SNS Kamado + Fan Controller

[jhapka]

Pardon my ramblings, I know the SnS kamado doesn’t have a huge following. I’ve been in problem solving mode over this one for awhile so I thought I’d leave it here in case anybody runs into this issue in the future. I’ll get some pics and results up when my plan is complete.

Kamado cooking in the cold is great with the exception of the initial preheat. When that ceramic and the air around it starts so cold, it can take hours just to get up to 225 with the vents wide open.

I decided to use my FireBoard and pit viper to kickstart the fire. Temp control is a dream without it, but I don’t always have two hours to passively heat the thing up.

In traditional kamado mode the air from the fan flows straight through the fire. It heats up quick and holds steady. My go-to for overnight cooks. The advantages of SnS mode are access to the fire, knowing the path of the fire for wood placement, and the ability to get clean smoke at very low cooking temps.

In SnS mode the air inlet is far away from the fire. Some air goes into the fire and some goes straight up into the cooking chamber. This causes the air around the probe to cool and the PID responds by running the fan harder, causing the air to cool more. The feedback loop causes more and more cold air to enter the cooker as the fire gets extremely hot. Once the fire is hot enough to overcome the influx of cold air the fan shuts down and the overly hot fire shoots the cooker temp past the setpoint. Rinse and repeat. There is a cyclical rise and fall of temp that is proportional to the max fan speed setting.

The BBQ Guru adapter is the exact height of the slider, so it requires removing and reinstalling two bolts to slide into place. This makes removing the adapter mid cook impossible. My options: not use the fan, use the fan and accept the inefficient temp swings, or go traditional kamado mode with fan until summer.

I realized at work today that if the adapter plate was trimmed, I would need the expander clip it came with. The expander clip would allow me to place the fan adapter until the fan got the cooker heated up, and then remove it to use my predetermined vent settings. Voila.

[Attjack]

Have you tried using a chimney to dump a load of hot coals in? Seems like that should get you up to temp pretty quick.

[jhapka]

Attjack I’ve been itching to, but the kamado gurus seem to have consensus on using the starter cube in the coals method. I’ll give it a shot and see how I like it. I do acknowledge the fire has to grow as the kamado heats up to avoid getting the fire too hot before the ceramic heat soaks. Shouldn’t matter if I’m not going low and slow.

[Attjack]

For what it's worth I use a starter cube and a fan to start my kamado. In fact, I'm bout to go light on right now.

[jhapka]

Attjack definitely going to be my go-to until it warms up next year.

[David Parrish]

Have you tried using a chimney to dump a load of hot coals in? Seems like that should get you up to temp pretty quick.

I demonstrate this technique in a video:

[jhapka]

Love the basement steaks setup. No waiting for the coals to get to searing strength after going slow on the front end.

[David Parrish]

In SnS mode the air inlet is far away from the fire. Some air goes into the fire and some goes straight up into the cooking chamber. This causes the air around the probe to cool and the PID responds by running the fan harder, causing the air to cool more. The feedback loop causes more and more cold air to enter the cooker as the fire gets extremely hot. Once the fire is hot enough to overcome the influx of cold air the fan shuts down and the overly hot fire shoots the cooker temp past the setpoint. Rinse and repeat. There is a cyclical rise and fall of temp that is proportional to the max fan speed setting.

Pretty close! But this isn't exactly how TurboSlow works. It's actually bypass heat, not just air. If you have our Drip 'N Griddle pan in place, which comes with the deluxe model, then the intake air will be swept over to the SnS. We explain Turboslow better here: https://snsgrills.com/pages/slow-n-s...nal-highlights?afmc=amazingribs

If you leave the top vent open no more than a setting of 1, the TurboSlow effect doesn't come into play and your thermostatic controller will work as the manufacturer intended.

[David Parrish]

Yep it's because the heat/air is coming from the SnS side, not the indirect side. The solution is just keep the top vent set to 1 or less. Only downside is you won't get the enhanced smoke from the TurboSlow effect. Thermostatic controllers's logic doesn't take TurboSlow into account, so they end up pushing more air than necessary, and you get the yo yo temps. If you think about it, this actually proves TurboSlow works!

[jhapka]

David Parrish makes total sense. I’ve been setting the max fan speed on the FireBoard to 10% with improved results. I still think the best solution is to use the fan to kick up the fire during the preheat and then remove it to let the kamado run au naturel so it heats up fast AND I get turboslow.

[jhapka]

For low and slow that is. Dumping lit coals for everything above 300 in the winter seems like the way to go

[Attjack]

Dave Parrish Since you're here I have a question for you. My XR-50 and DigiQ DX2 have been a little out of sync for a while. Just now I had to replace the batteries in the XR-50 (for the first time) and low and behold they are perfectly in sync again. In your experience have you noticed accuracy dropping off at the end of battery life?

[David Parrish]

I have not, but my guess is that's what happened.

[Attjack]

I'm glad both devices are still accurate. Now I know what to check first next time.

[jfmorris]

jhapka is this the adapter you got to make the fan attach to your SNS Kamado?

https://bbqguru.com/storenav/Index?c...&&productId=14

I have a PartyQ, which is basically the Pit Viper fan with the controller attached to it, run from 4 AA batteries. I watched the Guru adapter install video for other ceramics such as the BGE, and there they show installing it without needing to remove screws. If I have to unbolt the intake vent, I may just keep controlling the fire manually on my SNS Kamado. Or buy the adapter and cut it down so that it slips in place without removing the vent frame.

The adapter above claims to fit for slides down to 2.25 inches in height - the one on the SNS Kamado measures 2.75", but opening is just under 2.25 inches, likely why you had to remove bolts. I am thinking cutting this adapter down just slightly would solve the issue and make it install easier on our kamado model.

[jhapka]

jfmorris yep that’s the adapter I got. It’s expandable and at its minimum size it would need to be slid in directly from the side, but those Allen bolts prevent that. I ended up cutting a strip off the bottom so I can put that in the lower groove and then push the expander up into the top groove. Works great in kamado mode, I don’t use it in SnS mode because you have to close the top vent down so much to get solid temps and the smoke wasn’t great in my particular experience.

[jfmorris]

jhapka thanks - you confirmed what I thought. I will probably buy one at some point to have the fan controller as an option in kamado mode. I read the comments above from David Parrish and it seems that the fan controller won't be as good in turbo slow mode with the SNS. So far I've been happy without the fan, but was just thinking I ought to have an adapter just in case I want to use it.