Is it hot enough

[gmiller7018]

Hello All,

 I'm new to smoking and I fired up my new Smoke Hollow Pro 44 this weekend to "break it in". Manual said to bring it up to 300 deg. for and hour, so I loaded up the chip pans and water pan- I could only get it up to about 240 with both burners on high? I want to see what happen if I only had one burner going so I tried that and it climped to 260?

  It was only 38 deg. in the garage (door open) with a pretty good wind.

Questions

   1   With those conditions is that about as hot as it will get?

   2   Was it starving for air and thats why it climbed when I turned the one burner off?

 

[wolfman1955]

gmiller7018,
I used to have that same smoker and had no trouble getting it up to 350 with it that cold outside.
If you run this unit with water in the pan, which I quit doing, You are really making a steam oven with smoke and it will cut down on the max. temp you can get to.
How were the dampers set on the sides should be wide open for both burners on high? Did you have a nice blue flame coming out of the burners?
When you turned off one burner your temp rose. That sounds to me like it was starving for O2.

 

[timberjet]

Did you start with cold water? If so it would take a while to even out.

 

[gmiller7018]

Tmberjet--I did start with cold water.

Wolfman--I'm pretty sure I had the dampers half open, I was worreid about to much wind the way it was blowing?? So you quit using water--I thought that was a key element to smoking-moisture so things don't dry out??

 

[timberjet]

The water is for temperature regulation more than anything. Water boils at 212 degrees give or take depending on elevation. So if you are cooking at 225-235 or so for low and slow BBQ the pan would act as a heat sink so that you don't have any great big spikes in temperature from say opening the door or fat dripping on the burners. I started out smoking many years ago with a brinkmann smoke and grill or ECB. I found the water pan to work just as well with sand as water. No difference in moisture content in any meat I ever smoked. I would say in a cabinet smoker like that you should not ever need a water pan. If you did have any temp. spike issues you could wrap up a brick or two in foil for a heat sink. Using a water pan would also limit the amount of heat you could get as a steam rich environment will only get so hot. Maybe somebody else with the same smoker has more help for you but I thought I would share what I know about water pans.

 

[wolfman1955]

The only time you should have to worry about wind is when you turn your burners down very low. With the burners or burner on hi you should be getting a nice blue flame that is about 2 to 3 inches tall at the burner, and the entire burner should be lit. timberjet is right on about the water pan, steam that is not under pressure, like in your cook chamber will only reach 213 deg. the air in the CC around the steam will be hotter but the steam will cool the air off.
Try heating it up without water in the pan, burners on high and vents wide open and see how it acts. Check your flame for qualit of flame.
I just thought of something else. Are you using the factory temp. gauge on the cook chamber? If so that may be your only problem. The factory gauges are basicly junk and are known for their lack of accuracy the one on the smoke hollow I had was over 50 deg off. Most people will use an after market digital remote temp probe like the Maveric or others.

 

[demosthenes9]

 I have two Smoke Hollow 44's and they both can get much hotter than 260.    I often use one or the other to cook baked potatoes and corn @ 450+.     Just reading your post, something is definitely up as you said that your's got hotter with a single burner on high (260), then with both burners on high (240).   As you double the BTU output by running 2 burners, that shouldn't happen

As Timber and Wolf mentioned, water in the pan, especially cold water would definitely have an impact.   Water in general will act to hold temps down, and cold water will hold the temps even lower as it lowers the chamber temps initially and it absorbs the energy put out by the burners while it's being heated up.

Aside from the water, there could be other problems.   Can you take a pic of the flames when both burners are on high and post it ? 

 

[callaway]

It sounds to me like you have a low-flow issue and when both burners are on it is not getting enough propane to either burner.  When you shut one burner down it allowed more propane to flow through the single burner and provided more heat.  You probably need to go through the re-set procedure of unhooking the cylinder, hook the cylinder back up, and then open the cylinder slowly for about one and a half turns.  This should reset the safety mechanisms and allow the propane to flow at the proper pressure.  Sometimes the safety mechanisms get tripped and that will limit the propane flow.  The only way I know of to re-set the safety mechanisms is to unhook and re-hook the cylinder.

I have had the same problem before and the re-set procedure fixed it.

Good luck.

 

[gmiller7018]

All,

  I fired this up again last night just to check the flames and--I have a nice blue flame on both burners except on the ends of the burners its burning yellow (about and inch on both ends)??

I'll try to get a pic tonight and post.

 

[gmiller7018]

All, pic's of burners on high?

 

Left Burner.JPG

• gmiller7018
• Nov 6, 2014

Right Burner.JPG

• gmiller7018
• Nov 6, 2014

 

[demosthenes9]

Gmiller,

The burners are looking fine.  Try this.  Remove the water pan and the chip trays then turn both burners on high.   If you have a remote thermometer/probe, put it in the middle of one of the racks.  Close both doors and wait about 20 min then check the temp on both the door therm and the one in the chamber.