Stoker temp swings

D.F. Expat

D.F. Expat

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What are most people seeing for temp swings with their stoker? Mine seems to start out pretty tight then for whatever reason after an hour or 2 I start getting temp swings of 20-30 degrees over and under target. Any Ideas on how to correct this? Using it on a uds with lump and the 10cfm fan.

Thx
 
I use lump on all my UDS smokes.

I don't use a fan but perhaps your chips or chunk wood are catching fire and causing the temperature to fluxuate?

Is the drum sealed good?

My UDS temps fluctuate a bit when first getting it up to temp and trying to stabilize on a desired temp. But once that's done (1st hour) it doesn't take much watching at all.
 
Drum is sealed tight, lid has 4 1 inch holes for exhaust. I wonder if the 10cfm fan is too much?
 
I found that the 10cfm fan is too aggressive for my XL BGE, at least at low & slow temperatures. I cover half the fan inlet with duct tape.

Also, I find that the Stoker is far too aggressive in getting the lump started at the beginning of the cook. I get the temperature real close manually before I engage the Stoker. I feel that the aggressive start can cause wild swings later on, too. If too much of your charcoal bed is "involved" in the fire near the start of the cook, I think you end up repeatedly re-starting and re-snuffing out the fire with the Stoker during a good part of the cook. It is better IMHO to have the lump become involved gradually as the fuel is needed.

Don
 
donmiller said:
I found that the 10cfm fan is too aggressive for my XL BGE, at least at low & slow temperatures. I cover half the fan inlet with duct tape.

Also, I find that the Stoker is far too aggressive in getting the lump started at the beginning of the cook. I get the temperature real close manually before I engage the Stoker. I feel that the aggressive start can cause wild swings later on, too. If too much of your charcoal bed is "involved" in the fire near the start of the cook, I think you end up repeatedly re-starting and re-snuffing out the fire with the Stoker during a good part of the cook. It is better IMHO to have the lump become involved gradually as the fuel is needed.

Don
Click to expand...

Thx for the suggestion, next cook I will cover half the fan intake and see if it helps with the swings :thumb:
 
Ya, cover the fan halfway and let us know what happens. You may need a 5cfm fan. On my offset the Stoker keeps it +2/-2 degrees.
 
i use a 5 cfm fan and it works really good also dont use lump burns to hot with the fan
 
How close are your high, low and target temps? I used to give mine a fairly wide berth but quickly learned that the device would over-correct when it had compensate for large temperature deficits. I've got mine dialed in at -2 and +3.
 
I didn't realize those stokers work that well. You can keep your grill within 5°?
 
OneHump said:
How close are your high, low and target temps? I used to give mine a fairly wide berth but quickly learned that the device would over-correct when it had compensate for large temperature deficits. I've got mine dialed in at -2 and +3.
Click to expand...

I dont use the high low alarms just set point, should I be setting alarms?


Sent from my Moto Droid using Tapatalk
 
Taped off half the fan intake and put an 8.25 lb Butt in this morning about 3 hours ago and it holds temps much better than before. Once it settles in it holds usually within 5 degrees with the occasional 10 degree swing. Will post the stoker logs when the cook is complete but much happier at this point. Thx for the suggestions guys.
 
Foiled at 165, moving right along.
IMG_20100930_133904.jpg
 
I have a Stoker on my UDS for long cooks and it works great. I have used lump and briqs with no problems.

Here is my fan setup... (10cm) that I fabricated from some misc parts. It fits on the ball valve so that I can regulate the air flow.
stokerfansetupsm.jpg


And here is my stoker/router/power setup in an enclosure
stokersetupsm.jpg
 
Nice, mine is all under a tarp for now.

here are the stoker log graphs, held much better this time, most of the time within a couple degrees aside from the huge spike when I opened to foil.

9-30-10PULLEDPORK1.jpg

9-30-10PULLEDPORK2.jpg
 
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