What I got out of the document is that many, if not most, woods will begin to burn at much lower temperatures than we might think. If it's like many other heating elements, like in hot plates, electric stoves, etc., the heating element in the CS basically is either on or off. And when on, heats up to somewhere around 1000 degrees F, more or less, in a short period of time, probably 30 seconds to 1 minute. Just about any wood will combust when exposed to that kind of temperature. The internal temperature of the CS is controlled by the cycling on-off of the heating element. And if we bend the heating element up to touch the bottom of the smoke box, and put the wood directly on top of that spot, there's no way it's not going to start to burn, regardless of whether we set the temperature to 150 or 250. Of course, the wood will burn at a higher rate the higher we set the temperature because the heating element will be on more.
And this answers the OP's questions: Have faith in the CS research and engineering, break out the margaritas, don't open the door prematurely, and don't worry about it
quote:Originally posted by Pags:
All information is good. Kinda technically confirms what we generally know. Wood starts at a lower temperature and burns hotter at higher temps.
Also, explains why I don't see much smoke if any at 150*. Wished the survey would have covered more of the woods we use. Don't think fir or redwood would be kind to that brisket.