Getting Frustrated with Temperature Control

[fkrall]

"I think the key was making small adjustments and patience." Agree in spades!

[pknj]

Satchelpig I have the WSCG, the Fireboard, and the Fireboard fan and I had very similar issues with what happened for you. I replaced the fan with the PitViper and never had the issue again. I think the problem, at least in my humble experimentation, was that the Fireboard fan would run like mad to get the temps up originally, so the fire got too big too fast, then shut off completely, which cut off all of the air, causing the temps to drop too fast, then the fan would fire up to a high level, causing the fire to overheat, then it would shut off....repeat, repeat, repeat.

One fix was to try to get the fire close to desired temp first, as others have said, manually before using the drive fan, which worked a lot better for me. I think the PitViper is just a more efficient fan that works better for cookers like mine and heavy Kamados sized like your cooker, as @tiewunon noted. Again, I have had no issues since I switched, even if I start the fan right after I light the fire.

[rickgregory]

Satchelpig, I feel your pain. I did some short ribs yesterday and was looking for 225 degrees in the cooker. Got the charcoal lit, put the ribs on, and installed all the probes. Used a SNS Deluxe set up for two zones, Kingsford briquettes, and a Maverick XR Pro. Temp fluctuated up and down between 200 and 250 for about an hour making small adjustments to the vents. I finally hit a sweet spot at 206 and was happy (I had all day so a little extra time in the cooker was no problem). Ribs came off at 203 degrees internal. They were excellent! .I think the key was making small adjustments and patience.

Don't get obsessed with precisely the right temp. It does not matter for most cooks. Your oven will swing more widely that that, btw. And finally... there's nothing sacred about 225. Use it if you want, of course, but I doubt those ribs would have tasted much different at 250 or 275.

[steve weston]

Satchelpig, I feel your pain. I did some short ribs yesterday and was looking for 225 degrees in the cooker. Got the charcoal lit, put the ribs on, and installed all the probes. Used a SNS Deluxe set up for two zones, Kingsford briquettes, and a Maverick XR Pro. Temp fluctuated up and down between 200 and 250 for about an hour making small adjustments to the vents. I finally hit a sweet spot at 206 and was happy (I had all day so a little extra time in the cooker was no problem). Ribs came off at 203 degrees internal. They were excellent! .I think the key was making small adjustments and patience.

[Argoboy]

He is in the wrong country to win anything.

[tiewunon]

Silly me I reread all the threads and noticed you bought the fan offered by Fireboard. That fan is made by Auber Instruments and to be truthful that fan is too big for a Kamado. Will it work? Yes.
Auber instruments on their webpage offers an adapter for the lower damper that makes mounting that fan almost fool proof. Its cheap think under $5 and well worth it. Its very simular to the adapter plates that any Flameboss users on the forum utilize.
One nice thing about the Auber fans is they have that flapper that closes once the fan shuts off to prevent back flow/ air leaks.
Not sure why Fireboard only offers that 20 or 25 cfm fan when Auber offers a 6 cfm and 10 cfm fan which is more in line with the pit viper from BBQ Guru or the Flameboss fan.

[ecowper]

The Fireboard fan (which is an Auberin) does not work that way. The vent is either open or closed and the fan is what controls the amount of air going through the vent.

[ecowper]

Your comment that we are cooking with a fire, not with a kamado is brilliant. And it applies to all cooking, actually. Whether on a kamado, a kettle, a gas grill, or your kitchen stove. You are not cooking with the stove, you are cooking with the heat created by the burner. The stove controls the heat. The heat cooks the food. You have to control the tool and it will control the fire.

[tiewunon]

Sorry in my last bullet it should "...fan output along the bottom of the graph."
Its usually their in green and by output percentage.

[tiewunon]

- I have been playing with Kamado's for quiite a few -years. I do not have an SNS. However I have a Kikuya Hibatchi Pot, couple of BGE's and a Primo XL.
- I have a few controllers laying around Digi Q DX2, Flameboss 200, Fireboard and a Smobot.
- With your Fireboard setup what fan are you using?
- Have you changed any of the fan output percentages?
- Where do you have the pit probe placed in relationship to the guest of honor (meat)
- Are you letting the fan bring you up to temperature in steps or our you shooting for the whole enchilada in one step? Neither is wrong I have done both.
- Additionally have you done the dollar bill test between the dome and base of the Kamado to check for air leaks?
- With my 3 fan based controllers whetet cooking on a LBGE, MBGE or Primo XL my daisy wheel is only ever open about the width of a dime and in a couple of instances it has been closed.
- BTW I do not see your fan output on right side of your graph. Might be because I am looking at this via phone.

[Mosca]

Got it. On the pit viper fan, there is a slider that mechanically controls the size of the opening. I usually have mine set at about 1/4. As shown in the picture below.

[Satchelpig]

Mosca - yes. It’s controlled electronically. I have tried re-installing this morning — checked the gasket for a firm seal, and made sure there was no gap between the regular dampers and the adapter. Running a test now. My best guess is that the gasket was not on properly.

[Mosca]

Is there a damper on the fan that allows you to control the volume of airflow?

[Skip]

I agree SmokeyGator , I've had trouble maintaining a 225-250 temp in my BGE with a controller until I lit a smaller fire and closed the fan vent to 1/2 or less so the fan didn't over feed air to the lump charcoal. You'll get there Satchelpig .

[Satchelpig]

IowaGirl Mosca Henrik - ran my experiment last night and reached two conclusions. One, we were right about fire size.

The other conclusion I reached, though, is that there's some kind of issue with the way I've installed my fan that results in airflow even when it's off. When I removed the fan and shut the dampers, temperatures dropped precipitously almost immediately in the way you'd expect after a cook, rather than extended hours of higher temperatures. I'd welcome any advice on how I might fix this. I purchased the fan that FireBoard offers, which has a rectangular port that slides into the lower vent, along with a rubber gasket. I also bought an adapter to ensure a fit with my kamado's vent size. The installation instructions were weak and didn't really address how to integrate with the adapter, so I'm guessing that I've made a mistake on the installation of some kind.