Bullseye Purpose of the lid spacer?

[Alteaux]

I have a new to me Bullseye and as others have mentioned I'm having trouble keeping very low temperatures. Set on Lo with outside temperatures mid to upper 80's the temperature verified with a remote thermometer is 240+ (sometimes 300). This is with the Set Point (feed frequency) set to the lowest value. The vents are clean and everything appears to be working fine. The edge of the lid to the base is clean. I've searched the forum and see references to a lid spacer in regards to temperature. I do not have a lid spacer. What is the purpose of this spacer?

 

[Greg Jones]

They (the older models) can’t ‘breathe’ effectively without it. The louvered vents in the 380/340/590/1070 grills have seen mixed results. The 380 got a spacer, IIRC the 340 reverted back to non-louvered vents. The 590/1070 appear to work well with them. Also, I ‘think’ they added more vents to the current 380 models, which could make the spacer unnecessary.

 

[Alteaux]

They (the older models) can’t ‘breathe’ effectively without it. The louvered vents in the 380/340/590/1070 grills have seen mixed results. The 380 got a spacer, IIRC the 340 reverted back to non-louvered vents. The 590/1070 appear to work well with them. Also, I ‘think’ they added more vents to the current 380 models, which could make the spacer unnecessary.

It sounds like the spacer is related to air flow and only indirectly related to temperatures. It seems odd this spacer is mentioned in threads about over-temperatures and if the vents are blocked I would expect that to result in lower temperatures. I sent a support form to Recteq to ask some questions about the Set Point feeder freqency and the impact on over temperatures.