I have a Fireboard thermostat for my BGE and I absolutely love it. I bought an RTD ambient thermistor (a temperature probe built to withstand long cooks). I thought I would be able to shove it in the hole made for the built-in thermometer. Nope. The hole is too small.
One way or another, if I want to use this thing, I'm gonna have to drill a hole. I need ideas. I'm terrified that I might crack the porcelain.
Give me your ideas, or dissuade me from the idea. Open to your thoughts.
I have an older version of this:
https://www.fireboard.com/shop/smoker-probe-12-npt-thread/
by firedsynapse
11 Comments
Personally I would not do it. Even if you could drill the hole, it would void the warranty. How about building a mount to hold it inside the egg and just run the wire out?
I would never in a million years do that, i have a fire board and just use the one that clamps to the grate and the wires run out the side. I clamp it above the deflector, what’s wring with just doing that method?
Won’t the springy metal holder thing for the original thermometer grip onto the new thermometer
I use a clip probe and just clip it on the stem of the factory and now non functional factory one. I left a gap in the gasket to run the wire through.
I wouldn’t, but what’s the worst that happens?
You end up destroying the lid of your egg so that you can use a ~$17 temperature probe, it’s the seventh time you’ve “accidentally” done something like this to an egg and your spouse has absolutely had it with you destroying “something beautiful because of something that’s so incredibly meaningless like being able to use a $17 heat stick” so they start nagging you and nagging you worse than they already did because of the other six times, and you grow to resent each other. Your young children don’t fully understand why, but they know their parents don’t get along, so it’s no surprise to them when you two split. As they get older, they start to put the pieces together, literally and figuratively (“I still remember how big the crack in that lid was and the look of embarrassment on my parent’s face when they drilled that hole. I could NEVER respect them after seeing them do that.” – your child talking to their expensive therapist you now have to pay for) so on holidays it’s no surprise that they don’t choose your “cozy” place next to the county waste site since it’s all you can afford now after the divorce.
God forbid you found a different temperature probe that fit into the existing lid hole and still allows for pizza/high temp cooking instead of wrecking your life (and the lives of your entire family).
Just hang it in the vent cap. The cable is the most sensitive part – and at longer cook temps it’ll be well below its limits.
Why not just stick the thermometer in your morning coffee instead?
Just clip it to the grates and pass the cable under the dome.
Should have went for the pro model with Thermocouple probes. Rated to ~1200f
If you can return and get the pro, please do
It’s just three wires. You can cut it a couple inches away from the plug, strip back the insulation, splice or solder, wrap and then kick yourself for not threading it through the Egg hole first.
The problem is that bulky nut would have to hang in the Egg
Better yet, order a bayonet style RTD from Omega that will fit right into the hole. https://www.omega.com/en-us/temperature-measurement/temperature-probes/probes-with-integral-connectors/pr-23/p/PR-23-1-100-A-1-8-0200-M8
Drill a hole = void all BGE topdome warranty. Is it worth it?