New to the digital Smoker and having Temperature Problems

[Stbiven]

I had an older bradley smoker that I got from my parents that was adjusted by a slider on the bottom of the oven unit.  I have thermapro digital thermometers I used to maintain a steady temperature.  I recently upgraded to the digital BTDS76P unit and in my first smoke had a problem with the temperature.  I would preheat the oven and set the temperature and then want to cook the meats around 225f-240F.  I had the oven temperature set to 270 degrees and the thermometer on the unit said it was at 260F, but 2 thermapro themormeters I used on different levels of the unit only got up to 224F. 

Is there something wrong with this unit or Is there something I could be doing differently?

Thanks for any feedback.

[Orion]

Hi, this topic has literally dozens of threads addressing the multitude of factors that can relate to your exact concern .
Just yesterday there was an extensive thread regarding low temp issues . You should search them out and you will find everything you could possibly need to know .

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi Stbiven;

Welcome to the forum. Searching will provide you with a lot of information.

I'm assuming you had food in the smoker when you took these readings. The most common cause of such a wide variance of temperature is where your probes are placed. If you have the probes in-between racks or too close to the meat, those probes will read lower than the actual cabinet temperature. The next time you want to compare, place one of the Thermapros near the Bradley temp sensor, and see how those two compare with each other.