Temperature Control 22.5 WSM - Suggestions?


 
JeffB

JeffB

TVWBB Pro
I have had my 22.5 WSM for about 7 years and I cannot control the temps and keep it under 250* no matter what I do. Water in the pan. Clay saucer. All vents closed. I have tried it all. I use minion method--which starts out with lower temps because I'm only burning 10 briquettes. But ultimately the rest of the coal in the ring will get lit and the temps climb out of control.

I live in South Central Texas where it can get hot in the summer, but I moved from Maryland where it is much cooler and I had the same issue.

What options are there to control temps that I have not tried? My only thought is to build an insulated "surround" for the WSM and see if that helps but that is a lot of work.

Suggestions welcome. Thanks, and SMOKE ON!:wsm:
 
I put gaskets on the lid and door, and it helped a lot. That being said the 22 wants to run at 250 anything lower is hard to do.
 
Jeff, I had the same issues for years. Not even an ATC could control the temps. Many, if not most, 22s are just leaky sieves. I put gaskets, CB door, and Unknown BBQ hinge on my 22 and it's like a whole new cooker. I can set stable temps from 200 to 400 on my ATC. And when I shut it down, the fire goes out promptly leaving me with charcoal for the next cook. I did most of what THoey did in this thread:

https://tvwbb.com/threads/thoeys-wsm-mod-thread.55072/

Good luck.
 
Although not in summer, I have no problem running my 22.5 wsm at 180 deg F when smoking bacon. It's all about the number of lit coals ...
Yes, I do use an ATC which makes it slightly easier. When running that 180 deg F, there's a snake, rather than a pile, on my charcoal grate...
 
If your coals go out within a reasonable time when you shut it down it's tight enough, If your smoker likes to run at 275 thats ok too, like you said the water in the pan helps, If you really want to go low, use the snake method, basically a two coal row butting up to each other wrapped around the charcoal basket, You put some lit coals on the end and it will catch and burn a few coals at a time as it works around the row like a fuse
 
I was having the exact same issue with my 10-year-old 18 inch WSM. I ended up finding a pinhole from rust in the bottom of the charcoal bowl. I patched it with some lava lock, and that seem to work pretty well, but I wasn’t comfortable with it so I called Weber. They just sent me a new charcoal bowl, which wasn’t cheap. Probably not your issue, but I figured I would throw it out there. You could always check your gaskets too as others have mentioned.
Good luck! Happy 4th.
 
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