Searwoods are hit and miss, buyer beware

[SmokinJ]

I purchased a Searwood about a month ago hoping for a reliable pellet grill. Unfortunately, my particular unit is off by 50-100 degrees on temperature. For example, while the Searwood claims the temp is a solid 300 for an extended period of time, the actual ambient temperature as measured by a Meater Plus was anywhere from 185 - 250, including 50+ degree temp swings. I found posts on this forum describing similar problems with Searwoods. One user described getting replacement parts from Weber but it didn't solve the problem. After some go-around, Weber eventually replaced the entire grill. The user reported that the second Searwood performed flawlessly.

When I reached out to Weber customer support regarding my grill they said that sending replacement parts was not likely to solve the problem. It seems that they've figured out that there is no way to fix the malfunctioning units. There was no suggestion to recalibrate the Searwood either. After some searching, I'm not even sure that you can recalibrate the Searwood. If not, it seems like a major design flaw.

The good news is that Weber is honoring their word and they are going to refund me for my grill. If you have a Searwood that accurately holds temp, congrats. If you have a Searwood that is way off, you're not alone.

 

[abmet]

I’m not saying yours was not having issues with temp, but did you check the temps with another probe besides the Meater? For me the Meater ambient temp isn’t very accurate depending on what you have it in since the ambient probe is so close to the meat it affects the temp being reported. There will always be some temp fluctuations in pellet grills since it takes some time for T them to adjust.

 

[Bulkman]

I’m not saying yours was not having issues with temp, but did you check the temps with another probe besides the Meater? For me the Meater ambient temp isn’t very accurate depending on what you have it in since the ambient probe is so close to the meat it affects the temp being reported. There will always be some temp fluctuations in pellet grills since it takes some time for T them to adjust.

This ^^^^^ 1000%. My Meater + never measures ambient correctly, even though the IT is within 1 deg of my ThermoPro instant read as well as my ThermoPro TW-27. I love the Meater + on my rotisserie, but I never pay any attention to its ambient.

 

[GRT1959]

I purchased a Searwood about a month ago hoping for a reliable pellet grill. Unfortunately, my particular unit is off by 50-100 degrees on temperature. For example, while the Searwood claims the temp is a solid 300 for an extended period of time, the actual ambient temperature as measured by a Meater Plus was anywhere from 185 - 250, including 50+ degree temp swings. I found posts on this forum describing similar problems with Searwoods. One user described getting replacement parts from Weber but it didn't solve the problem. After some go-around, Weber eventually replaced the entire grill. The user reported that the second Searwood performed flawlessly.

When I reached out to Weber customer support regarding my grill they said that sending replacement parts was not likely to solve the problem. It seems that they've figured out that there is no way to fix the malfunctioning units. There was no suggestion to recalibrate the Searwood either. After some searching, I'm not even sure that you can recalibrate the Searwood. If not, it seems like a major design flaw.

The good news is that Weber is honoring their word and they are going to refund me for my grill. If you have a Searwood that accurately holds temp, congrats. If you have a Searwood that is way off, you're not alone.

Same with the gen1 Smokefire, you either got a grill plauged with issues that couldn't be resolved or a grill that operated flawlessly. I waited for Weber to roll out gen2 before buying my EX6 and it's run without a hiccup for hundreds of cooks. The only regret I've had is when Weber came out with the Searwood two years later and I wondered if I should have waited... but your experience makes me feel better (and luckier) than ever about my Smokefire!

 

[Don D.]

The wireless probes that calculate ambient temp are usually off, because the probw is affected by the temp of the protein its in. This is why the new Thermoworks RFX has a separate wired probe for the ambient temp and the wireless probes only tell you the temp of the food you are cooking. Here's pics of a cook I did on my SW XL, pretty accurate all the way around if you ask me . This is the RFX ambient probe temp vs the Searwood set temp.

 

[GlennD]

Sorry but SmokinJ is correct. I had to check my grill I bought in December 24 after first 2 cooks took way too long with a roast turning into jerky and a chicken not getting done till I pushed temps up to 425. I used a calibrated Thermpro wired monitor (+- 1.8 degrees according to Thermpro) but mine was spot on at 212F in boiling water.

What I found was temps ranged from 12 to nearly 20% low. Not unusual to be off 50° low. More distressing was constant decline in temperatures never recovering which means the PID controller or auger is not functioning. Weber sent me a new thermal couple which seemed to help with high temps (first grill could not get over 455) but anything else was still off. After being ghosted by customer service the area rep helped me get a replacement through Ace. Turns out that grill is no good either and actually has same and other issues. Smoke boost doesn’t work at all as it overshoots up to 310° and, after running for an hour, it’s still was at 211 (it put out smoke for about 5 minutes). Upped to 250 the app/screen dumped 180 and confirmed my Thermpro reading of 211! It climbed to 230 (10 minutes after the grill said it was 250) but started dropping off when I gave up after15 minutes. I’m using Weber Genuine pellets BTW but found Traeger were no better. I’m requesting a refund and going back to my Kamado.

As you say, some are ok. My son bought one same time and he feels it may be a bit off (none are perfect) but it’s fine.