Doing some testing tonight.

[woofer700]

Temp coming out of top of oven is 267, internal temp by the Bradley internal temp is, 232. I have oven temp set at 280. Anyone know why the difference?
Tried to post pics of everything. Can't figure out how yet.

[piratey]

The Bradley thermometer is infamously inaccurate.  Invest in a digital thermomter, perhaps even one with two probes.  Remember that the cabinet is heating up from the element, which is at the bottom of the unit, in the back.  Hence, the bottom back of the cabinet is the hottest, and it gets less hot as the air goes up.  The door is also going to be cooler, since it gets opened and since it's at the front of the cabinet.  When cooking, using a wireless digital thermometer helps, because you can monitor the internal temperature accurately in one or two places inside the cabinet.  Also, most of us rotate the racks if we need need even cooking, moving the racks from bottom to the top periodically.  Some people also rotate the racks 180 degrees to have the back face the front, again, adjusting for temperature differences.

[dave01]

have you cleaned the temperature sensor lately? How did you monitor the temp coming out of the top? I would forget using the Bradley temperature probe and get a independent one. remember heat rises and in a bradley that means right up the back of the unit and out the top

[TedEbear]

Tried to post pics of everything. Can't figure out how yet.

This forum isn't very user friendly, compared to others I'm on, when it comes to posting pics.  The instructions should be on a sticky.  Anyway...

1. Upload your pics to free host site Photobucket
2. Left click in the IMG box next to the pic.  The contents will automatically be copied onto your clipboard.
3. Paste those contents into a message on here.

[ZSharp]

I don't know why it would read hotter at the top then inside; heat rises but as it rises it doesn't usually get warmer. The below might not help but I feel like talking about smoking haha.

I've had an OBS (non-digital) for 2 yrs now and have used it faithfully almost every weekend. I can tell you that my common practice is to take out the racks every 45-60 minutes and rotate them (since, yes, the back of the smoker is warmer). I have NEVER trusted the OEM temperature gauge since I know from experience they're usually never right (this goes for BBQs as well). I have an iGrill 2 with 2 meat probes and 2 ambient temp probes. Normally I keep 1 ambient near the bottom and one near the top and there's usually a 30 degree difference between them and almost 80-90 degree difference between them and the OEM gauge.

If you're smoking something like ribs then use the lower rack and just turn it every hour (I follow a lot of this guys videos and techniques, he doesn't use Bradley's but look for Malcom Reed (Killer Hogs BBQ) on Youtube). Actually anything that's medium to large I try to keep more towards the bottom of the smoker. If I have chicken wings, fish, anything that normally doesn't require a ton of heat then middle to top is fine.

I couple of tips for maintaining temperature (especially when you're doing something that requires you to open the smoker every 45 mins (like ribs, chickens) is to use an oversize water vessel or keep a few bricks in the bottom of the smoker next to the water bowl. That will hold a bunch of heat and help the smoker recover faster. I've ever read that filling the pan that's under the water bowl with beach/silica sand helps hold heat as well.

I don't mean to sound like a know it all but I've used my smoker a ton of times so just wanted to pass on some of what I've learnt, and I'm still learning! Try smoking a turkey for Christmas when it's -38, -45 with with the windchill! At that temperature you can forget about the puck auto-advance!