Accurate replacement thermometer...

[SierraBBQGuy]

I have 4 grills with the standard radial Bi metal thermometer in the lid. We know these are not accurate, so most of us use some type of remote thermometer, cabled to a probe inserted inside the grill. Why does no one make a good digital thermocouple thermometer, to mount on the lid of our grill/smoker. I realize the proper place to measure temps is at the grate, but for a smoker, like a Kamado, measuring at the lid isn’t too far off and would be far more convenient. I’ve searched for something like this, with no luck. I would think this would be a good product!

[jfmorris]

I would have to guess you don't see digitals for the dome/lid of your grill because the electronics would overheat mounted there. I'm an electrical engineer, and the maximum temperature for most IC's (chips) I use in designs is 125C (257F). After that they shutdown or get damaged. A dome thermometer with the electronics sitting on that hot metal (or ceramic) lid would exceed these temperatures if you did anything beyond cold smoking. Don't get me started on battery technology - batteries don't handle high temperatures as well as the electronics. Think "exploding Samsung phone"...

There are better grade analog thermometers - the smoker I've been using for 30 years for example has an old 3" dial thermometer threaded into a nipple in the lid that pretty much tracks exactly with my digital probes. It's an old Rochester, and my dad who built the smoker has a couple of spares still in the boxes, but I've yet to need to replace the one I've been using for 30 years.

I guess it could be one of these, or a predecessor to it:

http://www.rochestergauges.com/pages/thermometers.html

Pretty much all of those are rated as accurate to 1% of the scale range, so the 0-500F model for example would be accurate to within 5 degrees. Not bad for analog. And they can be ordered with a recalibration feature where you can in fact calibrate it if you want.

Quality bimetal thermometers are possible, but not cheap, as these type cost $30 or so at least. That's too expensive and cuts into the profit margin of the grill manufacturer, so they use a piece of crap bimetal instead.

[SierraBBQGuy]

Yeah, I am also an electrical engineer, I thought of this. I think its possible to design something with the electronics and battery not sitting right against the metal (or ceramic) and isolated , but its probably not cost effective, especially with these higher temp components.

[EdF]

I used just the dome thermometer for a long time on the LBGE. I had replaced the original one with a Tel-Tru (which can be calibrated and has pretty good precision). But when I finally did get a digital one from Thermoworks, I found differences up to 50F between grid level and the dome thermometer.

[jfmorris]

Yes this is in fact the issue with all dome thermometers - the fact they are not at grate level. I’ve seen the dome and grate temps equalize in reallly long cooks but usually see up to 50 degreees diff as well.

[LA Pork Butt]

My BGE gauges has been fairly accurate, but I replaced it with a SmokeWare which is larger and reads about 25 degrees hotter than the grill when running low and slow. So, when it reads 250 the grill is running 225. Any small variance is negligible when cooking at those low temperatures from 6 to 14 hours.

[SierraBBQGuy]

Agreed, I see these differences as well, but like you say, at low and slow temps, I think its not important. They also seem to converge more after a long time, like hours.

[Polarbear777]

The grate mounted tel tru is usually within 10F of my probes. The dome thermo is largely useless.