850 inaccurate temps

[Dirt McGirt]

I have had my 850 comp series for a few weeks. Everything seemed to take quite a bit longer than expected. I suspected my main temp was off.

I used the probes and put #1 next to main temp probe and #2 on the grill grate.

At 250 main temp.

At 375 main temp.

That is one heck of a difference. Other than compensating for the temp always, any other ideas? I plan to test probe accuracy with boiling water 212 and ice water 32. I have also purchased a separate thermometer just to see what that shows.

 

[Tym2Fish]

I've always used a bluetooth / wifi thermometer for temp. It has 6 probes, one of which is mounted in the smoker, the other is for the meat. I just figure out what temp I have to set the smoker on to achieve my desired temp. I've got three smokers and they're all different. Also allows me to set alarms, look at temp graphs, etc. Wouldn't cook any other way.

 

[defenestrate]

I recently replaced my "dumb" stock 700FB with a new BT/wifi capable controller, and it has nice 5 degree intervals from the knob. It seems to heat up really quickly and stay steady, but my concern is that it doesn't pump out enough extra heat to heat the whole grill (I was this last night, I think the actual grill temp per the built-in mechanical thermometer which has always been accurate), so while it probably stays super steady, it drags on the rest of the grill when the temp swinging stock controller threw more pellets at the problem. It's possible my probe is related to the issue but I try to keep it clean (and did when I swapped controllers). it does have a few probe connections and I have other thermometers like one of those thermapro wireless thermometers and I plan to try them soon. I feel like it is probably solid for long BBQ cooks (the main goal) but kind of wimpy for searing a steak as-is (willing to add more time but I was excited to hear from the app that my grill got from smoke to 500* in less than 20 minutes).

Would love feedback from others. May reach out to support but I'd like to hear real world experiences.

 

[Cowboy1955]

I recently replaced my "dumb" stock 700FB with a new BT/wifi capable controller, and it has nice 5 degree intervals from the knob. It seems to heat up really quickly and stay steady, but my concern is that it doesn't pump out enough extra heat to heat the whole grill (I was this last night, I think the actual grill temp per the built-in mechanical thermometer which has always been accurate), so while it probably stays super steady, it drags on the rest of the grill when the temp swinging stock controller threw more pellets at the problem. It's possible my probe is related to the issue but I try to keep it clean (and did when I swapped controllers). it does have a few probe connections and I have other thermometers like one of those thermapro wireless thermometers and I plan to try them soon. I feel like it is probably solid for long BBQ cooks (the main goal) but kind of wimpy for searing a steak as-is (willing to add more time but I was excited to hear from the app that my grill got from smoke to 500* in less than 20 minutes).

Would love feedback from others. May reach out to support but I'd like to hear real world experiences.

Not tryin to downplay those Wi-Fi controllers but I’ll never own one
I use a handheld thermometer that serves me well
That’s as high tech as I want to go
One question I have is that you mentioned it doesn’t crank out enough heat.
You mentioned temperature swings
Do you clean the temperature sensor after each cook?
That stops the temperature swings
Hopefully this helps

 

[Tym2Fish]

I've got an 1150 Pro and I like my wifi controller but I only use it to change temp. I use a different bluetooth remote thermometer to monitor temperature. My smoker might say it's at 230 but my remote therm says it's at 200. I'll use the remote to change the temp (unless I'm standing there) and move it to 250 or whatever until I get the remote thermometer to show what I want. The Pit Boss thermometer shows temp at the sensor, my remote shows actual temp at the meat, which is what I care about. Also, and a big part of why I do it this way, is the alarm to let me know if we go too low (maybe I ran out of pellets) or too high (maybe the smoker caught on fire).

As for the smoker's ability to cook, for me, my smoker is a smoker, not a grill. I don't sear a steak on my smoker, I do it on my grill. For me, the sliding plate is useless. I'm sure some other folks have figured out how to make it work for them, but it's not how I cook. I might get my 1150 up to 500 but as soon as I open it long enough to turn steaks and check meat temp it's gonna drop and it ain't coming back nearly as quick as I want it to. The controller will only allow the auger to run so much. Which makes sense for a smoker.

I hope you can get the smoker to perform in a way that makes sense, for you and the machine.

 

[defenestrate]

Not tryin to downplay those Wi-Fi controllers but I’ll never own one
I use a handheld thermometer that serves me well
That’s as high tech as I want to go
One question I have is that you mentioned it doesn’t crank out enough heat.
You mentioned temperature swings
Do you clean the temperature sensor after each cook?
That stops the temperature swings
Hopefully this helps

Appreciate the fedback. I do clean the controller, not every cook, but it was still swinging badly on the stock controller even after cleaning it. The new controller is super steady, doesn't move more than a few degrees, but I think the inconsistent temps previously actually warmed it faster. OTOH, I'm giving it a little more time to warm up and it at least looks like that is good enough. I was just excited by the speed of it getting to temp yesterday and it telling me, and I didn't check the temp until I already had a steak on the grill.

Not necessarily super into the wifi/BT features but they're cool to have IMO. What I really like his how stable it seems and the 5 degree intervals across the whole 180-500 range. That's a big change for my slow cooks. I need to start using the meat probes now that I have a controller with them, or one of my other probes (will try at least one plug-in probe tonight on my little rack of ribs)

 

[midfel11]

Where is the main temperature sensor located on these smokers? I have the Pro 1100 and am having similar problems. I noticed that I had a ton of buildup on the light inside (couldn't even see it), so I bet the temperature sensor could use a cleaning as well.

 

[Cowboy1955]

Where is the main temperature sensor located on these smokers? I have the Pro 1100 and am having similar problems. I noticed that I had a ton of buildup on the light inside (couldn't even see it), so I bet the temperature sensor could use a cleaning as well.

Welcome from Texas to the group!!
Your temperature sensor is grate high on the left behind a open to box. Two screws
I use dishwashing liquid and a sponge
Wipe it off with a paper towel
Stop’s temperature swings.
I clean that, the grill and vacuum it out after each cook
Hopefully this helps you