Cold weather wireless temp problem

[up musky hunter]

I live in a cold climate on the south shore of Lake Superior. Winter is long and the summers are a bit cooler. This past winter, I noticed a significant problem. I use a Thermoworks Smoke wireless thermometer for my smoker. Normally it works great, but I am having a problem in the cold weather. With the probe inside the smoker, the sending unit sits outside of the smoker. It appears that the internal temperature is reduced when the wire feed is exposed to the cold air prior to the feed reaching the sending unit. If I use the meat temp probe, I have the same problem. The temp drop (according to the thermometer on the smoker) can be as much as 30-40 degrees. So a few questions - have you heard of this? and any suggestions on correcting it? I thought about trying to wrap the wire feed between the probe and the sending unit, but that seems like a bit much. Anyway - any ideas?

 

[ristau5741]

Are you saying the temp reading where the probes are connected read lower? or when it hits your remote unit, the temps read lower then what the main unit presents, or is this reading is lower as presented in the App?

Have you contacted Thermoworks support? They are pretty good at helping out..

 

[radioguy]

I have a Smoke and have not seen any problems. It should read temp only at the end of the cable/probe. The last time I used it the outdoor temp was about 30F. I would call or email support, they are really good at quick support.

RG

 

[up musky hunter]

Are you saying the temp reading where the probes are connected read lower? or when it hits your remote unit, the temps read lower then what the main unit presents, or is this reading is lower as presented in the App?

Have you contacted Thermoworks support? They are pretty good at helping out..

Yesterday it was 28 degrees with a 12 mph wind from the north. I had the temp probe in the grill and wire feed coming out of the vent on the top of my Weber Smokey Mountain. The manual thermometer I put in the side of the WSM was reading about 245 and the Thermoworks was reading 219. There was about 2 feet of exposed wire feed before the sending unit that was subject to the colder air. I decided to push that extra cable back in the vent and move the sending unit closer to the top vent. In just a few minutes (with no changes to the smoker) the Thermoworks starting reading 20+ degrees warmer.

 

[radioguy]

You should do a side by side comparison. I have seen 20 degrees difference in 8 inches or less.

RG

 

[skidog]

That does not seem right. I've used my Smoke when it's 0* and never had any issues with it reading correct. I would call Thermoworks.
This might be of interest since your running your probe wires through your exhaust.
https://blog.thermoworks.com/thermo...078543223959513591468995365400084088754767880

 

[JJS]

Put the end of the probe in ice water (should read approx. 32) roll the wire between your fingers with the probe in the ice water all the way down and see if the temp readings change. Sounds like it could be shorting out