- Aug 9, 2022
- 3
- 3
Hey everyone! First time poster from Alberta!
Not sure if this is the proper place to post.
I recently took my Little Chief smoker out of retirement and decided to do a few modifications (just for fun) to see if I can smoke something other than perch in the thing...so I added a 1500W hot plate.
But since I'm a tinkerer (and a home brewer with an electric brewery in the basement), I had some odds and ends left over, I figured I'd use them and installed a PID (XMT-7100, ripoff of the Auber SYL-1512A) to control the temps a little better. Everything seems to be running smoothly...minus one major component...the temperature calibration of my K-type thermocouple! I calibrated in ice water...hit perfectly. Then I went to the boiling water calibration...I had to adjust the Psb setting by about 5F on the PID, no big deal. But now I've had the probe in the closed smoker (no heat, just doing an "air" test) with a known accurate probe (NTC BBQ thermometer) and I'm getting very different readings after 30 minutes:
- known good probe 124F
- K thermocouple wired to the PID 109F
It gets worse if I start heating with wood chips in the pan...I'll get a difference of 60F between the good probe and the PID reading, 20 or so minutes into the "test"! Before I auto-tune, I need to make sure my temps are accurate.
What can be going wrong? Would a blower or extra vent holes help move the air around and stabilize things? Not totally sure, because I would think that 2 measuring instruments should get the same readings in the same environment, no? I'm used to calibrating these things in liquids...so I need help!
Cheers!
Not sure if this is the proper place to post.
I recently took my Little Chief smoker out of retirement and decided to do a few modifications (just for fun) to see if I can smoke something other than perch in the thing...so I added a 1500W hot plate.
But since I'm a tinkerer (and a home brewer with an electric brewery in the basement), I had some odds and ends left over, I figured I'd use them and installed a PID (XMT-7100, ripoff of the Auber SYL-1512A) to control the temps a little better. Everything seems to be running smoothly...minus one major component...the temperature calibration of my K-type thermocouple! I calibrated in ice water...hit perfectly. Then I went to the boiling water calibration...I had to adjust the Psb setting by about 5F on the PID, no big deal. But now I've had the probe in the closed smoker (no heat, just doing an "air" test) with a known accurate probe (NTC BBQ thermometer) and I'm getting very different readings after 30 minutes:
- known good probe 124F
- K thermocouple wired to the PID 109F
It gets worse if I start heating with wood chips in the pan...I'll get a difference of 60F between the good probe and the PID reading, 20 or so minutes into the "test"! Before I auto-tune, I need to make sure my temps are accurate.
What can be going wrong? Would a blower or extra vent holes help move the air around and stabilize things? Not totally sure, because I would think that 2 measuring instruments should get the same readings in the same environment, no? I'm used to calibrating these things in liquids...so I need help!
Cheers!
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