Thermocouple cap to protect the plug from the elements/weather

[BrunoBronosky]

Has anyone found a cap to place on the thermocouple plug? I imagine that many people have setups that lend themselves to keeping the pit thermocouple permanently connected to their grill. It concerns me that the plug will corrode and the connection will degrade affecting the accuracy of the reading. Worst of all, I expect that it will cause the reading to slowly get lower over time. Eventually you will try doing a 225° low and slow but the actual temp will be 350° or more.

Can anyone provide professional or anecdotal knowledge either in support or opposing my concern?

 

[Gary V]

my plugs has been exposed to elements for years. All I do every once in awhile, a couple of years, is to take a scratchy pad and drag it across the tips to clean off any crap that might have accumulated. I have never had any corrosion on the tip conductors. This is many a year user of thermocouples in some ultra sanitary and ultra hazardous environments. One thing to remember is when doing this, is if you use steel wool it will contaminate the tip metal and this will cause reading inaccuracies. So always use a clean, never used scratchy pad and always use a clean part of pad for each plug tip.

 

[Bryan Mayland]

One thing to remember is when doing this, is if you use steel wool it will contaminate the tip metal and this will cause reading inaccuracies. So always use a clean, never used scratchy pad and always use a clean part of pad for each plug tip.

Oh man good tip there, I didn't consider that.

I've left my thermocouple on the smoker for years now and it still works fine. After the smoker cools down I just put the thermocouple and ethernet cords inside the smoker and close the lid. I have more of an issue with the bend stress right at the mini jack which looks like it will be the failure mode for this cable eventually. The best part about thermocouples though is that when it breaks off I can just unscrew the connector and screw the broken end in and be back in business!

But to answer the original question, I don't think I've ever seen a silicone thermocouple mini jack cover or anything.

 

[BrunoBronosky]

Great feedback all around. Thanks, all. I will try to make my own cap own cap out of hot glue (I'm kind of a hot glue junky) and let you know how it goes. Hopefully, it will only serve the purpose of keeping the plug from being chewed by the dog (or baby, but damn those opposable thumbs are hard to out smart).

I'm getting a lot of info for a massive "My advice for new comers" post. I'm holding back because I don't want to get destroyed by the more knowledgeable old timers.

 

[WBegg]

Never had any issues. I've had my homemade thermocouples out in the weather for a year now, and I live in Montana. Snow, snow, snow, and straight hot sunshine in the summer. No worries.

 

[Gary V]

The metals used don't corrode when they are isolated as they are in a plug. For a test, just spray plug with water for a few weeks or just leave them outside in the rain. If you live by the coast and you have salt air from the surf, this is another source of moisture. Living in the the mountain west, it`s dryer, hotter and colder through the seasons. Best place to by used cars are ones used in the desert west. For me, there are no issues with plug corrosion. If there were, they would not be used in trains, planes, and other critical control situations.