RT-1250 Temp issues

[Dubs]

Ok so while I love the 1250, I am becoming annoyed with temp control. It seemed to begin with the 2.1.2 firmware update. I had talked to recteq about it and it looks like they made an adjustment my min feed rate. Lately the 225 area bouncing a bit more. Been using Bear Mountain pellets all summer, so there may be some issues with quality control, but last weekend I got pissed while doing some ribs. So I looked at my min feed rate it was at 1%, I tried .5% it got a bit worse, so I went and rest it to factory default at 1.5%. It seemed to smooth out the 225 area a lot better. Was just wondering what fellow 1250 owners min feed rates are set at,

Thanks

 

[parrot037]

Mine is set at 1%. I've never adjusted it. I have no problems with temps fluctuating.

 

[okie]

Why are you using minimum feed rate to try to adjust temps? It was designed so that if your pit lives in a very hot climate in summer, that at it's factory setting of "1" temp setting you might need less pellets to keep the temp at the lowest setting (180*). The factory setting at 1 equals the minimum number of pellets per minute your auger will poop into the fire pot. Just for fun lets say that is about 10 pellets/min. If your pit is in sunlight on a day that ambient temp reaches 106* or more, you might not be able to get down to 180* on "low". So to reach that temp you could lower the setting to say .8 or whatever the next lower number is and thus get less pellets/min and this might lower the "low" setting to get 180*. Conversely in the coldest of winters if you try to smoke at 180*, 10 pellets/min might not be enough to get to 180* so you would set the control to a higher level.(say 1.5) so that it would poop more pellets/min to get you to that low temp of 180. Bottom line: that control is for minimum temp (180)* setting only. At 225* setting you should have no trouble getting to that temp either super hot summer or super cold winter. If you set minimum feed rate too low in summer you will "flame out" because of too few pellets to maintain a fire. In winter if you set it too high, you won't be able to get it to 180* on low. The factory setting of 1 should work in all but the most extreme of temp conditions (i.e.Alaska or Mohave desert) so I would not touch it unless I had flame outs etc. Bottom Line: Leave the minimum feed rate at the current setting "1". It has nothing to do with temp fluctuations. and changing it up or down will not affect higher temps.

Meanwhile it is "normal" to have 15 to 20 degree temp swings at times as long as they average out over long cook times. The PID control tends to average out most of the fluctuations so you don't see them much. The temps swing more than the control would lead you to believe but they set it that way so you won't go nuts watching it.
BUT... There is a control to adjust the "actual" temp reading if it is not accurate. It is the OFFSET or OFS control. RT had a video on YouTube to explain and how to use it. It is set at 0 and I would not adjust it before talking to their customer service. Hope this helps.

 

[Dubs]

Thanks for the replies. Not really trying to adjust the temps with the feed control. I was working on the consistency of the temps which have been bouncing more than it used to. I used reset to factory default for the min feed, it set it at 1.5. As mentioned, mine was at 1, so I have a reference. I will see on the next couple of cooks if helps with the consistency. I was just curious about what others had for settings.