WSM in high winds


 

J Hoke

TVWBB Pro
We had a competition this past weekend and in addition to rain, then sleet, then snow, we had winds from 25 to 40 mph!! I have two vents in the lid of my cookers and if I had the downwind vent open, the wind sucked the heat right out of the cooker but if I closed it and opened the vent pointing into the winds it didn't do that. You might try this next time you are cooking in a high wind if you can't somehow block it. We couldn't and were doing good just to keep everything tied down and not blow away. It was a two day contest and 12 teams quit and went home after the first day. A real endurance contest.

This picture gives some idea of how bad it was. Had the popup tied to the truck as well as the trailer with heavy weights tied on each corner. When we left the event, there were at least 10 popups in the dumpster.



 
J, thanks for the vent tip. I'll have to remember that. It's counterintuitive to me. Way to hang in there.

Something else that helps is to put a can over the top vent, but I've only found the right size for my 18.5" wsm.
 
It was counter intuitive to me also and may only work if you are using a pid controller since I have all bottom vents closed. The open one has the controller fan which would prevent air exiting that vent.
 

 

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