Trouble shooting a Weber Performer

[FJ Tedford]

my son has a gas assist performer. Probably 7 years old. It has never been able to hold temperature after the coals are fully lit. I have been a kettle user for 40+ years and never seen this before. The vents are open but it just drops to 300 ish or worse. It does not seem to matter how it is oriented relative to wind. It just wont heat up. My current kettle, a Simpsons 22.5 gold quickly runs past 500 and holds it with the charcoal baskets full. Ditto for all I have owned in years past, including a 26.75". Has anyone seen this before? Weber was no help with suggestions. I found one or two references to this in some old Amazon reviews, but they were not very specific. I figure if I can look down inside the thing and see some light and the vents open, it ought to work. I guess I could try to drop the ash catcher but it looks perfectly normal. Has anyone encountered this before?

 

[Mike Freel]

My first thought is to verify the thermometer is reading correctly. Other than that I agree with you that it Is very unusual. Sounds like a vent is getting clogged and mot letting it breath.

Mike

 

[Bob Sample]

Does he have the top vent open? I've seen some people that thought closing the top vent would help hold in the heat. It needs to be wide open unless trying for low and slow. Is he keeping his charcoal in a dry place? Only things that can cause it to run cool are air restriction or bad fuel.

 

[Don Fry]

I just pruchased a Performer a couple of weeks ago and I have been struggling to get it to hold high temps also, I replaced the OEM thermometer with a Tru-Tel, bt more importantly I can tell from the way it is cooking that it is just not holding those screaming hot temps I was able to get from my OT Gold. My lows are not quite what you are experiencing, but they are in the 350-400 range. Building multizone fires helps, but it is still a mystery to me. I need to take a good hard look and compare it to my OT Gold, maybe switch the ash catchers around to see if that helps it draw more air.

 

[DennisM]

I Would also think at first the thermometer as well. I own 2 performers and both hold temps great, It is such a simple design, I am not sure what could cause it. What kind of charcoal are you using? Do you light it in a Chimney and then pour?