Had a big BBQ last weekend. Second smoke with new smoker. Loaded it up with ribs and chicken on racks 1-3. Because I love to catch and reuse the drippings, I put two foil pans on the bottom rack. Did 3-2-1 on ribs. Everything went fine until it was time to foil the ribs. The didn't look as done as they should be, so I bumped the temp from 225 to 250. A little later I thought the smaller chicken legs should be done, but they weren't even close, so went went from 250 to max 275. At the end of 6 hours nothing was ready. Pulled everything off and finished on gas grill, saving the day.
I was really bumbed about the new smoker, so the next dat I fired it up again with temp probes and gauges on each rack. Although temp was set at 250, all probes were reading about 200. Then the light bulb went off and I removed one of the drip pans and centered the other. Within 5minutes all probes were reading 250! DUH, as the pix below showes, the built in temp sensor was only 1/2 inch above my drip pan, and there was just enough heat slipping past the back edge to make it shut off the heating element, but not enough to warm the rest of the smoker.
At least I realized my mistake before packing it off to send back. LOL
I was really bumbed about the new smoker, so the next dat I fired it up again with temp probes and gauges on each rack. Although temp was set at 250, all probes were reading about 200. Then the light bulb went off and I removed one of the drip pans and centered the other. Within 5minutes all probes were reading 250! DUH, as the pix below showes, the built in temp sensor was only 1/2 inch above my drip pan, and there was just enough heat slipping past the back edge to make it shut off the heating element, but not enough to warm the rest of the smoker.
At least I realized my mistake before packing it off to send back. LOL
