Rec Tec Mini won't hold temp... Any advice?

[Butterman]

Thanks rat88. The temperature itself seems to be relatively accurate, its just that the temperature keeps going up way past the setpoint. I put my Maverick probe in to compare and while they aren't the same, they are staying within the same general range and go up and down together. Can't hurt to give it a quick unplug/plug though. That is pretty easy to get at if I remember correctly.

I did have a problem when I first bought the unit where the RTD was cut and temps were going up and down wildly, literally up and down a few hundred degrees very few seconds. Needed a replacement RTD for that.

[Butterman]

Update on this for me. I dropped the minimum feed rate to the lowest recommended level for the mini. Put a pork shoulder in today for pulled pork. Put it on around 7am. For the first several hours I kept very accurate temperatures at 225. In the afternoon hours now that it's gotten much hotter outside the temperature is spiking up again. Not dropped below 250 in some time.

They suggest propping up the door a bit with a foil ball and it does seem to help. It is 95+ degrees here so I get it at some level. Still seems like it would be able to keep this temp. I will ping them again on Monday to see if there is anything else I can try.

[RAGBBQ]

Hey Butterman, did you ever get a resolution to the temperature issue on your Rec Tec? I am having a similar issue on my RT 680, and so far, they have not been able to fix it. They sent me a new controller, and when that did not help, they sent me a new RTD. Still having issues.....

[Butterman]

Sorry I didn’t see this sooner, but I haven’t been on the site in a while. No they did not have a fix for me. The foil ball helps. The other thing that I’ve seen is that the smoker being in the direct sun seems to make this more prevalent. I have it under an umbrella most of the time now and that also seems to help.

Ive learned to deal with it because the only times I really see it bad is when it’s very hot.

Hope this helps a bit.

[RAGBBQ]

Thanks for the info. Seems to be a similar issue that I have. I am still working with them on it. It appears to be a rare issue, so you and I and a few others have it.

[Sweaty Paul]

The back of my house faces directly west and I live in Western Kansas. I have a much harder time in the summer managing temps on my smokers when the sun is blazing down on 90+degree days. Agree with at least trying to shade your smoker. I moved mine to the east side of my garage to hide it from sun in the summer.

[treesmacker]

My problems with this seem to be related to the southwest sun directly hitting the unit as well. I'll try to see if this affects it for sure.

[treesmacker]

I was having a similar problem with my Rec Tec Trailblazer after I started using Pacific Pellets. I can't say for sure if this was the problem, but I scooped all of those pellets out of the hopper and then ran at full until all of the pellets fed through and burned; basically running with no pellets. Then I cleaned out the hot pot with vacuum and reloaded with Rec Tec pellets. For the next cook, it held perfect temperature, just like when it was new. So, I'm not sure if this was it, and will continue to experiment. For now, I ordered and received 40 pounds of Rec Tec pellets, and 40 pounds of CookinPellets Perfect Mix. I'll continue to use these for the low and slow stuff, and will use up the Pacific Pellets for the higher temp cooks. Amazon Prime has free shipping for both Rec Tec pellets, and CookinPellets Perfect Mix. I'm happy with the flavor from Pacific Pellets, but not sure if they cause the temp variance. In any case, the Rec Tec and CookinPellets provide perfect smoke and flavor at just twice the cost of Pacific pellets. Also, the burn rate on Rec Tec and CookinPellets is very good, and very little ash.

[treesmacker]

Note: ambient temps have cooled considerably from about 80 degrees F to 50 degrees, so this could be a factor as well.

[RAGBBQ]

The cooling ambient temps have most likely helped, but Rec Tec advertises that the temps should hold. As I suggested before, if you run into the issue again, reduce the feed rate and that should help. I suggest you call Rec Tec to obtain the proper feed rate.