I did my first burn today, trying out the charcoal/wood slab basket I made for my offset wood smoker sold last week which funded my new Kettle. I've posted a couple photos in another thread here.
I tried the leftover welding blanket I cut to fit yesterday. Made of some felt-like material it's about 3/8 inch thick. It does shed some so I wanted to assure it stays away from the junction between top and bottom. Goodness it sure had an effect on the Weber temp. After cruising along steadily at 350 degrees for nearly 25 minutes, I laid the trimmed blanket over the lid. Within 8 to 10 minutes the temperature according to the factory thermometer had shot up 75 degrees to 425 F. I had to close down the top vent to cool the copper beauty down.
I had thought that some large steel "Bulldog" office folder and paper clips ( the kind bought at Dollar Tree and Mighty Dollar for about 20 cents each) would clamp firmly at the edges around the blanket and provide some weight to resist breeze's efforts to relocate the blanket when I'm not looking. I see too that the idea of spring clips was suggested by a member here also. Thank you! Validation is a comforting thing to me!
I hope the blanket helps me maintain temps on cold fall and winter days while also conserving charcoal.
I really appreciate member's accepting my newbie questions as I work to learn the art of Weber kettles.
Don