While grilling some things this past week I was wondering if how the vents face the wind matters. For instance, if the wind is west to east does having the vent facing the west different than having it face the east, or maybe perpendicular?
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Grilling, no. Smoking, yes. I only turn my grill so I'm upwind from it to keep the smoke out of my face and off my clothes. -
I agree with smoking. It’s a variable however, and depends on the smoker, the type of venting, the way it handles air (reverse flow for instance), temperatures and wind velocity. All have to be dealt with together.
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By the way I like your poodle, is he a standard?Comment
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Hmm, not so much vents, but type of grill. I find that a Weber kettle (sheet metal) is sensitive to wind due to thin material, not vents. A PK360 or a kamado is insensitive to wind in that same regard.
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Wind and ambient temp definitely affect most cooker's performance. I sure there is some venturi effect, but I doubt it is enough to matter (unless you have a very leaker cooker).Comment
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For my kettle smoking, I position the inlet into the wind (aviation thing) so the air flows from inlet to exhaust taking the smoke with it.
For the PBC, I try to keep the inlet out of the wind.
Last edited by HawkerXP; July 31, 2018, 12:53 PM.Comment
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I don't think it makes a difference for me on a short cook. And I use a tem controller with a fan on long cooks, so it makes no difference there either.
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Welcome to The Pit Edgar.Comment
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On my square box I've got four vents - two low and two high - and it's setup to smoke. I always open the lower facing into the breeze, and the upper away from it, to assist driving the smoke through the box. I flip the smoking side as needed, right or left.
No breeze here, at all, this day...
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I had temps get away from me once while using a thermostat and a fan. I believe the top vent was open too much and wind was pushing air through the fan even when it was off. Or the top vent was allowing too much air to be pulled through the fan. One of the two.
I cant really move my cooker very much. The table has wheels, but it is still quite heavy. It can technically be moved, but only if absolutely necessary. However I can see how the vent settings aren’t static. What holds at 250 today may or may not hold at 250 next time. It will depend on weather conditions. Since my smoker is ceramic and I’m way south of anyplace that snows, wind is the biggest factor. It’s either hot or nice and cool, never cold. It rains a lot, but ceramic cookers are very well insulated. Even heavy rain won’t sap a lot of heat out. Not like a metal cooker anyway.
I would vote "maybe". If the winds are really cranking and your intake is into the wind, yea more air will be forced through. You can compensate for that but on long cooks if the wind dies down or changes direction you may have to open or close vents depending on which way it goes.
Comments anout facing the intake into the wind and the outlet downwind makes sense to me. It would tend to push air through in the correct way. But my cooker is immune to that as the outlet is directly over the intake. It’s just how Kamados are built, not necessarily better or worse.
If winds in your area get too strong (my winds tend to be light and variable unless a thunder storm pushes through, and REALLY strong but highly predictable if a hurricane hits) you can construct a windbreaker, or move the cooker to the leeward side of the house. But that would be useful mostly for very long unattended cooks. Vent settings would be more constant.Comment
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I went for the Primo XL, I can set that up for dual zone. It’s not really "better" then other options, just different. I am confident that I can leave it going overnight and no matter how hard it rains it’s good. It’s crazy efficient, a full load of coals and it’s goid for as long as you need. But it won’t make "better" food. It’s all good
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Ambient temperature and humidity seem to be bigger inputs to my pit temp, but then my pit area is in kind of a dead zone as far as wind is concerned. That being said I haven't cooked on ether the PBJr. or the SnS during real Santa Ana conditions when the wind is strong and blows from the east right into my pit area, so...Comment
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On my kamado it absolutely makes a difference. I've got a Grilldome XL, and fired her up to sear the heck out of some steaks. When the vent was perpendicular to the wind, it got plenty hot, but only around 500. I had a stiff wind blowing through the back yard so I faced the vent into the wind and boy did the flames get a going. It was basically a constant billow on the coals. Blue flames were shooting out the top, my it was a thing of beauty...but a bit scary at the same time.
Gassers and pellet feeders no difference in my opinion.Comment
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We really need to know what cooker you're speaking of. With my kettle I say no. My stickburner is a big YES.Comment
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