Location of PID controller sensor

Started by ghosttown, April 12, 2018, 05:19:07 PM

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ghosttown

I been running with a 900w Element with a PID for over 2 years. I decided to buy the wall mount sensor just last week and I was debating on where to mount it in the smoker. Originally I had the clipon sensor just under the bottom rack, however for the wall mount I wanted out of the way but somewhere near the middle rack.

I ended up mounting it under the second rack from the top or in other words above the second rack from the bottom and off to the left. I am douting myself of the location, reason because I tend to smoke 10-15lbs pork shoulders all the time an I normally put it on the bottom rack. I am wondering now if there would be a huge difference in temperature from the bottom of the meat and where the probe is?

I definitely don't want to mount it under the bottom rack, I want to avoid the drips from the meat onto the sensor. Either I leave it to the left or move it closer to the middle. I ran a quick test and the PID sensor was exactly the same temperature of the Bradley temperature on the door.



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Habanero Smoker

When I use to clip my temp probe in-between racks I found that the temperature reading could be 20°F or more different from the sensor that was located on the bottom rack. The sensor in-between racks would always register lower (much lower at the beginning of the cook). The difference in temperature would depend on the load, and how close the food was located to the sensor. Evaporation from the meat cools the area around the surface of the meat, and you tend to get a lower temperature reading. So if you are going to wall mount it, where you have it seems to be the best spot. If you moved it to below the bottom rack, it would be too close to the element. Maybe monitor your cooks more closely the next few times. The bottom rack may cook much faster, and you may have to rotate your racks.

When I did this test while the cabinet was empty, the temperatures between the two sensors would be within 5 degrees of each other.



     I
         don't
                   inhale.
  ::)

ghosttown

Awesome thank you, I'll keep an eye for the next few cooks but I think having it right in the middle will work best.

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