Inaccurate Thermostat

[ebrowndo2]

The internal thermostat on my six-rack digital smoker is often wrong and I burn our food.

Is there a way to correct this, for our last smoke, I floated a probe through the vent and made temperature adjustments every hour. I do not have the patience to do this. 

[Toker]

Yes buying a pid controller.

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi ebrowndo2;

Welcome to the forum.

A temperature controller such as the Auber PID (mentioned by Toker), would be your best solution. If that is not within your budget, there are less expensive brands out there.

Another alternative is to purchase a wireless thermometer that monitors the temperature and sends the results to either a remote monitor or your smart phone. Not only will you be monitoring the cabinet temperature but your food temperature. The placement of your third party probe also matters. If you have it too close to the food you will get a lower reading than the actual cabinet temperature. Keep that probe at least a few inches from the food.

With the digital smoker you are going to have swings; as much as 20°F. Unless you are smoking sausage, lox, or even bacon, these swings shouldn't be too much of a concern, and by trying to adjust the temperature during these fluctuations is not necessary.

[Agray56smoker]

So should the probe be above or below the food?

[Habanero Smoker]

For the digitals and original models, I would tend to place the probe below the food, but in an area that dripping will not fall on it. Another alternative is to place in on the same rack, but make sure you have a few inches of space between the food and the probe. With the P10 I generally will place the probe on the bottom rack even if that rack has food, because I usually have plenty of space on that rack to put the probe at.