to carbonize the teak.

The correction actually needs two updates.. First we ned a small grate to elevate the charcoal above the firebox. Than we'll use handles which have dense acrylic inserts.

We have sent out dozens of these so either I messed up and did you forward your name to the factory or the warehouse dropped the ball.. Either way let's try again.

As far as the latch problem, it's probably best for me to call you and try to trouble shoot this.. It's not a problem I remember ever having..

Dennis