Cold Weather & ATC Troubleshooting?


 
Pat Romero

Pat Romero

TVWBB Super Fan
I know it's wise to protect your ATC from rain, but what's your experience with using ATC in the cold? I am using a Pitmaster IQ110 with a fairly new temp probe. Everything worked fine for about the first 9 hours of the cook with temps dialed in & remaining there. Noticed my Maverick grate temp dropping about an hour ago so I went knock some ash off the coals thinking that would do the trick. Small recovery then temp started dropping again. Looked more closely at my ATC unit & it was indicating that the fire was too hot even though temp was dropping below the set point. I unplugged the unit so that it could reset itself, then I got an alarm showing that the lid was off the smoker (which it wasn't). Pulled the plug on my ATC, cracked one of the other vents open & now I'm finishing off my cook "old school".

The only thing on the surface that I can chalk this up to is that it was sort of a damp cold 35 degrees here in South Louisiana last night. Could the unit being unsheltered from the cold night air have caused this? Anyone experience this sort of thing with their ATC that may have any advice? Thanks in advance for any recommendations!
 
Pat,

I have a Stoker and used it in sub 30 degree temperature and 8 inches of snow a couple of weeks ago. The smoker and Stoker were under my covered patio and out of the snow, but the cold was still there. I had no issues with it and it was a high heat brisket cook for 6 hours then and additional 3 for the burnt ends. I also used it at Thanksgiving and it was around 30 that day as well, again no issues. I do make sure to keep the Stoker dry, but I haven't seen any major affect with cold temperature. I would think as long as it's dry it should work......just my 2 cents.

Tim
 
Great question and was thinking same thing...going to be 20 tonight. Going to keep guru dry but assume they know people use the ATC no matter what brand in cold temps so we should be ok.
 
Pat, I used my IQ 110 under the eve of the house when it was raining a few weeks ago with no issues. It ran over night for a brisket I was cooking and it started to raining about the last 4 hours of my cook. I do not remember what the temps were that night but I think they were in the upper 30s. Check you thermometer wire and make sure it is not damaged in any way. Let us know what you find out.
 
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