Backwoods Chubby 3400 not getting hot

[newbienick]

I got a Chubby 3400 for Christmas this year and have had a few chances to smoking with it to date. Using RO lump or briquettes, I've had trouble getting it really hot (i.e. over 240F) as measured either on the built-in thermometer or my ThermoPro wireless thermometer.

I've noticed that I can only partially open just one of the inlet dampers. If I open both or even open just 1 fully, smoke starts pouring out the inlet damper. I have the chimney fully open.

In my smoke tonight, I tried to crack the cooking door open slightly. This let me fully open 1 of the inlets, and I seemed to get a good draw. The temperature rose quickly.

I also seem to be getting more white smoke than thin blue.

I really suspect that airflow is getting restricted on the outlet side. It is a counterflow smoker, so the restriction could be from the 5 holes (3/4"?) in the back wall of the smoker or in the chimney itself (only 1" x 3").

Does this sound like a good diagnosis of the problem?
Does anybody have a Chubby 3400 and have the same issues?
Other tips/tricks?

 

[newbienick]

I'm surprised that I haven't had any replies to this, given the number of views. Have I stumped the audience? :p

I will send the same message to the folks at Backwoods and see what they have to say. If I hear a reply, I'll post it.

 

[newbienick]

I don't think that this thread had a lot of interest, but I wanted to tie up the loose ends on this post and perhaps help someone else that might have experienced the same issue. Honestly, I'll admit that I made some rookie mistakes.

Problem #1: When I got this smoker, I didn't understand the reason for having 2 inlet dampers. Typically, I would close the one on the wind side (if the wind was blowing) and only use 1 of the dampers. As it turns out, that's a huge mistake. I thought that this was an outlet damper restriction issue, but when you use both inlet dampers, the fire gets a lot more air. In fact, you only need both dampers to be open about 1/2" to 1" when it's up to temp! The key is BOTH dampers.

Problem #2: Partially lit coals. My last smoker was a kamado style Akorn smoker, and it didn't need much fire to get it going. Lots of times, I wouldn't even pre-light the coals. I would place a firestarter in a bed of unlit charcoal, and it would do its thing. In the Backwoods smoker, I really need to get 1/2 to 3/4 of a chimney of coals pretty well fired up before I place them in the back of the firebox. I can pile up a bunch of unlit charcoal in the rest of the firebox, but the lit coals need to be rolling pretty hard first.

Like I said, I don't know if there is much interest in this thread, but this issue frustrated me for months. I had even called and emailed Backwoods, but ultimately, I had to tinker to figure it out on my own. If anybody has a Backwoods smoker and want to chat about tips/tricks, I would be happy to share what I've learned. Heck...if you're in NW Ohio, you're welcome to stop by!

 

[Barko]

Sorry you're having problems getting a reply, but if you still need a answer I'll try to help you.. For one I have the Backwoods G2 Party and basically they all work the same in my in my opinion.. For one those two dampers on the bottom are used to control the heat and the only time you should have both open is on start once you get up to heat close the front and adjust the back to your desire heat wanted.. Myself and most others have a DigiQ -DX3 high-tech digital temperature control device that automatically tracks the internal temperature of food and controls your grill’s temperature like an oven so you don't have to mess with those dampers. Also if you want a higher temperature go with less water or even sand in your water pan.. Also Youtube videos helped me out a lot on my start so if I was you id learn how to search on youtube.. Good luck Buddy

 

[Barko]

Two more things to watch for ... The ash pan you need to empty every time you add more charcoal otherwise the hot ash below will lite up the entire charcoal basket n that definitely increase your heat to 300 degrees...
And as for not being able to get the temperature to 250 I had that problem once and it was due too bad charcoal.

 

[newbienick]

Sorry you're having problems getting a reply, but if you still need a answer I'll try to help you.. For one I have the Backwoods G2 Party and basically they all work the same in my in my opinion.. For one those two dampers on the bottom are used to control the heat and the only time you should have both open is on start once you get up to heat close the front and adjust the back to your desire heat wanted.. Myself and most others have a DigiQ -DX3 high-tech digital temperature control device that automatically tracks the internal temperature of food and controls your grill’s temperature like an oven so you don't have to mess with those dampers. Also if you want a higher temperature go with less water or even sand in your water pan.. Also Youtube videos helped me out a lot on my start so if I was you id learn how to search on youtube.. Good luck Buddy

Two more things to watch for ... The ash pan you need to empty every time you add more charcoal otherwise the hot ash below will lite up the entire charcoal basket n that definitely increase your heat to 300 degrees...
And as for not being able to get the temperature to 250 I had that problem once and it was due too bad charcoal.

Hey Barko, I really appreciate your response. I've learned a lot since I posted the first time, and I think that I'm getting the hang of it, now. Or, I should say that I'm getting better.

I never thought about putting sand in the water pan. I was thinking about putting a piece of ceramic tile over the top of the empty pan, but I like the sand idea. Would a pan full of lava rocks work, too? I assume that it would just give a heat barrier. Sometimes, I have trouble keeping the temp below 300F unless I have water in the pan. Sometimes, I don't want so much humidity in the chamber. Does that make sense?

 

[Barko]

Yes it makes a lot of sense if you don't have water in the pan ...The makers of Backwoods smoker would say why did you buy a water smoker if you're not going to put water in it..lol... But yes we all experiment to get more bark so we add less water or sand to maintain a temperature below 250.. And if you don't have a guru temperature controller on that smoker you need to get one.