I’ve been running my PBC with the standard vent opening for quite awhile and it works great. However, a few years back I started using a FireBoard to monitor my cooks. It’s a great piece of equipment that really opened my eyes to what was going on in my PBC regarding temps. I also began seeing posts on here about how people were starting to use ATC methods for their PBC cooks. While the PBC is pretty much a “set it and forget it” cooker, there are times when it does get a little too hot and I then have to plug the hanging rod holes with foil to get it back under control.
In reading posts from Kathryn and seeing how she was able to use the FireBoard Drive program in combination with a fan from BBQ Guru to cook at 250° (or lower) I was intrigued. When I monitored the temps with my Fireboard and kept playing with the foil in the hanging rod holes, I could get it down to about 275° but not consistently. It was always a struggle to keep finessing it to maintain that low of a temp so in most instances I just ran it as it was normally built, and the temps would run about 300° - give or take.
Anyway, the opportunity to run it at a steady 250° would really open the door to a “low and slow” cook so I decided to move forward with installing a fan. I saw that several folks had installed an XL Dome Adapter to work with the Pit Viper or Pit Bull fans so I contacted BBQ Guru about ordering one. They told me that they were designing a specific adapter for the PBC and to give them a few weeks to get a prototype built. Well, weeks turned to months, and still no adapter so I started looking around for other vendors that might have an adapter.
I found that pitmasterIQ made an adapter (link) for the PBC along with SmartFire (link) but I couldn’t determine if a Pit Viper/Bull fan would mate directly with either of them. So, I contacted BBQ Guru one last time to get an update on the status of their PBC adapter and was told that they were no longer planning to make one. I told them that I then wanted to go ahead and order the XL Dome Adapter. They told me that the XL Dome Adapter didn’t work with PBCs and that they were no longer making it... oh well, on to Plan B.
I ordered the adapters from both SmartFire and pitmasterIQ to see which would work with the Pit Viper/Bull fans. The adapter from pitmasterIQ was an easy install on my PBC but unfortunately, my Pit Viper fan would not mate with it. However, I ordered their IQ hose (link) and when I installed it my Pit Viper plugged right in and worked great.
The adapter from SmartFire came in but it wasn’t an easy install like the other one. It is a heavy-duty piece of metal and will have to be bent to properly form to your PBC. There are detailed instructions on their website as to how to bend it to form to the curvature of your PBC. However, the Pit Viper fan would not fit this adapter either – it was just a little too small, but I believe that it could be easily modified so that it would work. I quick horizontal or vertical saw cut should allow you to slightly increase the diameter of the opening so the fan would easily slide in. When I have some more time, I will work on the SmartFire adapter and see if it might be a viable option.
Since the adapter and hose from pitmasterIQ worked just fine I went ahead and installed it. While the original bolt and nut that’s part of the PBC vent hole cover works great for holding their adapter on, if I was going to permanently install it on my PBC I would drill at least two more holes to firmly secure it so that it wouldn’t shift or move when installing or removing the fan hose. Even with this install working great, I was still hoping to find an adapter like the XL dome that a Pit Viper/Bull fan would easily plug into. So, I went back to the BBQ Guru website to see what I could find. After perusing all of their adapters I settled on their3/4 inch Threaded Adapter (link). I knew that it would require me to drill a hole to install it but I decided it was worth a try so I ordered one.
Once it arrived, I verified that it would work just fine so I went to the opposite side of the PBC from where the existing vent hole was and drilled an opening to install it. To keep the airflow the same, I drilled it so that the adapter opening would be the exact distance from the PBC floor as the other adapters that fit the opening on the other side. I used a step drill bit and quickly got the hole to the exact size of the adapter threading, installed it, and locked it down with a nut on the backside. It’s a solid installation with no air leakage at all and the Pit Viper fan easily plugs in and out.
I put the original vent cover back on the other side but found out that it did not close the opening completely as it’s the exact piece that was cut from the PBC to create the vent hole. With the screw installed it’s positioned so that there will always be a slight opening which is normally not an issue. However, with a fan running I don’t want any additional airflow, so I just put the pitmasterIQ adapter back on and installed the plug that came with it – problem solved. You could also install the original cover and use some type of heat-resistant tape to cover the hole which is what I would have done if I didn’t already have the extra adapter.
I’ve included some photos that show the installations along with the various adapters. I also have measurements of the adapter openings in case you might want to use a different fan and need to know if it will work. Just let me know if you have any questions and I’ll do my best to answer them.
