Searwood Not Reaching Temp

[scouter882]

After exhaustive back and forth with Weber they insist there is no issue. I believe this can be fixed with a firmware update. The grill cooks cold and doesn't meet setpoint on long sessions.

 

[asess]

I have the same issues. I purchased my original Searwood 600 on June 15. I noticed when I smoked chicken wings they took a little longer than I had anticipated. Didn’t really think about it too much. On July 6th I smoked a 5.86lb pork shoulder. I set to 250°. Started at 6:30am and it didn’t finish until 10:30pm that night. I sent a case using the connect app and had heard a response for about a month. Meanwhile I went to my local Ace where I purchased. The manager contacted his Weber rep. Guy was awesome. We replaced the chamber probe and the controller. No dice…still saw a lot of fluctuations in temp. Weber rep contacted Ace and they replaced with another new Searwood 600. Same issues. I spoke to the Weber rep last week and he had mentioned my issue to the product manager for Searwood and they said that’s normal. They feel that it should average out between the low and high temps.
Today I smoked a 4.25lb Pork Shoulder. Started at 8:30am and pulled it off a few degrees short of 203° at 5:30pm. I started at 225°. Lowest temp was 196° and highest temp was 245°. I ultimately set the temp at 275° and saw fluctuations all over. I really wanna love this thing. I see a lot of YouTube video coming out on the XL 600. Weber rep says there is nothing different other than a pellet sensor and 12 more inches. I have a lot of videos with another Weber Connect Hub next to the onboard controller.

My testing: I raised the smaller grill grate up about 2" and placed the Weber connect Hub probe about a qtr of an inch away from the chamber probe.

Today’s cook: I placed the shoulder on the upper rack, thinking that heat rises. That didn’t make a difference. Great flavor!

I do agree that a firmware update could probably fix this.

I am on the fence of returning all together. As I said, I really want to love this grill.

 

[SteveSeaton]

I have the same issues. I purchased my original Searwood 600 on June 15. I noticed when I smoked chicken wings they took a little longer than I had anticipated. Didn’t really think about it too much. On July 6th I smoked a 5.86lb pork shoulder. I set to 250°. Started at 6:30am and it didn’t finish until 10:30pm that night. I sent a case using the connect app and had heard a response for about a month. Meanwhile I went to my local Ace where I purchased. The manager contacted his Weber rep. Guy was awesome. We replaced the chamber probe and the controller. No dice…still saw a lot of fluctuations in temp. Weber rep contacted Ace and they replaced with another new Searwood 600. Same issues. I spoke to the Weber rep last week and he had mentioned my issue to the product manager for Searwood and they said that’s normal. They feel that it should average out between the low and high temps.
Today I smoked a 4.25lb Pork Shoulder. Started at 8:30am and pulled it off a few degrees short of 203° at 5:30pm. I started at 225°. Lowest temp was 196° and highest temp was 245°. I ultimately set the temp at 275° and saw fluctuations all over. I really wanna love this thing. I see a lot of YouTube video coming out on the XL 600. Weber rep says there is nothing different other than a pellet sensor and 12 more inches. I have a lot of videos with another Weber Connect Hub next to the onboard controller.

My testing: I raised the smaller grill grate up about 2" and placed the Weber connect Hub probe about a qtr of an inch away from the chamber probe.

Today’s cook: I placed the shoulder on the upper rack, thinking that heat rises. That didn’t make a difference. Great flavor!

I do agree that a firmware update could probably fix this.

I am on the fence of returning all together. As I said, I really want to love this grill.

I expect there to be oscillating temperatures (your electric oven does the same thing). Your range on the last cook would be okay with me. I need to do some more cooking on mine, but it appears that it will settle in with the high point of the oscillation being lower than the set point after a couple hours of cooking. I have only done 3 cooks and one got impacted by a thunderstorm so I need to get more data points before coming to a firm conclusion.

 

[Daverich4]

My Searwood 600 runs at least 40-50 degrees colder than set. If I want 275 I set the temp to 330. And that is just to get an average. During a multi-hour cook I expect the temp to go over and under by 30-50 degrees with occasional swings of +/- 100 degrees. The temp display never shows anything but the set temperature and in my opinion is for entertainment value only.