I use a fairly old Maverick to monitor my barrel. It's been working like a charm ever since it came out of the box but I'm pretty sure it's the old ET-73 that isn't recommended here. In any event, based on the Mav I was having one hell of a time keeping the temps up today. Usually mine runs at 260 like a rock. Today, in order to get it to stay at 240 I had to remove a rebar. I thought this was dang strange. I mean, it's cold here (for LA) today at 60 with really low relative humidity as well. Based on logs of previous cooks I figured the ribs would take right around 3.5 hours based on the lower cooking temp. WRONG. Just killed the poor things. So I'm wondering if the probe on my Mav is going south. I've never lost a probe so I'm not really sure how they fail when they go. I had assumed they would just quit reporting. Anyone able to fill me in on how they fail when they go? It only takes one failure to loose faith in the ol' Mav, so based on what I hear here I may very well be in the market for a new one. I've had my eye on the models that allow you to monitor multiple meat sources and now might be the time.
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Oh no! Usually when mine fail they read crazy high for no reason. Ambient temps of 70 for instance they'll read 128, 145, etc etc etc... and each time I remove it re-plug it in it reads higher & higher. I know the ET 73 probes are not interchangeable with the 732 or 733s, so perhaps they are different enough that they function differently when failing. I would suggest baking them at 400 for an hour or two in your indoor oven to dry out possible humidity (most often the cause of trouble). Then while it's in the oven plug it in and see if it begins reading what your oven is set at. Then try the boiling water test. You may be able to salvage it.-
PBCs have a notorious amount of humidity in them. I've had probes go wonky in my PBC during a cook. Cooked them in the oven and they came back to life. -
Really good point David Parrish! I forgot how moist the environment is in the PBC! Guess I'll give 'em a bake and see what happens. If the probes are failing I will probably upgrade away from the 73. -
The 732 is an upgrade. The 733 and 735 notsomuch, unfortunately.
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I killed the original al mav probe on my 732 when I cleaned it... It runs low compared to the new one. If it's working at all, boil a pot of water and have a glass full of ice water. By noting the reading you can compensate for the diff. Why check two points? To be sure the response remains linear. Then at least you can continue to use it until the replacements arrive. I recall reading somewhere in here Dave (?) managed to ressurect a misbehaving probe by baking it in the oven...Comment
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Although it should be obvious, I ruined a new pair of 6 foot probes by heating them in the oven with the plastic plug-in connectors inside.
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My iGrill did the same thing this weekend, was fighting to keep my turkey temp from the 360 it was stuck at once I closed the vents I realized that couldn't be right, even the grill thermometer was just above 200, it isn't THAT far off. 2 of my probes were reading 100-150 too high. I finished up with yet another probe and tested the next day, one was shot but the one reading the furthest off was right on target again for some reason. I kept it, but I've got my eye on it.Comment
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Well to combat this problem with the MAV (which I have been through several probes with), I just ordered the new Bluetherm from Thermoworks, I should have it in a few days and when I get a chance to find out how it works I will let everyone know just what to expect from it.Comment
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Well, the only thing I can say about the K coupling probes from Thermoworks is that I have never had one fail on me except for the one that I pulled apart by accident, and I even leave a few of mine on my patio which is not covered and are exposed to the elements (and we have had a lot of rain lately). right now I use my probes with the TermaQ and they are very close to perfect as far as accuracy goes but my MAV has always been kind of all over the place with the temp readings, I checked the accuracy about 2 weeks ago and the MAV probes were of by as much as 7 degrees on one of them but the Thermoworks were only 1 degree off on all of the probes that I have which is about 8 at last count. What can I say, I am a Thermoworks fan because I have never had any problems with any of their products from the most expensive that I have to the cheapest one I have and they are all very accurate. Now that being said the Bluetherm could disappoint me but if it does that will be the first of their product to do so.Comment
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I just received the Bluetherm Duo today and first impressions are very good build quality. The unit is a lot heavier than it looks, the APP was easy to download and set up. I checked the acuracy and both probes are within 5 to 6 tenths of a degree from perfect. So far so good, I plan on using it tomorrow and I will let you know how it works. It came with a free Thermopop by the way.Comment
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Wow, free T-pop? That's great! Thanks for the feedback too.Originally posted by vandy View PostComment
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vandy keep us posted!!Comment
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First off this thing is really great at letting you know just what the temps are on the food and the smoker. I have only used it one time so far when I cooked a boston butt and I was able to monitor the Lang smoker and the meat. You can set up favorites so you can have the min and max temps the way you want to cook something so I set up a favorite to cook the boston butt with. The only caveat I have with it is if you have your phone in your pocket and walk out of range for the bluetooth it will loose the connection then when you get back in range and it picks it up again it goes to the default temp setting so you have to change it back to your favorite setting that you were using before going out of range. Not a huge deal but annoying if you are not paying attention to it, but I wish it would pick back up where it left off which would be a lot better. Maybe a software update from Thermoworks would change that? It does have a USB connector on it so that should not be that hard to accomplish. One other thing, the battery still shows full charge even after using it for 8 hours to cook with and a few weeks on the shelf idle but off.Last edited by vandy; January 26, 2016, 09:07 PM.
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Finally back from the far southern reaches of the West Indies - I know, life is tough. Tossed the "problem" probe into the oven at 400 for 20 minutes and put it to the test tonight. Perfect St. Louis ribs for dinner baby!! Even busted my wife grabbing a couple of bones!Comment
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It surely did Huskee. This was also my first cook where i didn't touch the cooker for the entire albeit short 3 hour cook. PBC started at 283 and then dropped to 263 where it "stuck" the rest of the cook. After I removed the ribs I put the lid back on and the cooker rode at 265 for the next 5 hours... Wish I had other stuff to throw on there!
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Yeah, I think that just put me over the edge to cook some ribs. Been a while.Comment
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