 |
|
So let's take a look at the Billows blower. It's the largest blower we have ever tested, measuring 6¼" x 3⅜" x 1¼" and weighing in at over 8 ounces. This is probably explained by the mammoth capacity of 46 cubic feet per minute (CFM) which is also a far greater capacity than any blowers we have ever tested before. Here are photos of the blower in various positions:
As we have already stated, the blower is advertised as having a capacity of 46 cubic feet per minute (CFM). We have to wonder why when 10 CFM is more than adequate for all home barbecue cookers. We have tested temperature controllers with blowers as small as 5 CFM that worked perfectly well. We suppose it is an effort to create one blower for all cookers small and large, but without a damper, 46 CFM is totally unnecessary for most cookers. We see two potential drawbacks. First, the Billows/Signals combination, as we shall see, has trouble controlling cookers at low temperatures. Second, we also have to wonder if the electrical requirements for such a large blower are the reason why Thermoworks states that rechargeable battery packs won't provide the necessary current to run both the Signals unit and the Billows blower, thus requiring that you use the provided power supply and a 120 volt outlet. The Billows blower also comes with a yellow silicone plug for covering the air intake on the blower. Thermoworks recommends using this when you are done with a cook in order to stop hot air in the cooker from flowing back out through the blower and damaging it.
In order to connect your Billows blower to the Signals unit, Thermoworks provides a fan adapter cable. This splitter-type cable plugs into the Signals unit's USB-C socket. Then you plug the power supply's USB-C plug into the "Power" socket on the fan adapter to supply power to the Signals unit and the Billows. Finally, you plug one end of the USB-C to USB-C cable into the "Fan" socket on the fan adapter and the other end into the USB-C port on the Billows blower itself.
Incredibly, when you order your Billows unit, you are neither offered nor do you receive any sort of adapter for installing the blower in your cooker. As you can see, the blower has the spring clips for attaching it to something, but as you can also see, there is no way to attach this blower as-is to a large Big Green Egg cooker.
Thermoworks has stated in their help section that they will be offering adapters, but until they do, we'd suggest you visit the Flame Boss web site and order their "Flame Boss Kamado Adapter Set." We happen to have a set handy:
It should be noted that the opening on the Flame Boss adapter is slightly smaller than the opening on the Billows blower (26mm x 26mm vs 30mm x 40mm), so this may reduce airflow somewhat. However, 46 CFM is far more capacity than you will ever, ever, ever need so this should actually be a benefit. The Signals unit has an audible alarm with adjustable volume up to 90db. When temperatures exceed the level of an alarm, the audible alarm sounds until you press any button on the unit. Also, the words "LOW ALARM" or "HIGH ALARM" will flash. The temperature of the probe which is alarming will have to return to the range between the low and high alarms and then the alarm can trip again if the temperature strays outside the limits again. On your smart device, you will also receive notification of an alarm in the App or a notification. They look like this:
Notice also that in the Thermoworks App screenshot above, the temperature circle for the first three channels are gray. The temperature circle for the Pit channel is blue. You may also see yellow or red circles. The color of the circle tells you the status of that channel in relation to the High and Low alarms:
Finally, there is one rather annoying characteristic of the audible alarms. Namely, if the temperature is outside of the range specified by the Low and High alarms, the alarm will go off no matter what. Thus, when you first turn the unit on and your pit is 90°F and the Low Alarm is 200°F, the alarm goes off. Most cooker temperature controllers only alarm once the temperature has risen into the range between low and high, and then the temperature departs that range. Another example is if you change the pit set point so that the new values for the low or high alarms are exceeded, the alarm immediately goes off rather than waiting for the temperature to move to the range between low and high and then depart. You may remember that the original BBQ Guru Competitor had a "Good Neighbor Feature" which allowed you to disable the alarm so as not to disturb your neighbors. The Signals unit has a beeper and allows you to adjust the volume of the beeper or mute it altogether. When the beeper is muted, however, it will still beep once if an alarm is triggered. Most temperature controllers have some visible indication that their blower is running or not. However, the Signals unit has no such indication. The graphing function in the Thermoworks App also does not show blower data. The Signals unit will remember the target pit temperature if power is lost so that it can resume control of the cooker's airflow when power resumes. The Billows/Signals combination does not have any sort of Keep Warm or Ramp Mode. The Signals unit will allow you to set a pit temperature as low as 50°F, so theoretically the Billows can provide temperature control for cold smoking. However, the ability of the unit to control low temperatures will depend on factors such as the size of your fire, how well sealed your cooker is, the Signals algorithm, and so on. There is no information available regarding the nature of the algorithm used by the Signals unit in controlling a cooker's temperature. However, from observing how the blower behaves, it appears that the algorithm is quite simplistic. First of all, it appears that the blower is either on or off, using only one speed. If the Billows blower is capable of variable speeds, it doesn't seem to use them. Second, the blower only seems to be used if the pit temperature is below the setpoint. After it overshoots the target, it turns off the blower and doesn't turn it on again until after the temperature comes back down and drops below the target. This doesn't seem to be a very successful strategy since when the temperature is falling, you would think the blower would activate before hitting the target in order to attempt a "soft landing," so to speak. But by the time the blower does turn on, it's too late and now the temperature is guaranteed to fall below the target.
Open Lid Detect (OLD) is a feature where the controller detects the rapid drop in temperature caused by opening the lid. It stops the blower to prevent stoking the fire unnecessarily and then manages the rise in temperature after the lid is closed. Here is a graph showing the temperature of the cooker responding to opening the lid for 60 seconds when it was stable at 325°F, and then the subsequent recovery:  The temperature spiked at 30°F above the target temperature and took 11 minutes 30 seconds to recover. For comparison, this is almost the same response we saw when testing the SMOBOT controller with its OLD function disabled. When we enabled the the OLD function on the SMOBOT controller, we saw a similar spike of 26°F, but a recovery time of only 6 minutes 50 seconds. The Billows/Signals combination has no built-in timer. |
You can support this website by shopping at The Naked Whiz Website Store and Amazon.com
|
