Thermometer/Tweaks


 

Mike Schultz

New member
can you remove the new thermometer and stick a Tel-Tru tyrp thermometer in its place without hurting anything? also, do you think they will fix some of these monor issues in the near future? Should I maybe wait to purchase the new 22.5" later in the year? What are your opinions..

Thanks
 
You can easily remove the thermometer. You are left with a 3/8" hole. A Tel-Tru type thermometer requires about a 3/4" hole, so you will need to enlarge the hole.

No way of know if/when the minor quality issues will be resolved.

Chris
 
OK- I have the 22.5 incher, and I'm doing a first smoke on it now. The thermometer is way off, needs to be replaced. I understand about the 3/8" hole. Diameter seems to be 2 3/8".

What replacement thermometer fits? Or dispense with the ring and just get any 2" or 3"?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Lou S:
OK- I have the 22.5 incher, and I'm doing a first smoke on it now. The thermometer is way off, needs to be replaced. I understand about the 3/8" hole. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Off how? Have you tested it against some boiling water? Those of us with new WSM's seem to find our temps reading a bit lower than those with others. I think it has to do with the length of the probe, as the therms are passing the boiling water test.
 
When I did a first burn, empty, it was reading 30-40 degrees LOWER than the thermometer I had on the top grate.

However, today, with my first smoke- the built in thermometer is reading within 5 degrees of what my top rack thermometer is reading. If I can count on that continuing, I can live with that. Handy, even.

But the two results are just way too off for me to trust it without a LOT more testing.

I'm doing Country ribs, pork loin, duck, chicken and ABTs. All fit easily with room to spare. Would the presence of food make a difference? Shouldn't.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Lou S:
When I did a first burn, empty, it was reading 30-40 degrees LOWER than the thermometer I had on the top grate. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I get the same results during the first few hours. After a few hours, the temps seem to even out a bit more. It's probably not a bad therm...just a difference in temps between the two areas. The lid temps you get with the shorter probe of the Weber provided therm don't translate that well to the lid temps other list from their Tru-temps with much longer probes.
 
I have the new 18 inch WSM. I too have reported consistent lid temps about 20 degrees lower than my grate temps. However, I boil tested all of my therms and everyone was accurate including the WSM Therm.

I don't think the Weber therms themselves are inaccurate, but that maybe the stems are too short.
 
Longer probes would get in the way of the food. And I still think the top of the lid would be hotter than the grates.
 
I have a 4" Tel-Tru, and depending on the "mass" I could be 30-40 deg hotter at grate vs lid for the first hrs, and as B. said it will even out.
Do a search on lid vs grate and you will get a lot more info.
HTH
Tim
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Lou S:
OK. But shouldn't the lid temps be 10-15 degrees MORE than the top grate? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Depends on where you are measuring your lid temps. Most of the lid temps being quoted around here are measured with 3-4 inch probe Tel-Tru's that have been added to the older model WSM's and you're trying to compare to the 1.5 inch probe on the Weber therm of the new WSM's. The air current of air escaping the top vent may be such that it's not as hot that close to the lid surface as it is a few inches down.

My grate temp has consistently been running warmer than my Weber lid therm. The delta gets smaller a few hours in the cook, but the lid still reads less than my Maverick ET-73 reads at the grate...whether I'm running around 225 or 350+. Both therms have been tested in boiling water.

I'm tempted to buy a Tel-Tru with a longer probe so I can test my theory out.
 
Granted, I just bought a 18.5" and will be doing my first bbq today.

However, the lid thermometer is easily removable. I tested it in my oven @ 250 along with a cheap MIU oven thermometer. After stabilization, the readings were:

Oven: 250
MIU: 255
Weber: 225

I think that the current Weber thermometers are highly suspect.
 
My new 22" therm reads correctly (tested it) it does read about 35-40 deg lower than grate tho. Nature of the beast i figure. it seems to me aswell that the difference between grate and lid seems to decrease as the food gets closer to done. If people are reading temp at grate with a probe does what the lid say matter? I know i dont pay much attention to mine. Maybe when its nicer and i feel the need to sit beside the cooker and drink beer but for now the maverick beside couch is fine by me. I cant help but think Weber is gettting blamed for bad thems when some may be just different temps in different zones of the cooker.
 

 

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