Fireboard with Pit Viper or Fireboard fan

[mt2003]

I’m here in Canada and really new to this. Does the type of fan really matter. The pit viper is quite expensive to get shipped out here. Is the one fireboard sells comparable. It’s going on a Weber Smokey mountain. I just ordered the fireboard drive and haven’t landed on a fan yet but factoring in exchange and shipping it would be about half the price to get the fireboard fan from a Canadian distributor

[aldaeron]

I would say it depends on how handy you are. Look on amazon for a "squirrel cage fan". There are lots of them in the 10-20 Cubic Feet per Minute (CFM) range you would need for a smoker. But you would have to fabricate your own mounting and maybe add your own connector to hookup to a fireboard fan controller.

[ofelles]

The connection of the fireboard fan did not fit my cooker solid and tight. It was not performance that was an issue for me. Lots of people use them on their Webers with good results. Fireboard has changed their connection since I purchased mine.
There are different adapter for different cookers. Hopefully someone using the Fireboard combo will chime in here

[mt2003]

Ok so I’m kinda gathering that the pit viper fan just has some better attachments to get a good air tight connection to the smoker. As far as actual fan quality goes it doesn’t vary much from brand to brand. I appreciate your response

[Spinaker]

I think it's just heavier duty. Ive had mine for 5 years with out any issues at all. Rain, snow, sub zero, humidity you name it. All good.

[aldaeron]

You can use aluminum foil tape (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FROBUXE or similar) to seal up areas better. Not as aesthetically pleasing and can leave some residue, but holds on well to seal hot things.

[mt2003]

Fair enough. I guess u get what you pay for. Definitely shocked how hard it is to find this stuff in Canada and the premium you pay to get it across the boarder from USA.

[Dewesq55]

I have the 1st gen Fireboard fan - I think they refer to it as the clip in or clip on fan. It works very well. I just bought their "nozzle adaptor" to connect it to my Smokey Joe. I think the FB fan is good quality.

[RonB]

Welcome to The Pit.

[TimmyR]

I have the newer FireBoard fan on a BGE. The fan works great. The seal/connection and plate it uses is not as tight if a seal as I’d like. It made dialing it in a little challenging at first. Now that I have it figured out, it works well. A friend of mine is using the PitViper and to do over I’d have going that route. With that said so far my FireBoard and fan work well.