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Make or Repair your Stoker Pit Probes
bigguy136
Posts: 1,353
I've had my Stokers for over 2 years now. The pit and meat probes have taken a bit of a beating over the years and I figure I better learn how to make my own.
All the temp probes are is a K-wire with the end twisted together and shoved down a stainless tube. Below I have a temp probe that the wire was melted on. All I did was pulled the wire out of the tube, cut the burnt end off, re-twisted the wire and shoved back down the tube. 2 minutes. So if you are ordering probes, get them longer and you can cut them a few times as they get melted.
I also wanted to make my own so I bought some hi-temp k-wire for my pit probes and bulk silicone k-wire for my meat probes. I used to wrap foil around my pit probe and it would give me a bad signal every now and again but the wire was protected. With the hi-temp wire (900° F), I run my pit at 400° and my pit probe doesn't have a mark on it after 4 months.
Below are a few images. Sorry they are in reverse order of how I selected them. Any questions, let me know.
Big Lake, Minnesota
2X Large BGE, 1 Mini Max, Stokers, Adjustable Rig
Comments
Also, Rock's has K-type adapters available if you have a favorite K-type thermocouple you want to use without modifying an existing probe.
XL BGE - S BGE - KJ Jr - HB Legacy - BS Pizza Oven - 30" Firepit - King Kooker Fryer - PR72T - WSJ - BS 17" Griddle - XXL BGE - Akron Jr - BS SS36" Griddle
That is the connector that got me looking into everything. After buying one and taking it apart, all it is a k-style adapter, 12" of wire and connected to stokers end. If you have an old temp probe that is too short, buy one of the k-type adapters and screw it to your wire and you are done.
www.omega.com is a great source for all wires and stainless probes. Cheap too.
Big Lake, Minnesota
2X Large BGE, 1 Mini Max, Stokers, Adjustable Rig
Ron,
I hope you have a very steady hand and a lot of patience. You are a far better man than I am.
Big Lake, Minnesota
2X Large BGE, 1 Mini Max, Stokers, Adjustable Rig
Big Lake, Minnesota
2X Large BGE, 1 Mini Max, Stokers, Adjustable Rig
Sorry for the delay. I bought my stainless tubes in both Ø.125" and Ø.187" x 6" long from this page. If you are using your metal tubes over, you won't need any. I also went with a larger diameter so I can have several sets of wires inside of one tube. This way, I have one probe with several temp samplings.
http://www.omega.com/pptst/SS_INC_TUBES.html
I went to the bottom of the page to the "build your part number" select what you want from the drop downs. I did SS and closed end.
SS-18-6closed Ø.125" x 6" stainless tube for $8.50
SS-316-6closed Ø.187" x 6" stainless tube for $8.50
EXPP-K-24S-25 24 gage stranded, polyvinyl (food probe wire) 25' for $28.00
My pit probe wire came from Midwest Thermo www.mwthermo.com
They gave me a 20' sample for free. I was asking about coated (food probe wire) and he got me a price of $20.00 for a 380' roll. This is crazy cheap but it's also solid wire and I want stranded. I will be talking to them more and getting pricing for stranded wire but they are much easier to work with than Omega. If they won't sell 10' and 20' lengths, maybe I'll do a group buy?
Big Lake, Minnesota
2X Large BGE, 1 Mini Max, Stokers, Adjustable Rig
1 large BGE, 2 small BGE, 3 Plate setters, 1 large cast iron grid, 1 pizza stone, 1 Stoker II Wifi, 1 BBQ Guru Digi-Q II, 1 Amaze N pellet smoker and 1 empty wallet. Seaforth, On. Ca.
I could get into a lot of big words if I knew them but your temp probes are just two bi-metal wires of whatever length and the last 1/4" of the shielding removed and the two wires are twisted together. Nothing new or invented here and no increase or decrease in accuracy.
All temp probes need to be calibrated but after my 1st calibration, I never found the need to recalibrate after cutting a wire shorter or replacing the wire with a new one.
Big Lake, Minnesota
2X Large BGE, 1 Mini Max, Stokers, Adjustable Rig
1 large BGE, 2 small BGE, 3 Plate setters, 1 large cast iron grid, 1 pizza stone, 1 Stoker II Wifi, 1 BBQ Guru Digi-Q II, 1 Amaze N pellet smoker and 1 empty wallet. Seaforth, On. Ca.
Big Lake, Minnesota
2X Large BGE, 1 Mini Max, Stokers, Adjustable Rig
Large BGE
KJ Jr.
Exodus 12:9 KJV
Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
Sorry, it fell off my radar. The last I worked on this I want to find a thinner K-wire so I can have 2 or 3 sets inside of a metal probe that are spaces 1" from each other. Then when I use the probe, I will have 3 different locations of temp being monitored in a single probe.
Maybe after Labor day?? Thanks for the nudge to start thinking about it again.
Big Lake, Minnesota
2X Large BGE, 1 Mini Max, Stokers, Adjustable Rig
Large BGE
KJ Jr.
Exodus 12:9 KJV
Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
Big Lake, Minnesota
2X Large BGE, 1 Mini Max, Stokers, Adjustable Rig
Minnesota
Enjoy your new toy. If you want to test your stokers before buying some probes, let me know and I can meet up somewhere or I can mail you one.
Big Lake, Minnesota
2X Large BGE, 1 Mini Max, Stokers, Adjustable Rig
Minnesota
In looking to protect the probes a bit more so I was looking at EXPP-K-24S-TCB-P-25 from omega for $55.
It is the same as "EXPP-K-24S-25 24 gage stranded, polyvinyl (food probe wire) 25' for $28.00" but with Tinned Copper Overbraid
I also looked at EXTT-K-24-SB-T-25 , Stainless Steel Overbraid, PFA insulation, and solid instead of stranded
First of all - thanks for saving me some cash!
My question is: what do you recommend for fixing the wires in place within the tubes? I wasn't paying attention at 6:00 in the morning and grabbed the wire instead of the probe. Of course, the probe finished falling off mid-air and rolled between the decking and into the gravel underneath.
Also, it appears the 24 stranded high-temp is available at omega now at less-than-spool quantities, using the part number builder at the bottom.
http://www.omega.com/pptst/XC_K_TC_WIRE.html
GG-K-24S is:
88.00 for 100'
50.50 for 50'
31.50 for 25'
Great! I also use a silicone fuel tubing (the same that Stokers uses) from my nitro model airplanes. I'm not sure of the size other than just knowing what it looks like. It would be something like the link below from Amazon. If you put that over the wire and tube, it should hold it together. If not, a spot of epoxy on the end of the wires and glue them in like Stokers does will also work. https://www.amazon.com/Du-Bro-Medium-Super-Silicone-Tubing/dp/B0006MZKJ8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1499745250&sr=8-2&keywords=silicone+fuel+line
Big Lake, Minnesota
2X Large BGE, 1 Mini Max, Stokers, Adjustable Rig
It appears that magnesium oxide is used in the probe tip to before the welded bead of metal is inserted into the tip.
It's just something to keep in mind. You can probably back off the TC wire in the tube, but air is a good insulator too and it will impede probe response time.
Any instrumentation or electrical folks in the house that can expand on this? https://blog.wika.us/products/temperature-products/faqs-thermocouple-selection-grounded-vs-ungrounded/
I have one sensor at that gives me false "Food Ready" alarms. This is probably the reason.