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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?
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
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
Last edited by glitchy; September 10, 2021, 10:34 AM.
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!
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.
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.
Then again I have always enjoyed trying to play out the things I ponder with a cold beer and a slow day.
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