Mine maintained 225 like clock work with the valve set to a needle width above low and the vent set and about half way open.

It took about 45 minutes to generate smoke with wet chips and it lasted about 1 hour, then I had to swap chips and repeat. I'll try it with dry chips this weekend.

It's not going to "burn" the chips as the flame is not directly on the wood but they will smolder nicely. When I threw the smoldered chips in the pit burner they went up quick. I may punch one or two air holes in the bottom of the chip box to get a bit more air flow and keep using wet chips if the dry chips don't fair well.