Intake fan necessary?


 

Ben Y

New member
My 14” wsm is amazing and I love it. I use the igrill with 2 probes (one for ambient temp and one for the meat temp) and I’ve turned out some amazing bbq. Looking at several mods, I see these great intake fans which keep the smoker in a perfect 225-250 range. Wow.
I live in Hawaii where it’s warm, and my smoker never has a problem with temp dropping below 225. I have noticed that it can rise up to 275 range during overnight cooks, but that can be due to charcoal shifting or falling, etc.
Is an intake fan really necessary for me? I’m not about to enter any competitions. It seems like a fan is more needed to get a fire up to a higher range, not lower....
 
A fan is normally coupled to an automatic temp control (ATC) of some kind such as the Thermoworks Signals unit or the BBQ Guru DigiQ or CyberQ. As an example.

My thoughts are that if you are holding temp where you want it now and are able to hold low 225 or high 350 as needed, save your money.

But that's just my opinion. Sometimes less is more.
 
I use it on my 14 cuz I have it on my 18 & 22. Our perceptions of temperature are shaped by the device we normally use. If you are accustomed to the built in thermometer and you get hood results, you're fine. At this point, I'm so used to the numbers off my Guru that it just makes sense for me. Beware though, the stock thermometer has a limited life span. Consider a Tel-True replacement.
 

 

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