Weber kettle won't go below 300 even with bottom vent completely closed

[Huskee]

phoccer Ok good. Next just-in-case question- have you done what I call the lazy man's calibration of your ET 732... turn it on with the probes both in your home where you know the actual temp, or outside if you know the actual temp? Turn it on and make sure they're with a couple degrees? I ask this because Mav probes have a history of getting moisture or humidity in the probe & wire joint and reading high or crazy high. There's an easy fix for that if that's the case. On occasion I'll plug mine in and in my 68 degree house it might read 111 or 184 or something. If by chance you had that happen you could've been cooking at 180 and it was telling you 300.

[phoccer]

Good to know. It registered 70 in house before I hooked it up so it's accurate. I had also been using it with my old setup recently(Weber 18 Gold w/Smokenator) and was able to keep consistent temps with that setup.

[phoccer]

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who commented on this thread. I was reminded of a lot of good info that I had forgotten to check. I was in a groove with my old setup and could hit temp zones easily just adjusting the bottom vent. Going to this new setup I had forgotten many of the basics(lid fit, role of the top vent, how many coals to start with etc). Thanks for the reminders and the new info(verifying my 732 is reading correctly, clips to help seal the lid, trying a gasket, efficiency of my new setup). Thanks to all of the comments and little nuggets of info I'm doing a dry-run again this morning and it took an hour to hit 180 and I've kept it in the 180-190 range. I started with 8 lit coals today and put 4 clips on the lid. Yes, that's low for where I will cook but great that I can get that low as I know how to bump temps up into the range I want from here(start with 12 lit, open the vents a bit). Going up 30 to 60 degrees is easy. Thanks again for all of the comments, tips, and reminders.

[fuzzydaddy]

Great to hear!

[David Parrish]

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who commented on this thread. I was reminded of a lot of good info that I had forgotten to check. I was in a groove with my old setup and could hit temp zones easily just adjusting the bottom vent. Going to this new setup I had forgotten many of the basics(lid fit, role of the top vent, how many coals to start with etc). Thanks for the reminders and the new info(verifying my 732 is reading correctly, clips to help seal the lid, trying a gasket, efficiency of my new setup). Thanks to all of the comments and little nuggets of info I'm doing a dry-run again this morning and it took an hour to hit 180 and I've kept it in the 180-190 range. I started with 8 lit coals today and put 4 clips on the lid. Yes, that's low for where I will cook but great that I can get that low as I know how to bump temps up into the range I want from here(start with 12 lit, open the vents a bit). Going up 30 to 60 degrees is easy. Thanks again for all of the comments, tips, and reminders.

Glad we could help!

[phoccer]

I know this is an old thread but thought I'd provide an update in case others come across it and it helps.

ordered a gasket and that didn't help my soaring temps at all. Not sure why I didn't follow the KISS method earlier but I didn't. Today I decided I didn't want the gasket on any more since it wasn't helping so I spent 2 1/2 hours getting every last bit of it off the lid, I can be patient when I want. Before I started removal, I set the lid down on the ground. For some reason I pushed on it a little bit and noticed how much the lid moved before it was flat on the ground(garage floor). Well, duh. It finally hit me the lid is way out of shape. No clue how I missed that before. So I now have a 60lb sand bag sitting on the lid in the garage getting it back into shape. Now the base could be off as well but it's all installed and I don't feel like taking that apart at this time to double check the shape. We'll see how reshaping the lid goes and I know that clips work so that's always my fall back. I'd like to get things "just working" without anything extra(clips, gasket, etc). We'll see how it goes. Moral of the story is to check the shape of the lid AND base BEFORE putting it all together. Live and learn.

[EdF]

Sounds promising!

[JeffJ]

I have found myself not properly closing the lid on rare occasions. Obviously, an out-of-shape lid is going to allow oxygen to reach the fire. Glad to see you diagnosed your problem. Hopefully, you can reshape the lid. If not, Weber has replacement parts for just about everything.

[OneEyedJack]

Since I started using the SnS, I've been very careful not to drop the kettle lid or bang it on anything. I use 4 binder clips and have been successful at controlling the grill temps.

[phoccer]

I can use 4 clips and achieve the temps I want but I'd love to get things working so I don't need clips, just drop on the lid and go. Looks like I finally got it! Started with vents at 1/4 intake and 1/4 exhaust. I hit 291 after an hour. Decided to close down intake to a sliver and exhaust to a sliver and I've got my temp down to 265! I started with a bunch of old coals that I lit so I may have started with too much heat and may be able to get even lower if I start with only 6 or 8 lit coals. I'm sure I'll keep tinkering with the lid and base shape to make sure I've got it set but just reshaping the lid looks like it did the trick! Woo hoo!

[EdF]

Glad you were able to figure it out yourself!

[phoccer]

Had a lot of good pointers in these forums. Glad I finally noticed the lid! Still shaking my head that I hadn't noticed that before. Got temps down to 250 now so I'm super excited to have things working this well.