valve90210 Posted September 21, 2017 Share Posted September 21, 2017 On Saturday I used my new QMaster Lite mounted on my Callow smoker, sadly in my slightly too tired state it didn't occur to me to let the smoker come up to temperature before switching on the ATC so of course the fan was blowing like mad for ages and got the coals incredibly super hot...which has caused an area of the powder coating to bubble up. I've not full investigated the extent of the bubbling as yet as I've not had the time to do so this week but I'm just wondering what I might use to protect the smoker if the coating crumbles off, would something like high temperature stove paint be ok? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokin Monkey Posted September 21, 2017 Share Posted September 21, 2017 Hi Scott, did the temperature run high as well? Just wondering why they got that hot to cause damage. Next time I would put the lit coals on the inner row of you coals that would keep them away from the side until the temperature has steady and the fan is running only intermittently. I got a Vortex for Christmas and was that eager to use it, I got the coals going with my Q Lite, put the lid down and gave it 1 hour to steady the temperature, the only problem was I forgot to put the temperature sensor in. When I returned to the smoker, the factory fitted thermometer was off the scale, opened the smoker and the heat was incredible, it was like looking at a Blacksmith Forge! The heat had actually started to melt the cooking rack bars, and they where twisted out of shape!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valve90210 Posted September 21, 2017 Author Share Posted September 21, 2017 Hi Steve, yep, where the coals had gotten rather hotter than normal because the fan was constantly blowing the temperature eventually rocketed up to about 140C. I think the issue was just that I put the fan on too early, literally just after I'd put the water pan in and closed the lid so the temp, normally the smoker takes about 45 - 60 minutes to gradually build up to 110C but of course in having put the fan on so soon it was blowing for like 20 minutes or so which the coals loved... and they got super hot. Probably didn't help that I had also put a foil baffle around the edge of the fire basket. I'd done this because on the Callow the air vents are quite high up and I was concerned that the air from the fan would just blow against the side of the fire basket and not reach the coals. I figured the baffle would meant he air had to go down and through the holes in the bottom of the fire basket...which it very much seemed to do... The age old adage of only changing one thing at a time and seeing what happens would have been very wise, and thinking through when to start using the fan would definitely have helped too! Still, the meat turned out nice.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted September 21, 2017 Share Posted September 21, 2017 140 C should not have caused the powder coating to bubble. I regularly hot roast at 180-200 C. Where has it started to bubble? It maybe something that you need to talk to Scott at Callow about as the powder coating should be a lot tougher than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valve90210 Posted September 21, 2017 Author Share Posted September 21, 2017 The 140C was at the top grill, the bubbling is right down at the bottom on the smoker which probably and inch or so away from coals which were getting incredibly hot from the fan blowing for so long. I'll get a pic this evening if I'm home before it's dark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted September 21, 2017 Share Posted September 21, 2017 At only 140 C at the grate this still sounds like a manufacturing problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valve90210 Posted September 21, 2017 Author Share Posted September 21, 2017 If I'd thought about it I'd have stuck a probe in the area of the coals to see how hot it was in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valve90210 Posted September 25, 2017 Author Share Posted September 25, 2017 I was pottering around with my smokers over the weekend and had a look at the bottom of the Callow, defintiely some damaged powder coating, it's bubbled and cracked in an area on the outside, interestingly though there didn't seem to be any damage on the inside? Naturally I completely forgot to take any photos, will try to get some this week at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted September 26, 2017 Share Posted September 26, 2017 Drop Scott from Callow an email and see what he suggests. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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