freddie987 wrote:“We have made a change to our design and its definitely not to fix a problem because there is no problem but we made an improvement anyway even though the improvement doesn’t improve anything, because as we all know the only thing that needs to be improved is our users. Great, phew, got it all out- everyone clear now?”
I'm disappointed. Hearing them proclaim there's no improvement with their attempted fix doesn't discredit the complaints from customers, it just proves their fix was insufficient to overcome the existing problem. My workaround, on the other hand, was based on months of testing with different weather conditions, woods, fire grates, etc. I can say with confidence that my performance is dramatically better with the huge single intake vent I'm using now. If Yoder's testing resulted in minimal performance gains, then why bother sending out modified units before they have achieved their performance goals?
I don't have the resources to lower my firebox, but if I were in Yoder's position with their resources, that would be a no-brainer to test before doing anything else. Lower the firebox, streamline the heat management plate, then muck with the intake vent. It's common sense, but all we're seeing is, "Hey - we tried it your way and it didn't help, so we'll stick to our original flawless design." Here's an idea: Buy a Horizon 20" smoker and do a side-by-side comparison with a Wichita, and see which one performs better.
Meanwhile, I'm still enjoying effortless fire management with my larger intake vent, using plain old firewood in the center of my firebox (no coals), with no white smoke and no open door. It's still a hack solution, but it's a simple workaround for the "choked" flow characteristics inherent with Yoder's high-mounted firebox combined with a massive steel barrier wall.
This is from Saturday's brisket cook, and there was no white smoke to worry about. I've been using this door mod for over 3 months now and there is zero scorching anywhere on this fire door - the air flows inward, not outward: