What would happen if I....

[RDSBandit]

These holes are on the back of my Pit Boss smoker. I'm curious, what would happen if I were to plug 3 of them up? What if I left the farthest away from the fire pot unplugged?

What would happen if I plugged up all 4?

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

Generally with pellet grills, altering airflow will greatly affect performance. Be it low or max temp, or increase/reduce temp evenness across the grill... If you are adamant about trying it, shove some foil in one at a time and log what happens? But I would guess they are there for a reason

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

My guess is you would cause flame out situations if you plugged all 4. If your intent is to get more smoke flavor, you have to augment the smoke with a smoke tube/tray or buy a better grill. That's not a knock on pit boss, but the cheaper pellet grills don't impart a lot of smoke, they do a pretty decent job at cooking with smoke below 250 though.

[RDSBandit]

No, I'm not adamant about it or anything. I was just curious.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

we love experiments here, plug a hole or two and see what happens... just don't do it with an expensive meal on the grates

[RDSBandit]

I can do that! I like expiration as well.

Do you think corks or a dowel rod would be better than the aluminum foil?

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

If it were me, I'd use foil, cheaper, can handle heat ok, and will actually fit each hole?

[RDSBandit]

Doh!

Stupid auto correct. That was supposed to be experimentation.

[Huskee]

Do you have sheet magnets?

[DavidNorcross]

I would probably not mess with it. Just me and I have no reason. I just look at it like they are there for a reason. Curious to see what you find out.

[Huskee]

I would place 4 or 5 grate probes in the corners and center and chart temps as is for a good while, then plug a hole or two and chart them, etc. See what diff it makes.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

That's what I would do too. I know I messed around with stuff on my MAK. just to give me an idea of why... I'd smoke with a vent blocked, or with the warming box left open... I will say in may case I did nothing but validate that every vent serves a purpose Then again I have always enjoyed trying to play out the things I ponder with a cold beer and a slow day.

[Bkhuna]

You could always contact the manufacturer and them why they are there.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

I could be very wrong, but in my experience the tech support folks for mass made budget products tend to read you verbatim what's in the manual. I highly doubt this is a question they would be prepared for. Could make for an entertaining chat log.

[glitchy]

Does the grill have a stack too or is that your exhaust?

I think I saw in another post that you have a PB Ranch Hand? If so, that appears to be your exhaust, so I wouldn't recommend plugging them. Generally, pellet grills run better on more airflow than less and from some things I've seen posted other places lately, Pit Boss might be a little more susceptible to flame outs that other pellet grills. Reducing air flow would increase that risk.

One thing I have learned with exhaust systems like that is that you have to be cognizant of wind. If there's a strong wind blowing straight into them it can affect getting to temp and temp stability.

[RDSBandit]

No, no stack. You are correct, the holes are for the exhaust. (Best as i can tell.)

And, yes, you are correct, it's a PB Ranch hand. (I'm really surprised anyone but me would remember what I had.)

I never really considered what direction the wind is coming from. I'll have to keep that in mind from now. That's something I should have thought about, it just slipped my mind. Thank you!

[glitchy]

RDSBandit I really didn’t remember you grill, you joined more recently so I found you intro thread ;-) Most people don’t think about the wind either. I really learned how sensitive some grills are to it with the SmokeFire. A 15 mph wind straight in the back and it might never get to temp, turned grill 90 degrees and there in a few minutes.

[bbqLuv]

Use white bread for the test. Depending on how the sliced bread browns or blackens shows how the grill is cooking.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

I agree, I think flameouts would be likely. I replaced the firepot in my Traegar with one with supposed "improved" design. Got constant flameouts. I ended up buying one from Traegar and noticed 2 less holes - bam, flameouts gone.

[FireMan]

Just curious? Music to my ears. Plug em, unplug em & don’t ferget to take some pics!