Pellet Fan
Pit Talk -- Comments and Questions Regarding These Pellet Pits => Camp Chef => Topic started by: smokinbandit101 on November 13, 2017, 12:46:28 PM
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This will be my first year smoking into the weekend with my Camp Chef. This weekend was about 40 deg ambient temp, no wind to slight breeze, and I was getting crazy pit temp swings. When I was on hi smoke it seemed to hold pretty steady (15 deg swings) but when I switched to 250 it spiked and dropped over and over. I know smokey daddy sells a Better PID controller, but I was wondering if anyone has any tips to try before I invest some more cash into it. I had a welding blanket on it to try and hold some heat.
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You could try fire bricks (heatsink) . I used 5 in my Lil Tex Traeger..
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I just did 2 separate hot & fast smokes on my Camp Chef this weekend, air temp was in the low 20’s on Saturday & low 30’s yesterday. The Saturday smoke was two boneless butts at 275 for 6 hours & I had no problems maintaining temps. Last night was a meatloaf at 300, same results, no problems maintaining temps. I honestly didn’t watch the smoker like a hawk but anytime I looked at the controller I was within 5-10 degrees of target temp. I did try to fire the cooker up Friday night to make pizza but barely hit 375, it was single digits with gusts into the 20-30 mph range so I gave up. Generally speaking my pit is pretty close without a lot of crazy swings so maybe you might have a problem with your unit that Camp Chef can walk you through over the phone?
I think way too much is made of temp swings, my old offset smokers would swing way worse than the pellet grill until I got my WSM, that was rock solid all the time but anyway the point is that you can drive yourself nuts on temp swings, especially in the cold weather. You can try the blanket from Camp Chef & see if that helps first? If not the PID controller may be your answer but (IMO) I pay less attention to the controller read out & make sure the food that comes off the smoker is good since that’s why I smoke. I sleep a lot better at night once I got that in my head!
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Pics or it didn’t happen
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Meatloaf with the slight smoke ring around the whole slice, one of my favorite things to see. I guess 75% of the population would not look for that!
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I generally don't watch it like a hawk but I just got a fireboard and i was receive alerts for high and low pit temps. Im more worried about a flame out. I've had 3 so far but never back to back lets say every 3 smokes but low temps seem to be a factor. I did chicken tonight at 300 and it held rock steady. I think your suggestion of calling camp chef is on its way. I also contemplated fire bricks. I just want to trust this thing.
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I am sure you don't want to hear this after 3 cooks, no one wants to clean out...but what you describe to me sounds like to much ash in combustion chamber! No problem on higher temperatures, flames out at lower temperatures...
I generally don't watch it like a hawk but I just got a fireboard and i was receive alerts for high and low pit temps. Im more worried about a flame out. I've had 3 so far but never back to back lets say every 3 smokes but low temps seem to be a factor. I did chicken tonight at 300 and it held rock steady.
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That's interesting to hear since I've never had a flameout, even at the low smoke setting. I typically use mine at the 225-250 mark with no problems but bumped it up this weekend to try some new techniques. I'd say to call Camp Chef since yours is running different than mine. Also, no big deal to clean out as you know but maybe also check your temp probe to make sure that it's clean, that could throw your cooks off.
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I dump the ash after every smoke. If it was a long smoke or a short smoke. I vacuumed out the ash just before my last smoke where I had a flame out. It seems to me when I'm using the hi smoke its doing very low swings and staying stable, but if i switch to a cooking deg 225-250 its just up and down. In the pictures Im using low or high smoke and its running fine but when i switch you can see the swings the nov 4 is when I had a flame out and it was just cleaned prior to that smoke. I will try wiping the temp probe. would you suggest just water or a vinegar mixture Fish?
(http://i.imgur.com/QyYZOTJm.png) (https://imgur.com/QyYZOTJ)
(http://i.imgur.com/eJdqvdLm.png) (https://imgur.com/eJdqvdL)
I am sure you don't want to hear this after 3 cooks, no one wants to clean out...but what you describe to me sounds like to much ash in combustion chamber! No problem on higher temperatures, flames out at lower temperatures...
I generally don't watch it like a hawk but I just got a fireboard and i was receive alerts for high and low pit temps. Im more worried about a flame out. I've had 3 so far but never back to back lets say every 3 smokes but low temps seem to be a factor. I did chicken tonight at 300 and it held rock steady.
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Wow, either my controller is lying to me about temp swings or you have a problem? Honestly I can't say how accurate mine is, I did a bunch of temp monitoring at the grate when I got it last year to get a feel for the pit but haven't revisited it since then so I don't know if yours is normal or not? Maybe some times ignorance in my case is bliss?
As far as cleaning the probe I think anything that isn't caustic will work since it just sits in the open air, for the food probe I'd probably be more concerned with the cleaner I used. I'd start with water or vinegar & see if it clears up, mine is pretty clean because I just wipe it down while it's warm after a cook.
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This is my 2nd time using the fireboard but both times the fireboard matched the read out on the display of the unit. Now the only thing i noticed is different is the outside air temp. Last time I ran 225 -250 was back in 70 deg weather. Last night I ran chicken at 300 and it was a rock no big swings but it was feeding pellets faster because of the cold. I'm gonna call or email camp chef later today.
