Probe Safety Guides-Meat Probes Correct Use & Clean

We occasionally hear complaints about Meat Probes not working after a few uses or inaccurate temperatures, here we will answer the questions and offer ways to delay the life of the meat probe.

Why Is The Meat Probe Not Working?

Meat probe can burn out on grills and smokers when they come into contact with any source of heat that is higher than the thermometer’s maximum temperature limit. Steam can also penetrate the seam of transitions and cause a thermometer to malfunction by burning out the sensor.
Putting your probe where it receives direct heat from the fire or conductive materials can cause it to burn out or malfunction.

Common Probe Mistakes

So we need to be careful about the way we use meat probe and by understanding some of the common mistakes people make we can avoid them and extend the life of the probe.

• Threading cables through the smoker chimney
• Placing cables over hot spots
• Placing the transition directly over the water pan
• Laying cables across the grates

Threading Cables Through The Smoker Chimney

In an attempt to keep their cables from kinking, some people thread their probe cables through the chimney or exhaust vent of their cooker. But it can burn out your probe faster than normal because all the excess heat in your smoker comes up the chimney or through the vent.
The best solution is to use some sort of Grommet, port or cut-out specifically for the probe cables. If your smoker does not have such a port, it is better to have the smoker lid over the probe cables than to run them through the hot chimney.

Placing Cables Over Hot Spots

Fire makes smoke, and even smoldering wood chips can retain a temperature over 1,000 °F . That heat can show up in several hot spots in your smoker and cause thermometer burnout.
Different smokers have different hot spots and we have summarised some of the common smoker hotspots and how to avoid them in the hope of helping.

1. Pellet smokers: The drip tray and areas to the sides and front of the tray are hot sports to avoid.
2. Ceramic smokers: The three-leg design should be leveraged by locating the cable in front of one of the legs. The body of the smoker can easily reach a temperature that damages probes. Make sure you are crossing a ceramic bridge when you are setting up your probes.
3. Offset smokers: It’s best to place your cable on the side of the smoker that doesn’t have the firebox, which is the hottest area of the smoker.
4. Kettle-type smokers: Hot spots can be almost anywhere in kettle-type smokers, depending on where the hottest coals are. Barbecuers often press down hard on the lid to trap the heat and smoke within, but that can kink the cables of your thermometer. If your kettle has a hole or grommet port for probe cables, be sure to use it!

Placing Transitions Over Water Pans

The water pan in the smoker generates moist steam to cook the food and disperse the heat from the fire, but the steam can damage the normally waterproof seal of the transition, which causes the probe to short-out or damages your sensor.
To prevent this, avoid inserting your probe laterally into the meat. When you insert the probe from above, instead, the mass of the meat itself can baffle the steam so that it doesn’t penetrate the probe transition. If you have a water smoker or often cook with a lot of steam, it may be best to invest in Type-K technologies.

Laying Cables Across Grates

One of the easiest mistakes to make when handling your probes is allowing the cable to rest on the grates of the smoker or, even worse, droop down below the grates. 
Grills are hot conductors and their temperatures often reach 700°F. Cables dangling over grills at 700 °F (371°C) cause probes to burn out or malfunction.
The solution to this problem is feeding the cable into the smoker with enough tension to prevent drooping. Keep the cable suspended above the grill grates. When you remove the probes from the meat, be careful to remove them from the smoker.

Other Tips For Delaying Probe Life

• Use foil to help protect their probes, wrapping the cable to protect it from hot spots. This is an excellent idea, but it must be done correctly. 
• If a cable becomes severely kinked, it can break the wires inside, causing a short and probe failure. To prevent kinks from happening, be careful how you spool and unspool the cable. Much like a garden hose, if you pull a cable taut from a coiled position, it will kink. Also, when you go to store your cables, coil them loosely around your hand, not tightly around your thermometer. The kind of tension you apply when wrapping a cable tightly can actually damage the wires inside.
• Do not pull the cable hard. Pull the probes out of the meat and either run it back through the slot to remove it. Then clean it properly.
• Keeping your smoker clean will help you extend the life of your probe. Prevent accidental fires from burning the probe.

Meat Probe Correct Insertions

How To Clean The Meat Probe

• Wash the probe in warm water, but be careful not to submerge it in water as this can damage the wiring.
• After rinsing the probe in warm water, wipe it clean with a damp cloth or one of these alcohol wipes to ensure that all bacteria is removed.
• Finally, allow the thermometer to air dry in a clean environment. Leave clean to await the next cooking session.

Conclusion

Learning the correct way to use meat probes will prevent damage to your probes, extend their life and save you money. All that is required is that you take extra care to avoid hot steam from chimneys, vents, hot spots, metal grates and water pans. Avoid twisting the probe cable and use only a small amount of aluminium foil.