quick experimental temperature controller for my uds

Hi Paul - That looks very promising.

To get it to work efficiently you may also need to play with the air flow over the coals as well. My first couple of attempts with my IQ110 were somewhat disappointing as I had not sufficiently focussed the air flow through the fire. I did not take photos of my IQ110 in use but I have found a good blog that shows in pictures what needs to be done to achieve effective control of the heat.

http://weber2pit.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/converting-weber-silver.html


You need to make sure that ALL of the air flow from the fan is directed through the coals and so masking off other routes for the air to flow around the coals is critical. Making sure that the air from the blower is the only air to go through the coals is also just as important. I used a similar setup to the picture above and I also used aluminium tape to block up all other air holes, gaps and vents.

It is also much easier to control the temperature as it is going up rather than to bring it down when it gets too hot. Therefore I found the most effective method is to place only a couple of lit briquettes in the basket and then cover them with unlit briquettes. Put on the lid and fire up the control unit and let it blow on the lit coals until the desired temperature is reached and maintained.

I know you are not using a Weber but in the UDS you will probably have to adapt these same principles in order to get it to work as you hope. I cannot stress enough though NOT to start off with a full basket of lit coals and to hope that the unit will be able to control them, as it will almost certainly fail - or at best result in very unstable temperatures.

Looking forward to hearing how the trial run goes

Wade