Got the Call now what gauges do you suggest

[Danblacksher]

I got the call from Craig at Bell Fabrication that he is almost completed with the offset I ordered 3 months ago so I am very excited. The price was what I could afford and I still need to buy the Temp. gauges for it. Are there any brands you suggest or will any old gauges work?

Thank you,
Dan

 

[bmudd14474]

For dial gauges Tel-tru is what id suggest

 

[Danblacksher]

Thank you! I could not remember the name.

 

[wimpy69]

Check out River Country line of therms. Adj. and long probe models are roughly half of what tell tru's are. Nothing against TT and quality is bout the same but money is money. 5+ years with mine and still +/-1* vs my digitals.

 

[SmokinAl]

I have always used TT, but have heard very good things about River Country.
Al

 

[TNJAKE]

I have the glow in the dark tel tru's on my bell fab

 

[912smoker]

I have the glow in the dark tel tru's on my bell fabView attachment 645707

Very cool AND beneficial

Keith

 

[Danblacksher]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I really appreciate it

 

[Displaced Texan]

 

[Danblacksher]

Those look good. my grill will be under a shop roof that is extremely well lit. So I don’t need the glow in the dark and thought the black ones may be easier to see under the shop lights

 

[bmudd14474]

I got the call from Craig at Bell Fabrication that he is almost completed with the offset I ordered 3 months ago so I am very excited. The price was what I could afford and I still need to buy the Temp. gauges for it. Are there any brands you suggest or will any old gauges work?

Thank you,
Dan

Another option for you is to do like I did and put less expensive ones in there and use something like the Fireboard to monitor it digitally.

With the Fireboard and some other brands you can also get probes that have threaded ends on them and you can remove when done or whenever you want to clean them. This would allow you to have remote monitoring and alarming if the temp gets too hot or burns out. Additionally you would have the ability to run the Fireboard Driver blower unit which will help maintain your smoker temp by controlling the burn in the box.

Just depends on what you want. Nice thing about the dial units is the threads are usually the same as the digital probe ones so you can start with them and upgrade later.

Can't wait to see the unit in action.

 

[Danblacksher]

Great idea

 

[Displaced Texan]

Great idea

Talk to Craig about all that. He smacked me back to reality last year when I was over thinking. Use the Tel Trus or another analog gauge, and use the butterfly valve, ash dump, and as a last resort, exhaust stack in combination to control your fire.

I was making lousy barbecue before I went back to basics like that.

 

[Danblacksher]

Thank you I plan on doing the gauges. Displaced I like the way the holes for the gauges on your unit seem lower than most, closer to grate level

 

[Displaced Texan]

Thank you I plan on doing the gauges. Displaced I like the way the holes for the gauges on your unit seem lower than most, closer to grate level

I figured that is where he places them on all the pits. Have we seen a pic of your pit yet?

Edit: Disregard, I forgot, he is still fabricating it. You may ensure with him he does that. Also, you may ask him to have the ash dump and grease drain flush with the pit. On mine they are not flush, and it sort of defeats the purpose. I have a grinder and grinder down the grease drain so it is more flush. I did not do so on the ash dump as I wasn't sure if that would cause an integrity issue with the structure of the firebox.

 

[Hockeydudde]

I put TT on mine.
Since this took a turn for gauge placement...
My biggest pet peeve with my pit this far is the placement of the gauges. On mine, the gauge stems come through the door right where the second shelf is. If I had put 2.5" stems it wouldn't be a problem, but I went with 4" stems on the TTs.
If I were to leave the second shelf slightly out to far, when I close the door it would bend the gauge stems. If they were even 1"lower, they would have cleared the second shelf.

 

[Danblacksher]

Here it is suppose to ship next Tuesday. Really excited to get it. Ordered the TT

 

[Danblacksher]

3/8 inch steel 24 x 36. With Shipping, it was $1078 so very pleased. Same price as the ones around here that are not even 1/4 inch steel. I was going to get the 24x48 but Due to the cost of everything the price had gone up, but Craigs are still around $1500 for 24 X 48 without shipping. So this was in my wheelhouse $850 plus $228 for shipping. I am going to keep my Oklahoma Joe so if I have a really big cook I can use both if needed.

 

[Danblacksher]

Without this site, I would have never heard of Bell Fabrication! Thanks, everyone!

 

[TNJAKE]

Congrats. My 30x48 was $1400ish 3yrs ago. Added 4 wheels and tuning plates. Picked mine up. From order to pickup was 9 days lol. He sure has got popular. Enjoy the smoker