I tried the frypan but must have done it wrong. I put it right over the burner and it sent all the smoke back to the pellet hopper. This Pit Boss/Smoke Daddy has been an expensive frustrating experience. My advise to ANYONE who wants precision control is NOT to try to save a little money with a Pit Boss. I especially would warn against retrofiting the Smoke Daddy PID controller. Spend the money for a smoker that has PID as standard equipment.
Sorry to read about your frustration with your Pit Boss pellet grill and the upgrades you’ve tried. It’s always best to do your research first and ask for advice, before you go and spend your money on something that may not work for you. I upgraded my PB Austin XL with the SmokeDaddy 35 lb. pellet hopper and PID controller combo and have yet to have any issues or problems with it. It took me all of 15-20 mins to swap out the old PitBoss pellet hopper and put in the Smoke Daddy combo unit. I posted a how to tread here to help anyone interested in upgrading their pellet grill this way. I wanted rock solid 5*-10* degree temp control from my pellet grill and I get that with the Smoke Daddy PID Controller. I also wanted more smoke flavor from my pellet grill and not just more pellet smoke... but real hardwood smoke flavor. That goal was a little more frustrating. I’ve found that a lot people want to help, but a lot of advice given is bad advice. Don’t put a skillet over your burn pot... Don’t put a charcoal basket inside your pellet grill to burn extra wood and coals... Don’t put wood or charcoal on top of a heat diffuser... All bad advice and you’ll never have reliable temp control within your pellet grill doing that, let alone good quality smoke. If you want extra smoke for your bbq and you don’t mind extra pellet smoke, then buy a pellet tube. If you want a smoke flavor profile like a real off-set stick burner, then buy the SD Magnum P.I.G Cold Smoke Canister. All the other stuff is a waste of time, effort, money and perhaps your food. A lot of PitBoss owners like the stock non PID controller and can deal with the temp swings... It’s manageable, but in the end I prefer rock solid temp controller within 5*-10* degrees of my set point and I get that all the time now with my Pellet Pro Austin XL setup. My heat diffuser is a 10g steel heat diffuser... PID Controller or not, a proper 10g steel heat diffuser is a must have for proper temp control. I tried using both the stock heat diffuser and the SD heat diffuser and the SD 10g heat diffuser was way more effective then using the stock one in controlling/diffusing the heat from the burn pot. One covers the burn pot properly and one does not... Don’t give up in your efforts, but it always best to research first and take sound advice from people who know and have been down the same path as you. And as for the advice for potential pellet grill buyers... Yes, if you can afford the little $$ upfront, buy a pellet grill with a PID controller standard, it’ll save you from the temp swing frustrations. I posted a link in my earlier post to help anyone interested as well. Good luck.
Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods. In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi
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