John Henderson
TVWBB Fan
For father's day, I got a Maverick ET-73. I did what I always do when I have a new cooking thermometer. I put it in a pot of water and heat it up to boiling to check that it works.
I had both the food probe and smoker probe in the water as the water came to a boil. I pulled the probes out, and the food probe quickly returned to room temperature, but the smoker probe did not. After this time, the smoker probe had a offset of between 100 and 200F above actual temperature.
I contacted Maverick and they sent me new probes. They arrived today, so the first thing I did was test them. Both probes showed reasonable temps up to boiling, but after a couple of minutes, the reading from the new smoker probe began to climb to 150F above actual temperature.
Ugh. This was very frustrating. What's the chance I got two bad smoker probes in a row. And has problems only with the smoker probe. At least I had two food probes now, and could use one on the smoker.
I finally realized the difference. I testing the probes, I was submerging the wire/probe interface of the smoker probe, but due to its extra length and L shape, I was not submerging the wire/probe interface of the food probe. I theorized that water had gotten inside the probe despite what appeared to be a good seal.
I put the probes (with the plugs outside, of course) in the oven and ran the oven at 250F for 1/2 to one hour. That seems to have fixed them!
On closer examination, the manual does say not to submerge the probes while cleaning.
In short:
<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI> Do not submerge the probe in liquid up to the probe/wire interface.
<LI> If you do, and the readings get off, dry the probes in a 250F oven.
[/list]
I had both the food probe and smoker probe in the water as the water came to a boil. I pulled the probes out, and the food probe quickly returned to room temperature, but the smoker probe did not. After this time, the smoker probe had a offset of between 100 and 200F above actual temperature.
I contacted Maverick and they sent me new probes. They arrived today, so the first thing I did was test them. Both probes showed reasonable temps up to boiling, but after a couple of minutes, the reading from the new smoker probe began to climb to 150F above actual temperature.
Ugh. This was very frustrating. What's the chance I got two bad smoker probes in a row. And has problems only with the smoker probe. At least I had two food probes now, and could use one on the smoker.
I finally realized the difference. I testing the probes, I was submerging the wire/probe interface of the smoker probe, but due to its extra length and L shape, I was not submerging the wire/probe interface of the food probe. I theorized that water had gotten inside the probe despite what appeared to be a good seal.
I put the probes (with the plugs outside, of course) in the oven and ran the oven at 250F for 1/2 to one hour. That seems to have fixed them!
On closer examination, the manual does say not to submerge the probes while cleaning.
In short:
<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI> Do not submerge the probe in liquid up to the probe/wire interface.
<LI> If you do, and the readings get off, dry the probes in a 250F oven.
[/list]
