Thermometer issues....i think

[chrisgbo]

Hey all,

I think i'm having issues with my thermometers...here goes.

I have a 14.5" WSM used a hand full of time. I have a wired digital thermometer, When i first lit up the smoker out of the box, both thermometers would read the same temp while it was warming up. I inserted the thermometer in the side just to see how accurate the one on the lid was.

Now here's the problem,

While warming up the smoker today i again inserted the digital thermometer in the side and noticed the temp was 300 on the digital and only 250 in the lid. Now I have no idea why. When inserted, the digital one sits right above the bottom grill.Would there be a 50 degree difference between the bottom grill and the lid?

Next, i took a potato and slid the  digital thermometer through it. I slid it so that the digital was within 1 inch of the lid thermometer. it was still off by 30 degrees.

After my smoke, I remove the lid thermometer and did the boil test, I then did the same for the digital. Both within a few degrees of 212.

Can someone please help?

thanks in advance

Chris

 

[mdboatbum]

Try cleaning the probe end of the lid thermometer. While water may read correctly because it's in direct contact, it might have a buildup of gunk that's insulating it just enough that it can't get a good reading on air temps.