I guess my experience is different on my Jim Bowie. I get much more even temps side to side without the downdraft and the temps are much more in-line with the controller. With the down draft it was tough to maintain temps @ 150 - temps would climb throughout making jerky. I also use the bull rack a lot and have lots of food in the Jim Bowie - I had less problems with the downdraft on with one or two butts, or two three chickens - but load it down with 6-8 butts or a full bull rack system, or a 60 lb whole hog - the downdraft was causing all sorts of inconsistency. I eventually left it on, but opened the gate on the down-draft - That helped some, but a few months back I completely took it off while cleaning and have almost zero issues since.
Please dont take me wrong - I'm not knocking the product, it obviously works great for some - but did not for me. The interwebs are full of pros and cons. I've never given a negative review or anything. I did not keep track of pellet consumption, so I cant say if it helped there or not. If it did, it was not much as I cant tell any differneces.
However, its just sitting there not being used - someone may as well take it. I'm not going to reinstall it. Whomever will need to get the longer bolts for the chimmey, as I did not take those off.
