Interesting pit temp discovery.

ken g

Well-known member
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268
Grill(s) owned
  1. Bull
  2. Stampede
I have long suspected the temp being reported was a bit too consistent to be true. Just for giggles I put my ET372 in next to the ribs on right side of the grill to get a feel for what was really going on in there. Temp was set at 230 for duration of cook. The ET372 has revealed temps are like a roller coaster in there. Varying from 219 on the low side to 239 on the high side. All while the trusty app graph is reporting rock solid 230 temps the past seven hours. I just put a new temp probe on the grill before this cook and it is spot on in its temp reporting when checked at the same location with an alternate temp probe.
 
I have long suspected the temp being reported was a bit too consistent to be true. Just for giggles I put my ET372 in next to the ribs on right side of the grill to get a feel for what was really going on in there. Temp was set at 230 for duration of cook. The ET372 has revealed temps are like a roller coaster in there. Varying from 219 on the low side to 239 on the high side. All while the trusty app graph is reporting rock solid 230 temps the past seven hours. I just put a new temp probe on the grill before this cook and it is spot on in its temp reporting when checked at the same location with an alternate temp probe.
Yeah have been playing with my bullseye all day with my maverick attached. And while the grill is showing fairly steady temps the maverick is showing 40-50 degree swings.
 
I always use an additional thermometer. Once you set the RT, it very seldom deviates from that. With the extra thermometer, it fluctuates " slightly" nothing crazy but its not locked on to the set temp.
 
I think I posted in another thread, I checked my 590 this weekend in preparation for the Big "B" next weekend and it was within 5 degrees, checked from 0 to 400 degrees, so pretty happy with that. But, I have been told quite a few times, use another probe other than the grill, so I will definately do that.
I have not checked the Bullseye yet.
 
It is not real fun chasing temps with a secondary probe, that is why we bought the pellet smoker. It takes me back to the stick burner and sitting and watching it all day. To me the factory probe works fine, with the fan moving air around all the time, I would expect the temps to fluctuate a bit.
 
While I am not worried about the temp going up and down within a reasonable range ( one manufacturer claims it is part of their design to increase smoke) I was concerned with the Left to right temperature spread seen with meat on the grates. I did an experiment with nothing on the grates
(see https://www.recteqforum.com/threads/rt-590-hot-spot.2453/post-35835).

Short form: The temperatures at the gate left end, middle, right end were quite uniform. The temperature swings were in the +/- 10F range around the set point.

The L-R spread evidently is a function of the interference of the airflow by the things being cooked. I guess best method is to put thicker part or larger items on the right or rotate a long item 180 degrees during a long cook.

At the end of the day it is a pellet stove with three large openings on the top rear and a fan blowing air into a large barrel.
 
Wondering how accurate this test would have been if you would've placed the secondary probe horizontally right next to the RT probe
I actually thought about wiring a probe to my vertical RT temperature probe and comparing the 2. I understand and except that you are going to have temp swings in any grill, but when I set mine at 225 degrees, the RT gage reads 225 and never fluctuates even though the temperature inside the grill may vary as much as 10-15 degrees.
 
I actually thought about wiring a probe to my vertical RT temperature probe and comparing the 2. I understand and except that you are going to have temp swings in any grill, but when I set mine at 225 degrees, the RT gage reads 225 and never fluctuates even though the temperature inside the grill may vary as much as 10-15 degrees.
I believe the Recteq algorithm for the temperature control is based off an average temperature reading over small intervals of time. If this is correct in theory no test with a secondary temp probe would produce the same results.
 
+/- 20 degrees either way isn't ever going to make or break a cook.
 

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