4 inch stem question?


 
D

Dale Nichols

TVWBB Super Fan
I got a 3 inch dial 4 inch stem thermometer for a early birthday present last night. I acted happy to get it and I know they want to see it on my smoker. But where should I mount it? It seems to long for the center section getting in the way of lifting the grate out with handles, it looks to long for the lid with rolled spares or beer can chicken maybe not though.

Anybody happy with this size? And where did you put it.
 
It might be all right in the lid , dale. There's more clearance there than it seems like. And it might just be a matter of turning the lid to avoid hitting whatever is cooking....is it not something you could discretely exchange for a shorter stem?

you might just want to be honest and say...."you know , I LOVE this therm , but the more I look at it the more I think the stem might be a wee bit long....do you think we could swap it for a two incher ?"
I think that would fly at my house....just a thought.
 
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Dale Nichols said:
I got a 3 inch dial 4 inch stem thermometer for a early birthday present last night. I acted happy to get it and I know they want to see it on my smoker. But where should I mount it? It seems to long for the center section getting in the way of lifting the grate out with handles, it looks to long for the lid with rolled spares or beer can chicken maybe not though.

Anybody happy with this size? And where did you put it.
Click to expand...
Here's my opinion and it's only my opinion, YMMV.

I have three issues with a 3" dial face therm on a WSM.

1) These are better suited for large offset stick burners are are way out of scale on a WSM.
The OEM dial faces are 1-3/4" diameter.
I would go 2" max dial face although that would not fit the Weber bezels if you want that OEM look.

2) These larger therms make you punch a large hole and this can be avoided with a smaller therm.

3) The stems on these big therms are often too long to be practical.
2" - 2-1/2" will do nicely for a lid therm stem.

I have seen where folks with poor eyesight will mount these large therms on Webers but they look like a giant wart to me.


Keep in mind that a lid therm will only be a rough temp reference.
To dial into grate temp and food temp will require something like a Maverick.


Here's a step-by-step on how I added a lid therm to an older WSM...

Remove the OEM locator tab
2i1io7n.jpg

2exlq2w.jpg


Bezel and Therm
2ujil5j.jpg


Triangulate from handle strap 5"
Swing an arc from each side of handle strap
"X" marks the spot
141i152.jpg


Bit selection
rlfko0.jpg

14wu2r4.jpg

UniBit cutter is "Sharpied" so that I stop BEFORE that cutter engages

Hole is started through the blue tape with a sharp 1/8" bit...NO CENTERPUNCH needed.
Go slowly, stay square (perpendicular) to lid and the tape will hold you on center.
You will get slight chipping but nothing catastrophic using a sharp UniBit (carefully).
2epmy6r.jpg


Third hand (blue tape) is used while flat washer and wingnut are snugged up
Lightly snugged is all that's needed
ej6cls.jpg


Job Complete
29cwhdz.jpg


Weber part numbers for this mod are...

Bezel #63027 (this is the low-pro smooth bezel)
Therm #63028 (correct "smoker scale" therm*)

*As opposed to "grill scale" (I want more detail in the smoker heat range)
This particular weber therm checked out against a Tel Tru so I believe it to be pretty accurate
It will be used for rough reference only and backed up by my Maverick ET-732


Here's BQ100 in a Weber bezel (on my OTG) but the scale is more suited to a grill...
4vo9is.jpg
 
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Another suggestion....

In a 2" dial face I like the temp scale on this one for a WSM...has a pro look to it.
BQ225 w/2-1/2" stem

118kfx5.jpg
 
Shoot. Why not? You can see it across the lawn better while mowing. I don't think the four inch stem is going to hit any meat.
 
No box or receipt to exchange with it went to the trash during the cleanup. No big deal really about that. The size of the dial I could live with either way myself. This is going on a old 18 so now I have something to think about with doing the bezel. Chris has the 3 dial,4 stem and has had it on for years and years maybe he will chime in. I just want something accurate for when I don't feel like dragging out the ET 73 (it hasn't died yet), I can adjust for the difference in temps between the two in my head. Just a walk by and glance at gauge that is good enough for me.

I have the reputation in my family of always taking gifts back and exchanging for something different. They all say "Your never satisfied with anything we get you" And I say just give me money but they don't listen.:)
 
Joe F said:
Here's my opinion and it's only my opinion, YMMV.



Bezel and Therm

Here's BQ100 in a Weber bezel (on my OTG) but the scale is more suited to a grill...
4vo9is.jpg
Click to expand...

i like this setup very much. If your WSM already has a lid therm and you could pop a nice therm like this into the existing bezel , that would seem ideal to me. This scale seems ok to me since lots of times I'm cooking chicken at pretty high temps....I like this.
 
Dale Nichols said:
No box or receipt to exchange with it went to the trash during the cleanup. No big deal really about that. The size of the dial I could live with either way myself. This is going on a old 18 so now I have something to think about with doing the bezel. Chris has the 3 dial,4 stem and has had it on for years and years maybe he will chime in. I just want something accurate for when I don't feel like dragging out the ET 73 (it hasn't died yet), I can adjust for the difference in temps between the two in my head. Just a walk by and glance at gauge that is good enough for me.
so your old WSM has no lid therm? I agree , I like the bezel idea , but if you need to make that other one work , what's the harm , really? It will still look pretty good and it's a nice big readout....I like that....see it thru the window during winter smokes.


I have the reputation in my family of always taking gifts back and exchanging for something different. They all say "Your never satisfied with anything we get you" And I say just give me money but they don't listen.:)
Click to expand...

​I hear ya , brother. I go thru the same thing. I tell my wife " either let me pick it out or just give me the money" but god bless her little heart , she likes to "surprise " me.
 
Frank H said:
i like this setup very much. If your WSM already has a lid therm and you could pop a nice therm like this into the existing bezel , that would seem ideal to me. This scale seems ok to me since lots of times I'm cooking chicken at pretty high temps....I like this.
Click to expand...
This BQ100 has a slightly smaller diameter than the Weber 63028 that I showed above.
The trick to getting it centered in the bezel with a nice, even annular space is to use a 4" zip tie.
Cut it into 3 or 4 pieces....I used 4.
Space them evenly "around the clock" between the bezel and the therm.
This temporarily unifies and evenly spaces both pieces before you snug up the wing nut.
 
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