Is my built in thermometer bad?


 
R

Rob (Sooner Rob)

New member
Hey all,

3 week old WSM22 noob here.

I am having a possible issue with the built-in lid thermometer in my new smoker...

My very first cook I smoked a brisket...I had a new maverick wireless monitoring the lower shelf where my brisket was... I noticed in the first few hours of the cook that my Maverick was running about 20 degrees cooler than my lid temp.. .I browsed the forum here a bit and found that this is completely normal.. perfect i thought..

However.. about 6 to 7 hours in I notice my Maverick rising and my lid temp staying still, the maverick climbed all the way to 265 (i thought from hot fat in the water? maybe) because my lid temp said 225. i finished this cook wondering which piece of equipment might be faulty...

second and third cook since: I have the maverick on the top shelf this time, where i have my ribs, and another wireless thermo stuck in the top vent hole to try to get a reading on the same area that the lid thermo is reading... the maverick will read 225, the other wireless in the lid vent will read 228.. and the WSM lid thermo, 200.

Our outside temps here are in the 30s and 40s... but that still doesnt explain why my built-in lid will be 20degress cooler than another probe stuck in the lid vent does it?

my last cook was 4 hours... both wireless thermos agreeing with each other within a few degrees and the lid temp reading 20 degrees lower the entire cook.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

Rob J
Oklahoma
 
Rob, there's a wingnut on the back of the gauge so you can remove and check for accuracy in ice or boiling water. However, if you're gonna use the Maverick to monitor temps, pick a spot and stick with it. I personally prefer hanging a probe in the vent, but you can certainly measure at the grate.
 
Thanks Dave,

I use the maverick clipped to the shelf that im cooking on. I used the second wireless stuck thru the lid vent (an Oregon brand i think) to try to troubleshoot the WSMs lid thermo... thinking they should be the same..

I notice that i have condensation in the WSMs lid thermo.. is that normal?
 
rob welcome too the forum and Boomer Sooner, Class of 1986.. i find the dome therm can be off quiete a bit sometimes up too 30 degrees from the top gate..kinda just have ttoo roll with it.. cya and GO JETS!!!!!

glenn in SC
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Rob (Sooner Rob):
Thanks Dave,

I use the maverick clipped to the shelf that im cooking on. I used the second wireless stuck thru the lid vent (an Oregon brand i think) to try to troubleshoot the WSMs lid thermo... thinking they should be the same..

I notice that i have condensation in the WSMs lid thermo.. is that normal? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah, pretty typical. The therm isn't the best but it's ok for bbq. Check it for accuracy, and if it's off by more than 10* I'd get Weber to send you another one.

What Glenn F. said, and very few smokers have temps that are consistant throughout, and it's no big deal, really. Just pick a spot, and measure as consistantly as you care to with a decent therm. You'll find that these variances will decrease as the meat gets hot toward the end of the cook.
 
Rob, call Weber customer service, they will send you a new one. I did it cause my Weber therm wouldn't go over 200. The replacement is better but at least 25 degrees off from my Maverick. I rely on the Maverick at grate level. As others have said tho, for BBQ a difference of 25 degrees is no big deal. In days of old when open pits were used, I bet no one even had a thermometer. Not to say open pits still aren't used, but not in my neighborhood.

Mark
 
I'd say go after a new one also if the boiling water measure is off by more than 10*. You may be using one or more other thermometers, but you want a reasonable accurate (to boiling water, not in relation to the top grate) lid thermometer in the event...

And you don't need the distraction.

Rich
 
I'd guess the temp on the grate can vary based on how close to the edge you have the probe and how close the probe is to a large piece of cold or hot meat, depending on where you are in the cook.

The way I see it is to get close and do my cooking in a a repeatable way based on my logbook. I did test my lid therm in boiling water and it was right on to boiling water temp (adjusted for altitude in Denver).
 
I compared my Weber thermometer in a pot of water against a Therma-pen. From 100F (the beginning of the range on the Weber) to 205F (boiling at 4500'), and they agreed within the ability to read the temperature off the dial (within 1-2F).

As I see it, there is a good thermally conductive path from the probe in the weber to the lid. That is, it is not thermally insulated from the lid. The outside of the lib is exposed to outside air, and will bring down the temperature of the probe. Under normal circumstances, this would lead to the lid gauge reading lower than a probe on the grate or suspended in the vent hole. The colder it is outside, the more the disparity.

I don't know how you'd check the Weber thermometer in ice water since the scale starts at 100F.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by John Henderson:
I compared my Weber thermometer in a pot of water against a Therma-pen. From 100F (the beginning of the range on the Weber) to 205F (boiling at 4500'), and they agreed within the ability to read the temperature off the dial (within 1-2F).

As I see it, there is a good thermally conductive path from the probe in the weber to the lid. That is, it is not thermally insulated from the lid. The outside of the lib is exposed to outside air, and will bring down the temperature of the probe. Under normal circumstances, this would lead to the lid gauge reading lower than a probe on the grate or suspended in the vent hole. The colder it is outside, the more the disparity.

I don't know how you'd check the Weber thermometer in ice water since the scale starts at 100F. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


I will definetly take my probe out tonight and throw all 3 of my probes in some water and see what I get.

Ive been cooking with outside temps being in the 30s and 40s.

For me, it was the probe in the vent hole that was making me concerned, because, as i see it, the vent hole probe and the wsm lid probe should agree with each other since they are up in the same part of the smoker.

also gonna look for the nut that John mentioned, because it really seems like whatever went wrong, if anything, with the lid probe it happened suddenly during a cook and has stayed consistently wrong since.
 
I just called Weber and the customer service girl told to stick it in some water on the stove and once the water boils as long as the probe goes past 250 that its not defective...

that doesn't really seem correct does it?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Rob (Sooner Rob):
I just called Weber and the customer service girl told to stick it in some water on the stove and once the water boils as long as the probe goes past 250 that its not defective...

that doesn't really seem correct does it? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Someone should wake up that woman to the fact that water boils at 212* and doesn't go higher. If you have tested it in boiling water and it is off significantly, call back and talk with someone intelligent.

Rich
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by John Henderson:
As I see it, there is a good thermally conductive path from the probe in the weber to the lid. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

if you were to completely dismantle the thermometer, the probe, or stem, tip is insolated from the housings and lid. Otherwise there would be no need for a probe or stem...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top