Stoker or Guru part 2?

Hello, I have been trying to make the same stoker v guru decision, and there were some other differences that had not been discussed. (sorry, didn't know whether to hijack or start a new thread)

regarding the blower/damper devices, and based on the mfg's documentation, neither system use proportional control of the blower, each have a on/off control to the blower. is this correct?

the stoker blower has an automatic damper which fully opens/closes when the blower is on/off
the guru blower has a manual damper which the user can modify.

it seems like either approach might be preferred, and was wondering how others find the damper usage.
1) the stoker maintains more complete and automated control of the air inlet flow without user intervention
2) the guru lets the user set the damper to a passive air intake so the fan only comes on add additional airflow when needed.

is there any preference between these approaches that makes one suited more for one cooking style or another?
the stoker would need to run the blower more often for a short time in the beginning and increasing frequency and duration later in the cook.
the guru would need to run blower less often in general, particularly in the beginning

I live in a fairly densely populated area, is there a noise issue at all or are these fans pretty silent (thinking about neighbors or my wife hearing a blower going on/off all night long when its hot and people have the window open)

thanks a lot for any insight on this.

For my Stoker, I can sorta hear the fan when I am in the house in the room next to the door that the smoker is near. The fan, with its small size and high speed has a slight 'whiny' pitch when it is on. Your neighbors shouldn't hear it unless your neighborhood is completely silent at night and then only if they have their windows open and no noise in their house. I can hear my neighbors heat pump cycle on and/off but that is 20x more noise than the Stoker fan.

The damper on the Stoker is like a little piece of metal on a 'pivot'. It is free moving so when the fan comes on, it gets 'pushed' open and when the fan is off, it is closed.

Dave

hey Dave,
thanks for the reply. my yard is probably tragically tiny by Ohio standards, it is 16'deepx25'wide from the back of my house to the back fence, and my neighbor's bedroom is upstairs probably within 12' of my fenceline. (gotta love the beach)

I am contemplating some sort of blanket (reflectix etc) that might further muffle any fan noise. I am also considering a gas burner to replace the charcoal heating source.

I second what Dave is saying about the Stoker. I think the sound the fan gives off is low enough that your neighbors won't realize they hear something. If they do complain, just give them some of the BBQ and that will shut them up

Tim

Good Plan!