Was it worth it? Now that I’ve completed a few ATC cooks I’m extremely happy with the results. I can easily monitor and manage the entire cook from the FireBoard app on my phone. I hope this shows you some of the available adapter options if you want to use one of the fans from BBQ Guru.
In reading posts from Kathryn and seeing how she was able to use the FireBoard Drive program in combination with a fan from BBQ Guru to cook at 250° (or lower) I was intrigued. When I monitored the temps with my Fireboard and kept playing with the foil in the hanging rod holes, I could get it down to about 275° but not consistently. It was always a struggle to keep finessing it to maintain that low of a temp so in most instances I just ran it as it was normally built, and the temps would run about 300° - give or take.
Anyway, the opportunity to run it at a steady 250° would really open the door to a “low and slow” cook so I decided to move forward with installing a fan. I saw that several folks had installed an XL Dome Adapter to work with the Pit Viper or Pit Bull fans so I contacted BBQ Guru about ordering one. They told me that they were designing a specific adapter for the PBC and to give them a few weeks to get a prototype built. Well, weeks turned to months, and still no adapter so I started looking around for other vendors that might have an adapter.
I found that pitmasterIQ made an adapter (link) for the PBC along with SmartFire (link) but I couldn’t determine if a Pit Viper/Bull fan would mate directly with either of them. So, I contacted BBQ Guru one last time to get an update on the status of their PBC adapter and was told that they were no longer planning to make one. I told them that I then wanted to go ahead and order the XL Dome Adapter. They told me that the XL Dome Adapter didn’t work with PBCs and that they were no longer making it... oh well, on to Plan B.
I ordered the adapters from both SmartFire and pitmasterIQ to see which would work with the Pit Viper/Bull fans. The adapter from pitmasterIQ was an easy install on my PBC but unfortunately, my Pit Viper fan would not mate with it. However, I ordered their IQ hose (link) and when I installed it my Pit Viper plugged right in and worked great.
The adapter from SmartFire came in but it wasn’t an easy install like the other one. It is a heavy-duty piece of metal and will have to be bent to properly form to your PBC. There are detailed instructions on their website as to how to bend it to form to the curvature of your PBC. However, the Pit Viper fan would not fit this adapter either – it was just a little too small, but I believe that it could be easily modified so that it would work. I quick horizontal or vertical saw cut should allow you to slightly increase the diameter of the opening so the fan would easily slide in. When I have some more time, I will work on the SmartFire adapter and see if it might be a viable option.
Since the adapter and hose from pitmasterIQ worked just fine I went ahead and installed it. While the original bolt and nut that’s part of the PBC vent hole cover works great for holding their adapter on, if I was going to permanently install it on my PBC I would drill at least two more holes to firmly secure it so that it wouldn’t shift or move when installing or removing the fan hose. Even with this install working great, I was still hoping to find an adapter like the XL dome that a Pit Viper/Bull fan would easily plug into. So, I went back to the BBQ Guru website to see what I could find. After perusing all of their adapters I settled on their3/4 inch Threaded Adapter (link). I knew that it would require me to drill a hole to install it but I decided it was worth a try so I ordered one.
Once it arrived, I verified that it would work just fine so I went to the opposite side of the PBC from where the existing vent hole was and drilled an opening to install it. To keep the airflow the same, I drilled it so that the adapter opening would be the exact distance from the PBC floor as the other adapters that fit the opening on the other side. I used a step drill bit and quickly got the hole to the exact size of the adapter threading, installed it, and locked it down with a nut on the backside. It’s a solid installation with no air leakage at all and the Pit Viper fan easily plugs in and out.
I put the original vent cover back on the other side but found out that it did not close the opening completely as it’s the exact piece that was cut from the PBC to create the vent hole. With the screw installed it’s positioned so that there will always be a slight opening which is normally not an issue. However, with a fan running I don’t want any additional airflow, so I just put the pitmasterIQ adapter back on and installed the plug that came with it – problem solved. You could also install the original cover and use some type of heat-resistant tape to cover the hole which is what I would have done if I didn’t already have the extra adapter.
I’ve included some photos that show the installations along with the various adapters. I also have measurements of the adapter openings in case you might want to use a different fan and need to know if it will work. Just let me know if you have any questions and I’ll do my best to answer them.
Was it worth it? Now that I’ve completed a few ATC cooks I’m extremely happy with the results. I can easily monitor and manage the entire cook from the FireBoard app on my phone. I hope this shows you some of the available adapter options if you want to use one of the fans from BBQ Guru.
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