Location of Thermometer

[sawbld]

Newbie here…

I have a charbroil charcoal smoker, with a side fire box.

I was not sure of the accuracy of the factory temp gage that came with it so I drilled a small hole in the chimney; the temp is about 40 deg hotter… is this normal?

Where is the best place to mount a thermometer? Is more than one a good idea?

Thanks in advance for the help  

 

[SmokinAl]

The best thing to do is get a digital therm & put the probe through a block of wood so the end is protruding a couple of inches & place it on the grate near the food. The lid therm will not be nearly as accurate as one on the grate.

 

[teddymadison]

All grills will have different temp zones so you will need to learn what yours are. What I did (on my Weber kettle) was place a probe at the grates, just as SmokinAl suggested, and I watched the dome therm and the probe as temps went up. I was able to deduce that the dome temp was about 5 deg F hotter than at the grates so now I just calibrate against that and use the dome therm.

Also note that this temp difference is based on the particular therm that is at my dome. If I were to change that out, the difference would probably change. the bottom line is that you want to get your true temp at the grates using a reliable therm and then you can calibrate any other therm you have located elsewhere to determine the grate temps.

 

[richoso1]

The information within the replies can also be used on most propane smokers. It's all about grill/grate/rack location. It's all good my friend.