It's right there in the name, but my circulator doesn't seem to do much…..circulation of the water.

How important is it?



by LanikaiKid

22 Comments

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  2. DoritoDustThumb

    It’s the most important part. Yours looks fine, it isn’t a hot tub.

  3. You only need a little bit of motion for the water to circulate enough for cooking.

  4. Aliensinmypants

    Very, it’s the worst part of using the sous vide feature on a instapot

  5. atadams44

    I always spot check the corners to see if the temps match. If they match it must be circulating even though the water flow isn’t obvious.

  6. Stick a thermometer in one side. Stick it in the other side. If the temps aren’t the same by 1 degree then just adjust your bag to let more flow around

  7. Affectionate_Tie3313

    Looks fine

    Lab-grade and the early Polyscience and Julabo units move the water more quickly as the premise was to bring whatever you dump into the water bath quickly come up (or go down) to temperature the bath was set to

    However you’re not trying to grow 16L of *E. coli* culture so less relevant for home use as the quantity of material isn’t generally thermally massive

  8. Darkman013

    I’ve jammed mine super full and never really had a problem. (I also checked it with a thermometer, and flipped the packages once or twice a day. That was for long cooks though.) Back in the day, one of the first home sous vide machines was sous vide supreme and it was just a heated water bath. I believe it relied on conduction.

  9. The heating and temperature control of the water is the only measurement. Nothing else matters.

  10. You don’t need much really. Especially with something as open as you have there.

  11. Impressive-Yak-7449

    I have the exact same container set. That metal rack does everything you need!

  12. LanikaiKid

    I’m honestly surprised by all the downvotes from this post. Isn’t this a legitimate question to ask, or does this subreddit just not like questions like this?

  13. VeloBiker907

    I need a rack like that for my sous vide tub! Such a clever idea. Where might I find one?

  14. Sous vide is a great way to calibrate your hand held thermometers. Pop it in near the unit and then on the other side of the bag. As long as they’re the same temp, you’re good. The racks help.

    As to your original question, it appears to be working fine. Roll up the long flap and all is good.

  15. j0ezonelayer

    I’ve had to take mine apart and clean it. Seems dog hair likes to get stuck in it lol. That’s always been my fix for this, especially if it didn’t previously work like this

  16. I’ve done SV for years using a auber pid controller ( https://a.co/d/82iL6Ey ) that i purchase for my electric smoker before i bought a pk100 smoker. Never had a problem not having a circulator.

  17. feelin_raudi

    I use an instant pot, which has no circulation at all. You’ll be fine.

  18. Just so it’s not in the way and the water can circulate better. It’ll allow what’s in the bag to heat more evenly. Also, please don’t be embarrassed asking questions. That’s how we learn.

  19. Lothariooooo

    I like to flip or rotate the bag a couple of times throughout the duration of the cooking. I think if you cook for long enough it doesn’t matter all that much.

  20. If your circulation is poor or weak, thank your friend Convection for always being there! 😁

    If it moving a wee bit, it’s enough, if it’s not moving at all, it’s time for a new one.