2 vents on weber lid for uds
 

My weber top UDS has 1 dial vent with 4 holes. I'm thinking a 2nd. vent would help it out. I have seen other that added a 2nd four hole vent.
Wondering how that works compared to the single vent.

A 2" bung has more area than the 4 holes in the weber dial vent.

Also I have heard of some that have built their flat top UDS with eight 1" holes.

I'm thinking temps would respond faster it I allowed more exhaust.

Feel free to express you opinion. Everyone has one.

I have thought about this in the past as this would possible even out the air flow a bit so it wasn't just drawing towards the one vent. However, I have never had an issue with just using the single vent so I figured I would not risk jacking up the lid to install a second.

You could always do half & half.

some have done that to their wsm's and were happy with the results. don't see any negatives to doing it. let us know.

Yeah, if you are confident in your skills to pull it off without ruining the lid then go for it. One my main UDS I have already flattened and bent the lip around the drum and did not want to jack with that again in case I didn't drill the holes correctly and the lid had issues.

I guess I will have to make my own vent dial or get one from a used grill. Weber does not list them for sale on weber.com

I'm adding a second set of vents on my dome lid for doing chicken.
I'm not sure which way to go yet. I've seen it done a couple of different ways, either a bung hole or 4 smaller holes.

Where can i but a weber kettle vent wheel?
 

Where can I buy a 4 hole aluminum vent wheel for a 22.5 weber kettle?

Weber does not show them for sale on their website. :confused:

I think the general rule of thumb is twice as many exhaust holes as intake. So if you have 3 1inch intakes you should have 6 exhaust holes. With the weber lid vent and cover, if you wanted to duplicate that you could drill the same hole config then cut a piece of sheet magnet to mimic the original vent cover.

I'll add a bit of input here.

Typically the air intakes are 3/4" ID not 1". The original drilled hole is a 1" hole meant to accept a 3/4 pipe nipple.

Norco somehow or other came up with the 3ea 3/4" holes and that size and number of holes has pretty much been accepted as standard procedure. I have the Norco style holes on mine and I can get my heat up to 325 with a 10" diffuser plate with only 2 holes wide open. With the third hole open I imagine I could go as high as 350 or more.

Anyway, Norco also claims and others agree that 8ea 1/2" holes are sufficient for the top exhaust. I haven't done the math but I'd guess the 8ea 1/2" holes are a comparable or a larger surface area than 3ea 3/4" holes.

I do know that one Weber vent has 4ea 7/8" holes. I did the math on this and I know the 4ea 7/8" holes is a larger surface area than Norco's suggested 8ea 1/2" holes.

So to sum this up, if you think more/bigger exhaust is going to improve your smoking I don't think it will. But it may create a more even heat disbursement and reduce any hot spot you may have below the one vent wheel. Part of Norco's reasoning for the 8ea 1/2" holes was to spread out the heat exhaust, lessening the potential for hot spots caused by the heat exhaust focusing towards one vent.

Hope this makes sense.

Carbon, I could be wrong but I don't think adding more exhaust will raise your heat for chicken. Raising the heat requires more O2 getting on your fire or less diffuser spreading out the heat.

Those extra vents on the dome are needed when you go full throttle on the intake. Let that drum breathe....Ahhh.....

Again I was mistaken. I thought people were using eight 1" holes instead of 1/2". That would be much less. Right now I'm just toying with the idea of weber 2 vents.

I've never been above 350 degrees and only when I seasoned it. 350 was not yet full throttle either.

Perhaps I don't have enough fully lit coals in the basket when I'm doing chicken, for instance. I'm having to keep the dome lid slightly ajar to stay at 350F. :)

Are you saying you have all 3 vents wide open and 350 is it?

I built mine with (6) 3/4" exhaust holes in the flat lid.
(4) 3/4" pipes for air intake. 2" from the bottom (3 w/caps & 1 adjustable)

For Chicken I run all the exhaust holes open. I close off 2 holes if I'm trying to hold the temp. down to 225. I use drop in pipes with Black screw on caps for the additional adjustment/lower temp. I made a total of 6 of them so I can damp out the fire. I know it's low Tech. but it's easy and inexpensive.

yes they do.
http://help.weber.com/schematics/vie...001&Sequence=2

Having two vents is unnecessary. The weber product is highly engineered with fancy CAD/CAM/CAE software. If there was an advantage to it, it would have already been done.

A lot of weber stuff you just have to call them and order it directly. They sell all replacement parts, but don't list them all on their website.

Yes, but it wasn't engineered around a 55 gal drum.

Here's the square inch area of the holes:
2" bung = 3.14
(4) 7/8" = 2.40 (weber wheel vent)
(8) 1/2" = 1.57

Carbon, another question because I'm trying to figure out what's different in your UDS from mine. Do your intakes open at the low level or do you have any connected to extention pipes bending upwards a bit?

What kind of diffuser are you using?

I use a 2" exhaust and a BGE stainless steel intake door . I have no problems running over 600 degrees or puttering along at 180.
BTW- I have a UDS with a 1 1/2" pipe running up to grate level and I know for a fact that I can run at 500 degrees.

I use a Weber lid on my UDS and have to almost close it when using my Pitmaster iQue. I open it up if not using a forced air controller. I have never had issues with temps but I don't go over 350. If I have a need to go over that I use the Weber kettle.

I can easily run at 350*+ with only two intakes open and a single vent. It is just a matter of how many coals are lit. I have never had to open my third vent.

