Is anyone experiencing problems with their TX-1001X-OP probes? I bought 2, one for my pit and one for food. During a long cook awhile back, the food probe spiked out of control. I took the probe out and plugged into my Chef Alarm (what it's actually designed for) and it read HHH. So, I assumed my probe went bad mid cook and contacted Thermoworks. They graciously sent a replacement. Then, last weekend, I was cooking baked potatoes and using my probes to monitor food temps and it happened again. I mentioned it was potatoes because I would expect them to all heat pretty evenly. My old Maverick probe was stable. Like the time before, I unplugged the probe from the HM and plugged it into my Chef Alarm. Again, it read HHH. Any ideas what's going on?
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TX-1001X-OP Problems
- Thread starter Darren C.
- Start date
RalphTrimble
TVWBB Diamond Member
The Thermoworks Pro "High Heat" probes actually top out a couple hundred degrees lower than the Maverick High Heat probes, so maybe you're getting temperature spikes around your TW probe from lid openings/flame ups etc and are melting them, where a Maverick High Heat probe would live through it?
I had come to loathe Maverick probes because they take on water and fail so easily, while TW probes are really good at resisting water. I moved to TW for food probes long ago, I never have a probe in food that cooks higher than 400F so I have no issues with their high end limit. I kept using Maverick High Heat probes as the pit probe because I would sometimes get temperature spikes in the pit that would melt the TW Pit Probe, and I couldn't do pizza with a TW pit probe. The Maverick was just barely able to handle the pizza range, but I melted a few of those too because it is really easy to get a temp spike when you're cooking above 500F.
Since the TC support came around I have moved to a high temp TC Pit Probe (can handle over 2000F!) and now I have no worries about melting my pit probe. I use TW food probes pretty much exclusively and they have been very durable for me.
I had come to loathe Maverick probes because they take on water and fail so easily, while TW probes are really good at resisting water. I moved to TW for food probes long ago, I never have a probe in food that cooks higher than 400F so I have no issues with their high end limit. I kept using Maverick High Heat probes as the pit probe because I would sometimes get temperature spikes in the pit that would melt the TW Pit Probe, and I couldn't do pizza with a TW pit probe. The Maverick was just barely able to handle the pizza range, but I melted a few of those too because it is really easy to get a temp spike when you're cooking above 500F.
Since the TC support came around I have moved to a high temp TC Pit Probe (can handle over 2000F!) and now I have no worries about melting my pit probe. I use TW food probes pretty much exclusively and they have been very durable for me.
Thanks for the ideas. But, I don't think that I'm getting them too hot. The first occurrence was on my smoker where the temp was probably 225F. The second was on my kettle. The temp was higher on the kettle, not sure exactly, but I do take care to route my probe wires away from direct heat. The probe temp was probably reading around 150 when it went rouge. I honestly don't think excess heat had anything to do with mine failing. Also, I misspoke earlier, one was the TX-1001X-AP and one was the TX-1003X-AP. I have not had any trouble out of the TX-1003X-AP.
Can probes permanently or temporarily short out? If they did, would the temp reading go up?
Can probes permanently or temporarily short out? If they did, would the temp reading go up?
RalphTrimble
TVWBB Diamond Member
When you said baked potatoes I figured the grill was hotter, so I mentioned heat as a possible issue.
I have owned just about all of the TW Pro probe styles and been happy with them all. I killed one of the older style needle probes (with the smaller bead) by pulling on the silicone cable,the thermistor and wires came right out of the probe... I've had one or two get a bit flakey after much use and careless exposure to rain, still work but jump around a little bit, although generally still fairly accurate.
In my experience when the probes fails it's fire or water that takes them out. Either moisture getting into the probe needle (much more common with Maverick than TW Pro), or water getting into the cable, or fire melting either the probe leads inside the needle or along the wire somewhere. When the probe melts the wires generally short together and your HM says NO PIT PROBE or gives no reading on the food probe, if they get water logged the readings can go all over the place.
I have owned just about all of the TW Pro probe styles and been happy with them all. I killed one of the older style needle probes (with the smaller bead) by pulling on the silicone cable,the thermistor and wires came right out of the probe... I've had one or two get a bit flakey after much use and careless exposure to rain, still work but jump around a little bit, although generally still fairly accurate.
In my experience when the probes fails it's fire or water that takes them out. Either moisture getting into the probe needle (much more common with Maverick than TW Pro), or water getting into the cable, or fire melting either the probe leads inside the needle or along the wire somewhere. When the probe melts the wires generally short together and your HM says NO PIT PROBE or gives no reading on the food probe, if they get water logged the readings can go all over the place.
The grill was hotter. You are correct about that. The HM was still reporting temps for that food probe. Thermoworks has good customer service. I might see if I can learn anything from them. I know they don't support the HM. But, if they can tell me what type of error would generate HHH, that might help.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your ideas.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your ideas.
RalphTrimble
TVWBB Diamond Member
The higher the temperature the lower the resistance from the probe. So a short on your probe leads will cause your chef alarm to read HHH, I assume that means out of range high.
As I said earlier, the wires in the probe lead and inside the probe are protected by high temperature insulation, if it gets too hot it will melt, when it melts the probe wires touch internally giving you a dead short making your Chef Alarm report HHH. Water can also short out the probe leads.
Put your multimeter across the probe lead and measure resistance, grab the probe with your hand making the temp go up, the resistance should start to go down. My TW Pro probe starts out around 100K in room temp, and drops down to about 70K when I am holding it. My guess yours is going to report a very low resistance, not something up in the 100K range.
As I said earlier, the wires in the probe lead and inside the probe are protected by high temperature insulation, if it gets too hot it will melt, when it melts the probe wires touch internally giving you a dead short making your Chef Alarm report HHH. Water can also short out the probe leads.
Put your multimeter across the probe lead and measure resistance, grab the probe with your hand making the temp go up, the resistance should start to go down. My TW Pro probe starts out around 100K in room temp, and drops down to about 70K when I am holding it. My guess yours is going to report a very low resistance, not something up in the 100K range.