Hi Joe! Thank you for your message. When the unit is holding it is add heat as needed to keep the product at the 129 degree mark. The temperature swing of the cabinet can 10 or so degrees up or down so in a warming phase it can show 136, in a cooling phase when the heat exchanger is not active it could show 121 degrees. The unit is cycling the heat exchanger on and off to keep the protein at the desired 129 degrees.