This article explains why your MEATER's ambient temperature reading may not match your cooking appliance's set temperature, and how to tell if your probe needs replacing.
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About Ambient Sensors
Understanding MEATER Ambient Temperature Sensors
For even more detail and understanding of ambient sensor features and function, see Ambient Temperature Sensor.
A MEATER probe's ambient sensor is the mechanism that determines the air's temperature directly outside the meat and should be accurate within 5°C / 9°F of the temperature at the location where it's measuring.
Check out this helpful video that answers many questions you may have about why your MEATER's ambient sensor is reading temperatures differently than you may expect.
*While this video uses Alpha Collection probes to explain ambient temp, the concepts of how the ambient sensor measures temperature apply to all MEATER probes.
Important things to know about your MEATER's ambient temperature:
- Your MEATER's ambient temperature may vary from the temperature your cooking appliance is set to.
- The ambient sensor is not a tool for measuring the appliance temperature. It is a tool for calculating the cooking time of your meat, and it measures the air temperature surrounding the meat.
Common Reasons for Ambient Sensor Issues
There are many reasons why your MEATER's ambient temperature will read differently from the temperature shown on your cooking appliance or from a heat gun.
Full List of Reasons
- Expectations of Use: MEATER probes are not engineered the same way as most instant-read thermometers. MEATER has developed a way to compensate for how long it can take the heated air of a cooking appliance to warm up the stainless-steel/ceramic of the ambient end of the probe. To do this, we use an algorithm that processes the temperature the probe sensors send and generates a close-to-accurate reading of the cooking environment.
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Cool Air Bubbles: When you put a cold piece of meat in your cooker, it cools down the air right around the meat, and your MEATER's ambient reading will reflect that. This is what we refer to as the cool air bubble. The larger the piece of meat you're cooking, the bigger the air bubble will be.
- As the meat cooks, the cool air bubble will be reduced and the ambient sensor temperature readings should begin to come closer to matching your appliance's set temperature.
- Moisture: Moisture evaporates from the surface of the protein as it cooks and absorbs heat. This will lower the temperature locally around the protein.
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Probe Placement: If your MEATER probe is pushed in too far, the ambient end can touch the meat, cooling down the ambient sensor readings.
Ideally, the probe should be in the center of the thickest part of the meat, inserted halfway between the insertion notch and the ceramic ambient end of the probe.
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Heat Variations Within the Cooking Appliance: The reading on your cooker is based on the temperature right where the built-in thermometer is placed. Most appliances won't have one single, uniform temperature throughout the whole cooking chamber, but the logic built into the appliance takes into account the nuances of the appliance's shape, size, function, etc.
- Heat variations depend on the size and performance of the cooker, and these hot and cold spots can differ by 50°C/122°F or more from the set appliance temperature in some extreme cases.
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Type of Cooking Appliance: The variation in temperature is dependent on the type of cooking appliance you're using.
- Conventional ovens use heating elements at the top and bottom, and the hottest spots in the oven are closest to the metal walls.
- Fan and convection ovens distribute heat more evenly than conventional ovens.
- Generally speaking, grills will be hottest where there is increased airflow, like near the grill chimney or vents.
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Thermal Mass: Thermal mass refers to the amount of meat placed in a cooking appliance and its ability to absorb, store, and release heat. The amount of food being cooked on the grill and how close together that food is will affect the ambient sensor.
- If there is a lot of meat or food in the appliance, the readings from the ambient sensor will likely be lower.
Diagnosing Ambient Sensor Reading Inaccuracies
Review Potential Reasons for Ambient Sensor Issues
The reasons listed above are often all that's needed to resolve concerns about ambient temperature readings. Reviewing them can help you understand why you may see discrepancies between your appliance and your MEATER.
If the previously mentioned reasons do not apply, you can go over the following steps to make sure there is no damage to the probe:
Check for Damage to the Probe
If you think your probe is defective, check for damage:
- Almost all damage with MEATER probes presents on the ambient end of the probe, since this is the part of the probe exposed to the cooking environment.
- Take photos of the ambient end of your probe, focusing on any cracks or chips in the black ceramic.
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Check that your probe cannot bend and has no dents, chips, or other visible damage:
For Alpha Probes: Check that the metal ambient cap on the end of the probe cannot twist or be pulled out and separated from the ceramic casing, and that the whole ceramic end of the probe cannot easily be separated from the stainless steel probe shaft.
For Pro Probes: Check that the probe cannot be separated from the middle, and that the ceramic ring separating the ambient and internal temperature ends cannot twist and isn't cracked or broken.
- If you find any damage on your probe, please reach out to us so we can further assist you.