Test run with the Auber Fan on the Pit Barrel....

[Jerod Broussard]

Twas grilling, that's right, TWAS grilling some burgers. Wanted a 400 pit temp, so I plugged in the fan to help things out.

Had no problem maintaing temp, however, it did blow smoke out the intake vent when in operation. I planned to close down or close off the intake on the brisket cooks anyway.

Worked pretty darn good. I have a brisket and a butt to cook Saturday night.

Burgers were awesome, and they even had that cute little smoke ring that only ground meat can give you.

After about 7-8 minutes, the Maverick and Auber probes got within 5 degrees of each other. They weren't right next to each other so some difference was expected, but 396 and 391 was fine with me.

The Auber has done a fine job of not over shooting. Though not critical, it is neat to watch that thing "think" things out. Even when shooting up to 400 degrees.

[_John_]

looking good, full load of coals for those burgers?

[Jerod Broussard]

Nah, I piled a nice little mound in the middle of B & B and some Kingsford on top to help with light up.

Maybe 25 briquettes total, if that.

[DWCowles]

Jerod Broussard you sure you're not making moonshine 😊

[Jerod Broussard]

I'm a spamshiner, got a whole hog burning up in that dude!!!

[JPP]

That is one well used maverick readi-chek! Mine is a whole lot shinier....

[Jerod Broussard]

2 years, NO cleaning.

[Marauderer]

Jerod Broussard, don't ever clean it as long as it works. I think some Mavericks die because folks clean them to much.

[Jerod Broussard]

That is probably true with the probes. That unit in the pic somehow ended up in the yard and got RAINED ON over night. Never missed a beat.

[eschrank]

Where did you place your mounting hole? I have been running my pbc with a heater meter but my fan is blowing all the time and I can't seem to stabilize the temp. I did put my fan just over the top of the coals. Might be my mistake!

[Jerod Broussard]

I put it as low as I could to mimic the intake height. I went too low for the conduit nut and almost had to drill another hole just a tad higher. Looking in the pipe I can see that a little bit of air is going under the charcoal basket. I will place some flashing to block that. My ash pan raised things up a bit.

I got 4-5 butts and a brisket to cook this weekend. I should get a good run or two with it and close off the intake on the first one to see how that jives.

[JPP]

I wonder if it would also work by having the fan pull air into the barrel via the intake rather than blow it in? Of course you don't want it to pull air down from the rebar holes, but maybe if the draw isn't too high, it'd take the path of least resistance, I.e. the original intake... Perhaps too tricky as it might pull heat out of the barrel

[Jerod Broussard]

That was my original plan, and may try later, to put an angled valve attachment on one of my pipes, to see if I could get more suction. The fan would be blowing at an upward angle on the top of one pipe.

[eschrank]

Let me know how it works out. I wanted to avoid drilling another hole! I was assuming my position is too high, but that might not be the issue. I think the issue with my fan running continuously is that it is pushing the the heat right out of the vent holes. I also think I may not have gotten a good light on my trial run. Will give it another shot this weekend.

[CurlingDog]

remember... every angle/corner in the air path from source to target reduces efficiency by 25-30%. Shortest distance between the two will be a straight line. Ymmv.