Pellet Smokers Mood Swing?

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olecrosseyes

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
★ Lifetime Premier ★
Jul 16, 2007
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Hawkeye State, DSM
I picked up a large never fired vertical pellet smoker a couple of months ago. He purchased it near 2 years prior, so there is no warranty on it. I've never owned one, all of my smoking has been done with charcoal, wood and wood assist gasser which I'm getting rather decent with after 45 years at it. :emoji_blush:

I used it for the 2nd time as a smoker yesterday afternoon and inserted a probe on the grate that held my small rib roast. The temp probe is Thermoworks Smoke X4. I knew the were swings in temps so I tried to monitor it somewhat and record its mood swings.

Now I don't trust the controller dial to tell me the real dirt on what is happening inside the cabinet so that is the reason for the Smoke X4!

Now granted I have a large capacity (tall) cabinet and my 3rd party temp probe was in the top 1/3 level of the cabinet 1 inch in front of the roast. I'm doing a visual here, thinking that my temp probe is easily 16 plus inches above the factory temp probe on the grate. Factor temp controller probe is @ the top of the water pan. And yes the water pan was used to capacity.

My Question Is,
When your smoker is monitored by a reputable 3rd party digital thermometer ( in my case Thermoworks), how much of an actual mood swing does your pellet smoker go through when it is set at about 225? Tell us it's high temp then the timeline till it hits it's low temp before it raises once again over the next timeline??

I appreciate your response!
Thanks Chefs!!
 
I use an oven thermometer in my vertical pellet smoker.. once set the digital gauge on the internal temp probe fluctuates as the smoker cycles up and down which is 100% normal. The oven thermometer stays rock solid and proves to me that the smoker is working properly.

There's no real "timeline" as a multitude of factors affect the smoker including ambient temperature, humidity, wind direction and speed, sun vs clouds vs shade.
 
On my Camp Chef SG, (not a vertical, but pellet burners do what they do in a similar way) it depends on what smoke level I set it at. On level 10, it prolly swings 15 or 20 degrees above and below my set point, while at smoke level 1, it pretty much stays where it is set.

It also depends on whether the controller is a PID, or time based controller as far as swings.
 
Quite normal for temp fluctuations. On my camp chef, if i set to high smoke, the range can be as much as 30 degrees. If I dial in a specific temp, it will keep it rock steady. But you dont need that unless your baking/smoking bread, etc.

Depending on the time of the month, the mood swings can be quite substantial :emoji_metal:
 
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If you are curious about pellet smoker mood swings I have to ask you a question. Are you married???... Just saying.
Yep, 45 years worth. ;<)

I have a remote reader with the Thermoworks Smoke X4. I was sitting right here in my office computer desk on the net doing things like this and watched the temps rise and fall and recorded the swings about 5 xs. While I had the dial set at 225 degrees for the desired temp, it would rise up to as much as 293.4 and fall down to as far as 167.5. The time that it would take to cycle from its high temp to the low temp would only vary a bit but approx 16 to 20 minutes then would switch and head the other direction.

I had opened the door twice only to rotate the meat once and spritz and the other time to add water in the pan.

Seems to me that with a set point of 225, swings of low to high temps or high to low averaging around 100 degrees (that is +/- 50 from the set point) are quite excessive! Especially when I can dial in my old leaky door gasser to 10 degrees (+/- 5 from the set point).
 
On my Camp Chef SG, (not a vertical, but pellet burners do what they do in a similar way) it depends on what smoke level I set it at. On level 10, it prolly swings 15 or 20 degrees above and below my set point, while at smoke level 1, it pretty much stays where it is set.

It also depends on whether the controller is a PID, or time based controller as far as swings.

I don't know what a level 1 or level 10 is.
I know the controller is not a PID. Is a timed controller the only other type?
 
50 either ways sounds like too much but lot of things can effect any smoker, 30 each way is normal and the food wont know the difference, I have used my sons PB cabinet smoker but didn't notice any large swings, I did fill the water pan up with 130 degree water when I filled it. my PB Austin keeps great temps unless the wind is really whipping but it is horizontal style
 
Understand that ALL pellet cookers have temp swings. They have to do this in order to generate smoke. The auger feeds a certain amount of pellets which are ignited and burn for a bit which causes the temp to rise, then the hot rod cools off and the pellets smolder, making smoke. This cause the temp to swing down. Generally though the average temps, taking into account the high and low swings overall, should be close to your set temp at the end of the cook especially with a PID controller but in general overall even without a PID.
 
I was just amazed that it would swing so much from a low to a high in 16 to 18 minutes. I've heard of chefs on different smokers that state their temps are rock solid steady. With the way I'm being educated on the controllers and you chefs here the use of "Rock Solid" is deceiving to someone that was unknowing of how a pellet smoker worked.

I've worked rather hard to level my gasser from any kind of swing, I've got it rather close regardless of conditions.

I appreciate all who contributed in on this thread to help me learn about a new toy of mine! Many thanks!
 
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