Is stainless steel pellet cooker better insulation?

[treesmacker]

From my experience, stainless steel is not the best conductor of heat. i wonder if the new stainless steel Rec Tecs will work better in cold weather cooking, being they are stainless steel.

[Jerod Broussard]

Even though the thermal diffusivity of stainless steel is about 3x less than regular steel, I've never heard anyone tout the insulation properties of stainless steel on a cooker. Regardless, I'm a sucker for the looks of stainless.

[Troutman]

he said "diffusivity"

[EdF]

Don't be teasing!

[jfmorris]

As an engineer I don’t think stainless versus regular steel makes a difference in smoker heat loss. Gauge of metal will affect heat retension more.

[Troutman]

I believe that's mostly correct, it's all about the thickness of the metal. Stainless; however, is not as good a thermo conductor as carbon steel. Regardless the differences can be largely disregarded versus their relative thicknesses. That's what you should be looking for, 10 ga. or thicker.

[Nate]

This is where I think Blazin and Grilla have done an interesting job of doing double wall insulation to combat this without getting too thick of steel.

[Nate]

EdF , absolutely!

[Troutman]

So twice as much steel versus thicker steel. Would be an interesting side-by-side comparison !!

[jfmorris]

Troutman it’s nit twice as much steel that helps as much as the air gap in between the layers of steel. Air is a great insulator.

[McEDaddy]

I’ll choose stainless over any other material, looks awesome n doesn’t rust??? = where do I sign!

[Troutman]

I think you hit on the right note. My P&S pellet has a stainless steel rolled top and a carbon steel 10 ga. body. The stainless portion will probably outlast my grandchildren.

[Troutman]

The advantages of stainless are obvious, you're looking at a largely rust free cooker that will stand up to heat and stress. Although not the best of conductors, if cold weather is a problem they make blankets that can do the trick quit nicely. It's not like you have to cook in arctic conditions constantly, or do you? You from the Antarctic??

[aladdin4d]

Stainless isn't a great thermal conductor but it's still an above average one. As a general rule for any material, if they make cookware out of it, you can be sure the thermal conductivity is above average.