Digiq DX2 not getting WSM22.5 up to temp


 
A

Al_G

New member
The last two attempted cooks, I've had trouble to get my WSM22.5 up to 225. I use a fairly old DX2 with the old style fan and was looking for troubleshooting tips. After the last attemp, I opened all the vents and the temperature went up very fast to over 300 while I just let the charcoal burn out.

One thing I've noticed is the foil temp covering the two of the three vent holes by the fan is peeling off. I'm going to be sealing those off again but my gut tells me they aren't the main problem.

I've tried various positions with the fan slider from barely open to totally open. I've also tried halfway open on the top vent to full open.

Now one thing that I don't recall from last season (I rarely smoke in the Colorado winter) is the fan seems to run for a very short time repeatedly. I've been in IT starting out on help desk and desktop support for longer than I want to admit, over that time I've seen fans stop working well. I pulled the case off and see no signs of oil, the fan itself spins easily and these are the steps I'd take long ago as a desktop support tech.

I'm this close to buying a new Pit Viper but part of me wants to hold off to do a full upgrade to a WiFi or Bluetooth controller later this summer.

Does anyone hear have any trouble shooting ideas?
 
By full open or choked down are you referring to the fan, bottom vents or top vent?

For the fan I used to always run it at half open, with the problems I've had I've tried several positions from a sliver open to fully open.

The other two bottom vents are fully closed.

The top vent has been adjusted through several positions.

I've given it about 10-15 minutes per change, which I think is long enough.
 
I keep all vents open until WSM reaches desired temp and then engage my ATC (Billows). On my 18” WSM running 265 degrees or so I generally have 1 of the bottom vents partially opened and top vent 25% opened. Billows maintains the temp really well. Trick for me though is letting WSM reach desired temp before engaging ATC and closing off vents to some degree. Hope this helps some.
 
Keith P said:
I keep all vents open until WSM reaches desired temp and then engage my ATC (Billows). On my 18” WSM running 265 degrees or so I generally have 1 of the bottom vents partially opened and top vent 25% opened. Billows maintains the temp really well. Trick for me though is letting WSM reach desired temp before engaging ATC and closing off vents to some degree. Hope this helps some.
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I'll give that a try, it's just odd that in the past I haven't had to do that. Especially in the summer when it's 90+ and less than 20% humidity quite a bit of the time.
 
Well I feel dumb. When I said I checked all the vents, it was all the vents except the one the fan connector is in. Some how I must have moved it, the vent was almost totally closed with only the bolt to the inner deflector keeping it partially open.

Very soon I'll smoke something and I expect to have no problems.
 
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