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!
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Club Member
- Jan 2018
- 380
- Shingle Springs CA
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Grills and Smokers:
Engerbtrecht Braten 100 (wood and charcoal)
Blaze Grill (gasser)
Large Big Green Egg
Large WSM
Green Mountain Grills Davy Crockett (pellet)
Webber Jumbo Joe
Webber Smokey Joe
Favorites:
Sapphire martini up (bone dry) olive and a twist
Burbon barrel stout
Jonny Walker Blue - if someone else is buying
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Club Member
- Nov 2017
- 7086
- Huntsville, Alabama
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Jim Morris
Cookers- Slow 'N Sear Deluxe Kamado (2021)
- Camp Chef FTG900 Flat Top Grill (2020)
- Weber Genesis II E-410 w/ GrillGrates (2019)
- Weber Performer Deluxe 22.5" w/ GrillGrates & Slow 'N Sear & Drip N Griddle & Vortex & Party Q & Rotisserie (2007)
- Custom Built Offset Smoker (304SS, 22"x34" grate, circa 1985)
- King Kooker 94/90TKD 105K/60K dual burner patio stove
- Lodge L8D03 5 quart dutch oven
- Lodge L10SK3 12" skillet
- Anova
- Thermoworks Smoke w/ Wifi Gateway
- Thermoworks Dot
- Thermoworks Thermapen Classic
- Thermoworks RT600C
- Weber Connect
- Whatever I brewed and have on tap!
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:
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.Last edited by jfmorris; July 21, 2018, 09:11 AM.
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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.
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Charter Member
- Dec 2014
- 7355
- Grew up in New Orleans, 20 years in Texas, 22 years in Mandeville, LA. Now Dallas, TX
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.
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