Somebody's a liar!

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jeff f

Newbie
Original poster
Aug 3, 2013
5
10
Hey guys and gals, i recently purchased an masterbuilt electric cookmaster smoker , following the directions i put it together as directed. I installed the temperature gauge that came with the unit that goes in the door, but was not totally convinced this was enough temp control and ultimatly ended up purchasing a new digital temperature gauge.(here 's where the fun starts). Deciding today was tthe day for my first chicken cook off i set my smoker to its high setting  ,and placed the new digital temp gauge in the smoker after giving it some time to preheat i noticed a drastic difference in the to temp guages? the factory gauge was reading 210 F but the internal guage was reading 269F? My question is whose the liar here and is this common? Which is more accurate? Don't forget folks a total newbie here. Thanks in advance for your responces ur all great so far!
 
Check you digital guage in boiling water and in ice water to see what it reads.
 
10 out of 10 times the door therm is S#!T. They are almost never accurate unless you are talking the $1000+ Smokers that come stock with Tel-Tru Therms. Check the digital one as above and trust it...JJ
 
Check you digital guage in boiling water and in ice water to see what it reads.
It would be safe money to bet on the digital probe being the most accurate. The built in probes are usually OK for giving a general idea of the temperature but for an accurate reading you should use a calibrated digital probe. You can also check the factory gauge in the same way to see how accurate it is too.

Although generally less accurate the factory gauges do sometimes come in for some unwarranted criticism because of where they are located. Inside most smokers there are usually significant temperature gradients and so depending on outside temperatures and where the probe is placed in the smoker you are likely to get different readings. Often factory fitted probes are in the lid at or near the top of the chamber so as heat rises it will naturally show hotter than a probe sitting on the cooking grate. Probes nearer to the heat source will also usually show hotter.

I have invested in a couple of industrial Rototherm probes for my bigger smokers and they are very accurate however I do still place digital probes in the chamber next to the meat as well.
 
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