Camp Chef is a great pellet grill to cook delicious smoky food.
However, you may encounter issues such as temperature fluctuation, incomplete combustion, etc.
But did you know, what’s the reason behind it?
It’s a chimney cap adjustment of your grill.
So, what’s the purpose of chimney adjustment on your Camp Chef?
chimney cap adjustment on a camp chef pellet grill allows you to direct and remove the excess smoke out of your grill.
Lowering the chimney cap can hinder the airflow and affect the grill performance due to inefficient combustion.
Chimney cap adjustment should be perfect for efficient cooking.
Too much raising or lowering the chimney cap on your Camp Chef grill can lead to a negative impact on grill performance.
You should adjust the distance recommended by the instruction manual of a Camp Chef pellet grill.
The height of the chimney cap should be adjusted differently for summer and winter.
As per the Camp Chef, the gap of a chimney cap should be approximately 1’’- 1 ½’’ in summer.
In the winter and windy weather, the gap between the chimney pipe and the chimney cap should be approximately ½”.
Keep reading to know more about chimney adjustment in detail.
Science Behind the Working of Pellet Grill Chimney
Before going to know about chimney adjustment, you should learn about the science behind the working of pellet grill chimney.
There is a science of thermodynamics that works in a pellet grill chimney.
Most of you might have seen the chimney used in various places such as factories, hose roofs, etc.
The working of a grill chimney is based on the convection principle.
But did you know, what convection really is?
Convection is a process in which the hot air or fumes with less density flow from a region of high pressure to a region of relatively cold air with low pressure until the equilibrium pressure is created.
Similarly, the hot air in the grill chamber rises from a higher-pressure region towards the low atmospheric pressure region at the top of the chimney.
While the hot flue gases traverse the chimney, it expands and creates a region of low pressure which subsequently gets filled by the relatively higher ambient pressure at the grill chamber’s inlet side.
This cycle of hot flue gases exiting the chimney and relatively cold ambient air entry into the grill chamber keeps on happening continuously until there are pellets to create a high-pressure area.
This phenomenon of continuous entry of ambient air inside the grill chamber is essential for the combustion of fuel, since the larger the amount of airflow inside the chamber, the greater will be the presence of oxygen for combustion.
This is especially required for burning large pit of pellets in case of large size grills and their respective chambers.
Usually, there is a gap provided between the tip of the chimney pipe and the bottom of the chimney cap.
This gap is responsible for maintaining a certain pressure difference between the grill chamber and the atmospheric pressure. This is typically termed a draft.
The greater the height of the chimney, the greater will be the gap between the chimney pipe and the end cap.
The greater the gap, the greater will be the hot flue gases flow across the chimney. This results in more air ingress into the grill chamber for faster combustion of the pellets.
As the height of the chimney gets reduced, the hot gases flow will get reduced proportionately.
This would mean that the flue gases spend most of the time near the combustion chamber before it exits the chimney.
This leads to poor air circulation at the chamber inlet leading to slower or improper combustion of pellets.
Hence the height of the chimney plays an important role in ensuring perfect cooking temperature.
Benefits of Camp Chef Chimney
A chimney doesn’t perform a crucial role in the proper working of your Camp chef pellet grill.
But still, they giving you additional nice benefits.
Here are the benefits of chimneys On Your Camp Chef Pellet Grill :
1.The hot smoke will safely exit from the cooking chamber through the chimney.
2. You can adjust the amount of smoke venting out.
3. Chimney can improve the airflow inside the cooking chamber.
4. It will help to retain the heat in the cooking chamber.
Though chimneys aren’t essential for your pellet grill to work.
Still, there are plenty of benefits to consider when buying a grill that can include a chimney.
According to our opinion, the main benefit of a chimney is it helps the pellet grill retain heat in the cooking chamber that helps for cooking in a great way.
You can experience the real difference, especially when cooking food in cold weather.
Is The Camp Chef Chimney Adjustment Necessary?
Now you may wonder, is my Camp Chef Chimney adjustment is really essential?
Then, yes, it’s crucial to adjust the chimney on Camp chef your grill.
Most of the BBQ’er often overlook the recommended or right gap on the chimney cap.
Keeping too much gap or too little gap between the chimney pipe and chimney cap is both harmful.
Too much of a gap will adversely affect smoke generation within the grill.
Too much gap also leads to huge temperature swings.
On the contrary, too little gap will store flue gases, which can ultimately cause an explosion.
Too little gap also restricts the airflow within the grill chamber.
The restricted airflow means less heat generation and a high amount of flue gases to store in the grill.
So, it is necessary to maintain the proper gap between the chimney pipe and the chimney cap.
Does The Chimney Need to Be Open on Camp Chef?
