NOOB Pellet Smoker question re: temp control when it's hot outside

[SM0KEY]

Is it normal of have difficulty controlling pit temps when it's fairly hot outside?

I'm pretty new to using a pellet smoker, only 4 or 5 cooks under my belt. First few went really well, including a large cook on the 4th that included 2 x butts, 3 x racks of spares, a dozen chicken quarters, and more. Temp control has been really solid and within a few degrees of the setting. However, last Saturday I was doing some ribs and had my cooker set at 225º. I was really surprised to see 3 hours in that my pit temp was 293º! Ambient temp was about 109º and it was in direct sunlight so I'm sure that had some effect. Is this to be expected?

Thanks for your input.

 

[cal1956]

if its really hot outside and in direct sun , yea it can be a bit tricky depending on what kind of smoker you have
most of us think about dealing with it as just being part of the game , holding low temps in cold weather is much easier

 

[ross77]

What smoker do you have? Some are adjustable. I lower my auger's minimum feed rate in the summer.

 

[mike243]

I haven't noticed sun making any difference but wind will affect the temps,during winter I will put mine into the corner of my carport so it will be blocked ,direct sunlite runs what 110-115 on a hot day? lowest temps on the smoker are 150+ ?

 

[SM0KEY]

Thanks for the replies guys. It's a RecTec RT-700 and up until this last cook, it had been really solid. I've attached the temp chart from the cook and it's interesting how there's a steady rise in temp from 200 - 300 minutes. Ambient temp at the start of the cook was about 104º. At the time of the rise, it was around 108º and that's about when the sun would have been shining directly on the back of the grill.

Thanks again for your input. I'll keep an eye on this over the next few cooks and report back if I continue to have temp control issues.

 

[ross77]

You can adjust the auger right in the app. I have the 680 which is similar to the 700.