Thanks fellas and Happy Father's Day to all of those Dads out there.  It's kind of an odd day for me as I am 57 and have had no kids.  There are certainly pluses and minuses to that.

The RT has been really nice.  Yesterday was my first all day cook and the convenience of it really hit home.  My local temp hit 100 and I was able to stay cool all day and control the pit with ease indoors.  Much different than chasing the flame of the KJ.  I have been keeping the RT fairly clean and I really like that.  I don't get the heavy charcoal flavor on the RT like I do on the KJ, but when I open the lid on the KJ I do turn up my nose up at what I see compared to the RT.  I do plan on trying out the charcoal pellets and the 100% wood pellets and do believe that will be a good thing for added flavor on the RT.  I will still be using the KJ from time to time and plan on rebuilding it soon with new seals, shelves and a cover.

To clean the RT grates, sear plates and the underside of the lid, I have found the Awesome cleaner from the Dollar Store to work really well and effortlessly at cutting the grease when used straight.  I have been using heavy duty Reynolds grilling foil with the nonstick (dull side) up on the drip tray.  I pull it out occasionally and hit it with the garden hose to remove any excess grease.  This is working out well and seems to be the best way to deal with the drip tray and not have to re-foil or scrape it very often.  The drip tray still looks clean and new for the most part after many cooks.  I am on my second 40lb bag now.

I have decided to do the DIY damper mod using the 3" 90 degree galvanized duct method.  I noticed yesterday that the grate temps are different than the pit temp a good bit of the time, but do come closer with time and leaving the lid closed.  I'll be watching the differences with this mod.

I have a new control board coming with the latest firmware that allows for probe calibrations and am excited about checking that out.

Yes the deck is up pretty high and is a fairly new deck that spans 500 sq ft, but we do have a screen room on it as well. It makes it nice to store junk underneath it, but the stairs I could do without.  There are two sets of stairs, one has nine steps and the other has eight steps due to the sloped yard.  They use to be much steeper, but have been brought up to match codes with the new replacement deck.

Looks great. Glad it's working well for you. I'm having a hard time seeing how you're up nine flights of stairs, though. 

Looks more like 9 steps. ?

I did the DIY downdraft mod today.  It went fairly smooth, but had to add an additional metal strap around the duct OD because the fit was slightly loose inside of the smoke stack.  I removed the smoke cap and marked and cut a half moon shape out of the top of the duct where the smoke stack's 90° bend is so there is absolutely no obstruction of airflow with this new mod inside of the smoke stack.



I ran a test afterwards and I am very impressed with the initial results.  My previous cooks showed a significant difference between the actual pit temp and the grate temp by ~ 30 degrees.  In this first test I laid a probe flat on the frog mat and took a picture when the probe hit the actual pit temp reading.





I know my port "B" is off by about seven degrees based on previous testing so I waited a while to see if that would show up and sure enough after a while I got that slightly higher reading on the probe display.  I will be able to calibrate the two ports soon once the new firmware arrives.





This is very positive as it looks like going forward that I will know the temps of the pit and the grates will match up more closely during my cooks.

When we calibrated TC at work we used a ice bath (cup of ice water). I did notice temp where meat lays about 25 degrees hotter than cooker TC probe was reading. Will need to look into this closer.

I think the downdraft mod is definitely something to look into, but I don't have enough testing in yet to say for sure.

I installed the new controller board today (rev 103) and played around with the new probe calibration features it has.  This is a picture of the off set I was able to set for probe A.  The swap out was simple with only two screws and a few wires to deal with.



I did the ice water test as a initial calibration of the two probes compared to my Thermapen.  I will also do a boiling water test to see what that looks like.  Probe B was off by seven degrees...No problem!



I am well on my way to having this RT dialed in to my liking!

Boy that is nice having a high quality controller to work with. Thinking about a PID install on my CC.

Boy that is nice having a high quality controller to work with. Thinking about a PID install on my CC.

I do like the PID for sure and is one of the reasons I went with the RT.  You might checkout the smokedaddyinc.com site.  I see they are selling just a PID controller that's designed to fit other smokers.  I don't know if it will fit a Camp Chef or not.  You could call them and ask.

My thoughts so far on the DIY downdraft mod is that it appears to me that the downdraft is causing more of an imbalance of temperature between the left and right sides of the grill.  Before the mod, I did notice the right side ran slightly hotter than the left side, but after the mod I am noticing a more substantial difference while cooking bacon on two frog mats.  Before the mod, with the same setup of 1lb of bacon spread out over two frog mats, the left side cooked more closely to the right side.  After the mod the bacon on the right is getting done much quicker than the bacon on the left side.  I haven't removed the mod yet, but will do some more cooking/testing to verify what appears to be happening.

There is a hot spot on the right side but it tends to even out after about 45 minutes.

There is a hot spot on the right side but it tends to even out after about 45 minutes.

Are you using a downdraft?

I’m not using a downdraft.

Yes, there is a hot spot on the right side, but it appears to get much hotter with the downdraft.  My initial probe testing did show the temps to settle out after a while like you said.  The extra hot spot (it appears) with the downdraft is not necessarily a bad thing.  I seared some tri-tips on the sear plates yesterday placed on the right side and was able to really sear them well with the grill set on full  .

Yes, there is a hot spot on the right side, but it appears to get much hotter with the downdraft.  My initial probe testing did show the temps to settle out after a while like you said.  The extra hot spot (it appears) with the downdraft is not necessarily a bad thing.  I seared some tri-tips on the sear plates yesterday placed on the right side and was able to really sear them well with the grill set on full  .

I have the Don Godke downdraft.  It has an adjustable upper opening when you want to cook on high heat.  Open it for normal flow, and close it for low slow cooks.  I do not find the right side of my GS hotter when the upper vent is closed  I haven't done a specific test to prove this with multiple probes etc. The drip pan on my GS contacts the grease drain so that the heated air comes up from below it only on the front, rear and left side.  Perhaps that balances things out.  Did a couple of racks of SL ribs since the installation, and do not notice any real difference in smoke effect.  I suspect that this aftermarket addition is based on a logical assumption, that is not confirmed as fact.  There is a non-famous quote that states: "Pure logic and pure fact are often not the same."  (non-famous because I can't find anyone responsible for it except myself --forgive me).  A few more tries and I will hang the downdraft apparatus in my garage. Or perhaps sell it.   

Well, the jury is still out as to whether it's a good add-on or not.  I do know that there is a lot more smoke coming out of the grease drain now.  I do also think my food is tasting a little more smoky too and my wife has made comments regarding a more "Smokey" like flavor.  The whole intent of the downdraft is to make the grate temp more closely match the pit temp which it does seem to do to some degree.  I will have to measure those temps more and then remove the downdraft and compare the differences as time allows.