I use the Pitmaster with my Akorn for slow cooks. I had a problem initially with the fire going out when trying to smoke at 225. My diffuser was a cast iron griddle. I figured out that the griddle held too much heat, so the Pitmaster stayed off too long, and the fire died. I bought a pizza pan for ten bucks off Amazon, and that solved the problem, but I can tell that at 225 the fire is always on the brink of going out. I now smoke at 250 or so. I recently did my first overnight. Slept on the couch with my Maverick nearby, it never went over 275 or below 225. It does seem, at least some of the time, to increase fuel usage.