New smoker, thermometer?

[sanva]

Hey everyone, I built me anew propane smoker, will post pics when I figure out how! But anyway I put a Brinkman thermometer off and old gas grill I had on the door, and when I fired the smoker up the first time to season it after about an hour the therm. was just setting on 160 degrees I thought maybe my burner wasn't doing the job but went and got my digital remote thermometer and layed the probe on the center rack and shut the door .It went up to 275 degrees pretty quick, just shows how much those thermometers can be off, I was kinda worried about my burner, a $20.00 single burner camp stove from Northern, but it's allright after all. Anyway do any of you all know where I can order a dial thermometer to mount in the door that will be fairly accurate, I'll still use the external digital when cooking but would be nice to have one on the door also! Thanks and please excuse me for being so long winded. Sammy.

 

[kew_el_steve]

I bought one on Ebay for my GOSM. It's a 3" and has an adjustment screw on the back for calibration. I think that the ability to adjust is important, but I checked it with boiling water when I got it and again after about a dozen smokes and no change. I think it cost me about $20. Can't remember the vendor on Ebay, but there are a few there that have them.

 

[deejaydebi]

Agreed! Get one that can be calibrated or it wil always be questionable.

http://www.barbecue-store.com/pitthermometers.htm

Here's a good place for built in themometers

 

[pigcicles]

Here's a site that has reliable thermometers of different sizes...

http://kck.com/bbq_thermometer_barbe...ure_gauge.html

 

[smokin for life]

When you said you laid the probe on the center rack, did you mean you laid the whole probe on the rack? If so that's not really a good idea, it may cause it to short out. You should hold the tip off the rack, by the use of a chunk of wood or a tator or some thing on that line. After a while that could get a little expencive. Just my 2 cents on this matter.