I've never had a problem with just one Weber vent wheel and I often smoke 8 8# butts on a single drum.

I put a second one on my lid because I liked the balanced look (in my opinion) and I had them! One of my donor grills had three old school vents on the bottom so I repurposed them as lid vents. They may be totally unnecessary but I like the way they look. It's also a nice way to be a little different. It also happens to be a very easy mod.....

Dave

I'm still a UDS newbie and I think my mistake is not having enough fully lit coals to begin with when doing high temp cooks. On my next high temp cook I'll dump a full chimney of lit coals over the half filled basket.
I have absolutely no problems maintaining steady low temps for hours using the Minion method.

I have four 3/4" intakes at the bottom, no risers. I'm also using an 18" flat pizza screen with 1/2" holes everywhere as a diffuser.

When using decent quality lump, like B&B oak lump, I have no issues cruising @ over 400 with one exhaust vent, and starting with 15-20 generic store brand briquettes. I don't even have to use all 4 of my 1" intakes, 3 wide open will absolutely smoke! (pun intended).

When I use Kingsford blue, it's always a struggle to get high temps. With stubbs, I can easily cruise @ 375-400. So I guess my answer is it's not the exhaust size that's important, it's the fuel you're using.

Many folks use the KF blue in their UDS because it likes to burn at such a low temp. I couldn't stand the fact that it wouldn't get as hot as I like to cook at (275-300). Not to mention the horrible ash buildup.

Just a thought but where is the bottom half of the weber? if you could use that or find one that has much better air opening, could make that into a lid. It would also have better clearance on the top, if needed depending on where your top rack is?

I thought I saw one on here before. Someone used the bottom for the top.

I've been wanting to do this as well, I feel like I don't have enough exhaust sometimes, to get it up to 350ish I need to leave the lid cracked to let the smoke escape.

I called Weber Customer Servive 800 number today and they are sending me one Damper Lid Assembly for FREE with nut, bolt, washer and 2 of the rubber caps. One for the veny handle and one for the existing vent handle. It is all free including the shipping charge.

Now that's customer service in the USA and Illinois! :thumb:

Nice! :thumb:

Dave, I think you're on to something here. I'm going for it. I like the idea. Doesn't mean I have to have them both wide open. It's just gives me another option. Plus it makes me a little more like Dave. Maybe I'll have an avatar like that after I add the 2nd vent!

Try calling their 1-800 number. I was looking for the 22.5" kettle lids (lids only), which were not listed on their website either. But when I called they had them for sale. $52.00 + $7.00 S&H. I needed them and couldn't find any used ones so I ordered two (ouch!).

I asked why they didn't list them if they had them available, and the lady explained that they only list the popular items, but have many other items for sale.

Oops, never mind my last post. Didn't realize you had already called customer service. It's nice they gave you the vent assembly free. They charged me full price for the replacement lids. When I asked if they could give me a price break for buying two lids (at $52.00 each) they said, "Sorry, the price is the price we sell them at no matter the quantity".

What are you using for your main fuel? KF blue?................ If so, I understand. That stuff burns low temp. Never worked for me.

Yea KF Blue...what do you use now?

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6006/...96549b26_z.jpg

I put the bottom on the top. I named her "Bottom's Up" I also made another UDS and used the lid of the kettle for that one. I no longer own that one as I made the mistake of taking her to my son's house for a BBQ and he adopted her. I could not think of a name for her anyhow.
So I ran these smokers side by side with the same kingsford blue. "Bottoms Up" ran at 250 with one and a half bottom vents open. The one with the regular kettle lid ran with three and a half open to hold the same temp. Guess I should have mentioned they both have four 1" bottom vents. It is also complicated in that I think I am one of the few who uses a water pan in my UDS It is a big one at that, 20 quart so I am heating a couple gallons of water also. I have used my UDS for lots of cooks so I am confident to say I think you will benifit from the additional exhaust holes. I have yet another UDS that I originally put a home made vent on with 4 -3/4" holes I went back and changed that one to 6- 3/4" holes.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3045/...67971542_z.jpg
It seems to work well for me. Here is a picture of the unnamed UDS
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6027/...f910213f_z.jpg

I like to think having the exhaust holes in the center and the large water pan as a defuser creates a nice even heat. Love to think about all of this stuff. In the end what is the big deal if your extra vent is not necessary you could still use it to evenly split the exhaust. Also the kettle bottom will not fit the drum like the lid dose. No rocket science here I used an open head drum and pop riveted an alum strip around the inside to create a ledge for it to close on.

Try stubbs, or a decent quality lump. Huge difference in cooking temp. KF blue never got as hot as I would like.

It's on my to do list. My drum won't go 350 on just one vent.

I've found that filling my charcoal basket half full or so and starting a full chimney of charcoals, and then putting them in the charcoal basket after the charcoals are fully lit. Then I keep the lid off the UDS until the charcoal basket are also fully burning to get the heat up. Then I put the lid on to bring the heat down so I put the chicken on and cook it. It works for me.

This works for me too, although I don't let the entire basket light up. I can achieve high temps quickly and maintain it there. It's a lot faster than lighting just a dozen or so coals to start.

Use only KB and my results are the same. In winter time I light more to get up to temp more quickly,but I'm able to achieve 350 pretty easily and stay there.To me key is finding the right amount t o start with to get the temp you need.

brickie