As per the Camp chef, the chimney should always be open.
If you lower the cap than recommended, you will restrict the airflow, and it generates less heat.
There is not a free flow of air that could cause a build-up of higher flue gases inside the grill, which could result in an explosion.
If you’re grilling in the winter or on a windy day, leave a smaller gap on the chimney.
It will prevent the temperature fluctuation of your Camp Chef grill. But the chimney gap should not be too little.
What’s the Recommended Camp Chef Chimney Adjustment?
We would suggest keeping the chimney on your camp Chef pellet grill opened.
You should adjust the distance specified by the instruction manual of a Camp Chef pellet grill.
The height of the chimney cap should be adjusted differently for summer and winter.
As per the Camp chef, the gap of a chimney cap on a pellet grill should be approximately 1’’- 1 ½’’ in summer.
It means there should be a minimum of a 1-inch chimney cap gap maintained in the summertime.
In the winter season, the chimney cap gap should be lower compared to the summer season.
In the winter and windy weather, the gap between the chimney pipe and the chimney cap should be approximately ½”.
How to Adjust Chimney On Camp Chef?
Adjusting the Camp Chef chimney height is very much easy.
You Just need to follow the below steps to adjust the chimney cap height on your Camp Chef grill.
First of all, get a wrench.
Now, you need to locate the M6 nut at the bottom of the bolt which holds the chimney cap in its place.
Tighten or lose the chimney cap by using a wrench.
If the gap is too low, make sure it is a 1-½” gap between the chimney pipe and chimney cap.
Adjust the as recommended by the camp chef.
Don’t keep a low or high gap than the recommended ones.
And voila! You have done with the chimney adjustment.
Where to Find a Camp Chef Pellet Grill Chimney?
If you are looking for a Camp Chef chimney, then you can easily find it online at Amazon or the Camp Chef website.
You can get this reliable Pellet Grill Smoke Stock Chimney.
It is constructed of 14 Gauge Black Powder Coated Steel.
The chimney comes with Vent & Cap and a felt heat resistant gasket.
You can get the entire kit you’ll require to get it attached.
The chimney cap is adjustable.
It screws into a threaded hole to adjust the height.
The height of the smokestack height is about 14 inches including the cap.
This one fits Camp Chef, Pit Boss, and Traeger grills.
How to Install of Chimney and Chimney Cap on Your Camp Chef?
Things you’ll Need:
M6 x 76 bolt
M6 nut
M6 x 15 screw
Chimney gasket
M6 lock washer
M6 flat washer
Steps:
1.Measure the vent holes and plug them with using a bolt, washer, and nut on your grill.
2.Make sure you are installing the gasket on the outside of the grill.
3.Open the lid of the grill for chimney installation.
3. Tighten all the hardware.
4. Install M6 x 76 Bolt through chimney cap and secure it properly by using one M6 nut.
5. Thread the second nut onto the bolt leaving a height approximately 1.5” to the top of the cap.
6. Thread the cap assembly down into the chimney bracket till the lower nut touches the bracket.
7. Adjust the height of the chimney cap for summer and winter as recommended by the Camp chef.
How to Clean The Camp Chef Chimney?
When the wood pellets are burned slowly inside the grill, they generate tar and other organic vapors.
They will mix with expelled moisture and make creosote.
This creosote residue accumulates on the chimney.
When ignited, this creosote makes a tremendously hot fire.
You should inspect the chimney at least twice a year to determine how much grease and or creosote build-up has get to collected.
When a large amount of grease or creosote has been collected, it should be removed to eliminate the risk of fire.
Ensure your grill is cool to touch and unplugged before going to start cleaning a chimney.
Remove the cover of the chimney to clean the chimney’s interior using a gentle brush.
By using a wire brush you can clean out the screen area of the chimney outlet of the grill.
After that, take a damp cloth to get rid of the stains of soot and ash on the cap as well as a wall of smokestack on your Camp chef grill.
Camp Chef recommends cleaning of chimney every 50 hours of use and thoroughly cleaning after 200 hours of use.
If you failed to do so, air cannot flow freely, and this can cause burn back.
You should also clean the back of the barrel where the chimney is attached as there will be a lot of build-ups accumulated behind it.
Don’t make use of water to clean the interior of the chimney, as it leads to grill rusting issues.
Once the chimney is cleaned thoroughly, you can attach the chimney cover to the pipe.
Final Thoughts
I hope, you understand about your Camp Chef chimney adjustment.
You should adjust the chimney differently for summertime and winter or windy condition.
The chimney adjustment should be done as recommended by a Camp chef for achieving the best cooking temperature.
References:
https://www.campchef.com/frequently-asked-questions
https://www.campchef.com/media/manuals/PG24_Manual.pdf
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