New xParty - likes to overshoot!

[bmanMA]

My new Extended Party came in last week.
I did the Old Dave's seasoning method. The cooker took it's time coming up to 250, and then it took off. I had one heck of a time trying to bring her back down. In fact, I couldn't. The bottom of the cooking chamber door pulled away about 1/4" from the cabinet at around 525*. Is this typical? I dont expect to be cooking that hot, but at the same time I wasn't expecting the door to move on me.

I have a chuckie on now. I again let it overshoot. Took a while to get to 250. I half-filled the water pan with hot tap water and threw the chuckie on. At this point I had the left door closed, and the right door at 3/4 open. Within 30 mins, it was cranking away at 360. Trying to get it back down, but it seems that's not an easy task.

I'm used to the WSM, which can turn on a dime and took me about 3-4 cooks to master. Need some more time driving this rig! Good thing I have the week off. I hope to have a much better handle on it by the weekend. Should be good and seasoned by then also. Loving the challenge so far...

[RickC]

First thing; be sure you slam the fire door and the smoker door when you close them. If you don't slam them they will look closed but they aren't. This will allow to much draft and you will not be able to control the fire. Light only one corner of the fire box, don't throw a chimney full of charcoal in it, it will take off on you with that big of a fire. I don't see how you could of gotten to 500 degrees with water in it, it would have boiled it dry in very short order. The only time I've been able to get those kind of temps is running without the water pan.
Don't let it come up to temp and then put water in it. Put water in it to start with and let the entire cooker come up to temp before you put meat in it.
If you have a roaring fire going it will take awhile to get the fire slowed down even with the vents closed, they are not airtight and will provide enough air to allow the fir to continue producing a lot of heat, shut the exhaust also, then you have shut off the flow. If it is way over temp open the door for 5 seconds, that will cool it a good 15-20 degrees. Then leave the exhaust almost closed until you are 5 degrees above your set point. Then open 1 lower vent about 1/2" and monitor your temps. You should be able to control it from then on by adjusting lower vent and the exhaust flap. Once you get it calmed down it should truck along for a long time without much attention.

[bmanMA]

Thanks RickC. Great advice. I had an empty water pan for the seasoning burn. Got away from me for sure. Thanks.

Also, has anyone notched out the right corner of the heat diffuser? It is kind of in the way on the hinge-side of the door, mashing the gasket.

[RickC]

Thanks RickC. Great advice. I had an empty water pan for the seasoning burn. Got away from me for sure. Thanks.

Also, has anyone notched out the right corner of the heat diffuser? It is kind of in the way on the hinge-side of the door, mashing the gasket.

Your talking about the heat diverter, I assume. It should not hit the door or the gasket when pushed all the way in. Is it hitting the rails it slides on with the lip that turns down? If this is not what you are talking about, take a picture for us.

[bmanMA]

Yeah, the heat diverter lip curves down and creates like a 1/8" overhang when slid into place. Flipping it doesn't seem to help. The lip is not 90* and so it protrudes.

Is that lip not supposed to overhang the chassis?

Thanks.

[RickC]

Yeah, the heat diverter lip curves down and creates like a 1/8" overhang when slid into place. Flipping it doesn't seem to help. The lip is not 90* and so it protrudes.

Is that lip not supposed to overhang the chassis?

Thanks.

It's supposed to be 90 degrees, if it is not take it out and bend it until it is. If you have a vice you can put the lip between two pieces of wood and then clamp it in the vice to support it while you bend it to 90 degrees. Oh, and the lip faces down when it in the firebox, not up, it's your handle when you pull it out.

[bmanMA]

Has me wondering... there is a slit cut out at the top of the firebox where that thickness of a heat diverter could slide in to. My current diverter is too narrow to fit it. It slides in on that bottom slider. Seems to make sense, minus the lip. I'll post a pic of where/how it sits tomorrow.

[RickC]

Has me wondering... there is a slit cut out at the top of the firebox where that thickness of a heat diverter could slide in to. My current diverter is too narrow to fit it. It slides in on that bottom slider. Seems to make sense, minus the lip. I'll post a pic of where/how it sits tomorrow.

Yes, it runs on the lower rails that are welded into the firebox

[bmanMA]

Here are two pics with the diverter installed. The L-bend in the diverter protrudes past the front of the cooker by the thickness of the diverter. Turning it upside down doesnt help; it is hitting the back of the cooker when fully inserted and so cannot move back any more. The end results is that the door is getting dinged a bit (not worried), but the gasket on the hinge side is getting mashed. No functional issue, just seems wrong.

Thanks for the help.

photo (2).JPG (185.84 KiB) Viewed 863 times

Door hinge side (mashed at my right finger):

photo (3).JPG (162.1 KiB) Viewed 863 times

[bmanMA]

After notching the diverter a bit where the gasket was getting mashed, I found some play in the fire door. I adjusted the latch and was able to reclaim probably about 3-5mm. Since then this thing has been very well behaved.

[ammoore74]

Glad to see you got it figured out.
I was also having issues with my new std. party and temps.

Much like you I ran a test run to season and the fire took off.
Next I ran a dry run just to get a feel for how the cooker is going to act....it took off.
I tried again...it took off....
Put some meat in and it calmed down quite a bit. (My "THEORY" is that the meat inhibits enough air flow to calm down the draw.) I base this THEORY on a comment that Old Dave put out there saying something about thinking of the cooking chamber as part of your chimney.

Next cook....even better behaved
Now on the 6th burn...it dialed in at 225 and sat for several hours without any adjustments.
Each cook gets better and better.
Hope you have the same experience.

[bmanMA]

It behaves quite well full, or at least comp-full. I am quite happy with it... wish it didnt leak so much. But we've done pretty well in ribs and chicken with it. Still dont feel confident enough to do an overnighter.