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FYI, I think most folks have had good luck with CampChef pellet grills, but there have been several reports of wide temp swings and flameouts. I ended up returning mine for those issues. Hopefully CampChef will be able to resolve your problems, otherwise, a PID will most likely improve the situation.
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I gave it my best diagnostic shot...
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Thanks for the help. I talked to camp chef they think its either the probe or the controller, but they want to send a bag of pellets out to see if it wasn't an old bag of pellets first.
I gave it my best diagnostic shot...
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Thanks for the help. I talked to camp chef they think its either the probe or the controller, but they want to send a bag of pellets out to see if it wasn't an old bag of pellets first.
I gave it my best diagnostic shot...
A few things you can do to check. First, if the displayed temp on the grill is close to the temp on the Fireboard, then it's likely that neither the probe or the temp measurement part of the controller is bad. Next, the grill uses a very simple algorithm to control temp. If the grill temp is below setpoint, then the controller sets the duty cycle so that the auger is on for a longer period compared to when the grill is above setpoint. I don't recall the exact duty cycle timings ( I had posted them on PH) but maybe someone with a CampChef can measure for you. If the duty cycle for both above and below setpoint is the same as yours, then there is most likely nothing wrong with the RTD or controller and I would start looking at airflow issues.
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What kind of airflow issues should I be looking for I know exhaust is not blocked. I can check the fan with an ohm meter I suppose?
Thanks for the help. I talked to camp chef they think its either the probe or the controller, but they want to send a bag of pellets out to see if it wasn't an old bag of pellets first.
I gave it my best diagnostic shot...
A few things you can do to check. First, if the displayed temp on the grill is close to the temp on the Fireboard, then it's likely that neither the probe or the temp measurement part of the controller is bad. Next, the grill uses a very simple algorithm to control temp. If the grill temp is below setpoint, then the controller sets the duty cycle so that the auger is on for a longer period compared to when the grill is above setpoint. I don't recall the exact duty cycle timings ( I had posted them on PH) but maybe someone with a CampChef can measure for you. If the duty cycle for both above and below setpoint is the same as yours, then there is most likely nothing wrong with the RTD or controller and I would start looking at airflow issues.
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What kind of airflow issues should I be looking for I know exhaust is not blocked. I can check the fan with an ohm meter I suppose?
Thanks for the help. I talked to camp chef they think its either the probe or the controller, but they want to send a bag of pellets out to see if it wasn't an old bag of pellets first.
I gave it my best diagnostic shot...
A few things you can do to check. First, if the displayed temp on the grill is close to the temp on the Fireboard, then it's likely that neither the probe or the temp measurement part of the controller is bad. Next, the grill uses a very simple algorithm to control temp. If the grill temp is below setpoint, then the controller sets the duty cycle so that the auger is on for a longer period compared to when the grill is above setpoint. I don't recall the exact duty cycle timings ( I had posted them on PH) but maybe someone with a CampChef can measure for you. If the duty cycle for both above and below setpoint is the same as yours, then there is most likely nothing wrong with the RTD or controller and I would start looking at airflow issues.
I never figured it out, but there was some speculation from other owners that it might be a weak fan, or a leak somewhere in the air channel. Another poster said their problem started after they added a gasket around the door, which is something I had also done. Did you put a gasket around your lid?
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yes I did add a gasket around the lid day one.
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Ta da....
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yes I did add a gasket around the lid day one.
The problem being related to the gasket seemed far fetched to me, but he said once he removed it the grill functioned normally. I had already returned my grill by that time so didn't have a chance to try it. I looked for that post in the wayback archive but couldn't find it but maybe some other CampChef owners will remember who it was that posted it.
Why not try propping the lid open a hair with something and see if that changes anything?
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Will do I'll update with results.
I'm guessing the theory is Not enough heat escape > less pellets are being put into the pot> so fire goes down> heat goes down rapidly> dumps more pellets to compensate too fast > temps spike and repeat cycle.
I didn't have any problems in the summer running low and slow so maybe the lower outside temps are making the problem more pronounced because of the rapid cool down of the unit.
Anyway I'll stick something in the door and see if that helps tonight.
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This is my opinion on what happens with the gasket. At settings below 300. Not enough heat escapes. The temp goes well over set point. And the controller does all it can to reduce the temp. By the time the temp drops down to set point, the fire is about out. So it drops well below set point. At which point the controller keeps sending a lot of pellets trying to recover the temp. Now it has lots of pellets and spikes even higher over the set point, and takes even longer to come back down. If it takes too long to come back down to set point, the fire is out.
The Smokedaddy controller does seem to handle this situation better. I suspect because it also controls the fan speed. It appears to still feed some pellets in but pulses the fan slowly while reducing the temp. But this reduces the cycling that produces the smoke.
A simple way to check if this is your problem, is to shim the door open a touch. I use my smoke tube between the front shelf and the handle on the lid. All you need is the thickness of one or two coins. Easy and does not cost a thing to try.
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Ya don't need to seal your pits, I can assure you there is plenty of smoke in there!
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(http://i.imgur.com/fy0pGIgm.png) (https://imgur.com/fy0pGIg)
Much better thanks guys. I did not think that the gasket would be causing that, but it makes sense now. The big spike was from loading dinner on the grill and had the door open a little longer then I would have liked.