Temp Variations on GOSM type smoker

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backcountry

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Jun 16, 2009
164
10
Central Canada
I run a cabinet like the GOSM. It's the Broil Mate Vertical Cabinet smoker from Home Depot (discontinued now I believe).

Anyway. This past weekend on my large smoke, I had to run the thing on MAX to keep a steady 230F temp on the upper racks.... We had a bit of wind, not much. I found this very odd that I had a tough time keeping temps up. Vent on the back towards the top started out open about 1/8th of the way, then I had it basically all the way closed in an effort to keep temps up with less fuel, but it didn't seem to work.

My digital temperature probe was up towards the top and was reading the same as the stock gauge in the door (also near the top rack). What I'm thinking is that there's just a huge temp. variation in my smoker from the lower levels to the upper? I guess I should have probed the bottom racks to see. One observation was that the ABT's on the lower racks finished quicker than those up top, which is a tell tale sign in my books.

Anyone else running these kind of units and find a big variation in temps throughout the cabinet?
 
Wow, that doesn't sound good at all... What did your flames look like from the burner when you jacked it up to high? If you didnt notice you might want to take apart the regulator to make sure there is nothing inside it...

How old is the smoker now?
 
The unit is less than a year old. The flame looked pretty blue with some orange tips I believe, but it's tough to say for sure.

It strikes me as odd too because when I first got it I was using it in winter. Winnipeg winters are friged to say the least and temps can dip down to -40F... I remember having to keep it just above low to attain a 200F temp for smoking fish in those temps.

Something is not right!
 
I'm running the same unit a Gosm and to me it sound like a valve problem to me I run mine almost as low as it will go to maintain a 230-240 smoker temp. It could be you have a leak in the hose or the ends you don't smell gas when it not lite do you ? Try changing out the tank with another one if you have extras.
 
No smell of gas - that would be a major red flag if I did. I'll try switching tanks first, then I'll replace the regulator if that doesn't change things. Thanks for the suggestion, mballi.
 
Mine is a charcoal to propane conversion GOSM. I do see about a 15º difference from bottom to top rack. Closes to the flame is always hotter.
 
This is probably not the right answer to the problem, but it is a possibility.

Turn off the tank, disconnect from the tank, turn on the smoker to high.
Let it sit for about 6-10 mins.
Turn off smoker, reconnect the tank, open valve tank and then light your smoker, watch for an even blue flame on all burner ports and if it is blue
with orange tips on high, then you are getting max out of it.

This is a method to expel all gas from the lines and reset the safety valve in the regulator.

Method for gas operation is not to open the tank valve all the way, just one complete rotation is all that is necessary.

If your flame is low or overall orange, try this.

Jack~
 
Ok update to this situation...

Flames are heavily orange. They start out blue at the burner, then go orange pretty quick... That's not good. I switched tanks out, tried Jack's tip above too...

Sticking at 225F was a chore...

Time to try a new regulator I guess...

15-17 smokes on this thing in under a year and the regulator is already shot? Burn...
 
This is not unusual in a GOSM like cabinet. The lowest rack will be the hottest, and the top rack wil be cooler as long as the top vent is wide open. I have variable temp zones in my GOSM big block. Right now the ambient temp is 79° with an 8 mph wind. My three therms are calibrated. The GOSM is at it's lowest setting with the bottom vents closed to factory settings and the top vent wide open. My bottom therm/rack is reading 300°. middle therm/rack at 240°, and the top therm/rack is at 215°. This works for me when when I need to cook at different temps at the same time. I hope yo can find peace of mind with your situation.
 
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