Electric Smoker OR Landfill: What say you?
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Every smoker needs some means of controlling air flow through the chamber. Physics dictates that warm air rises so on a vertical smoker you normally see an air inlet in the bottom which draws ambient air and a discharge opening in the top where warm air and smoke exits. These opening will often has some sort of damper to control the rate of flow.
I will be installing a 4 inch round duct thimble into the top of the smoker which will require cutting a 4 inch diameter hole through an inner and outer layer of sheet metal and about 1 1/2 inch layer of expanding foam that forms the insulating jacket of the old freezer.
Many refrigerators and freezers will have condensing coils installed in the space between the inner and outer layer of the top and sides of the cabinet. This freezer did too and after cutting through the top, I was able to push the lines out of the way to continue all the way through.
I used a 4 inch hole saw to cut the first hole in the top. The hole saw was difficult to control so I used a saber saw with a metal blade to cut the second hole through the inner layer of sheet metal.
I flipped the cabinet over onto it’s top to make the second cut through the inner layer of sheet metal, which is why one of the photos looks upside down.
After I cut the opening, I positioned the thimble in place and sealed it in with expanding foam. My experience with expanding foam is that once it has cured, it forms a very good seal and is mechanically very strong.
The weather cap goes on top and it has a rotating damper plate. The damper plate will regulate the smoke and hot air exiting the top of the smoker.
processhead Thanks for the update. Starting to take on it’s new life. Looks great!
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cdavis said in Electric Smoker OR Landfill: What say you?:
processhead I’m beginning to think I may not be smart enough to do this. Lol. But I’m not giving up yet.
Some guys will just use the hot plate control inside the smoker, but you won’t have the ability to control the temperature as accurately if you do.
Also, you would have to open the door every time you made an adjustment, letting out heat in the process.
Using external controls with the hot plate enables more precise control and is much more convenient.
processhead Have you worked with or researched any combination temperature and humidity controllers that you recommend? So many out there and quite a price range.
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processhead Have you worked with or researched any combination temperature and humidity controllers that you recommend? So many out there and quite a price range.
Chef said in Electric Smoker OR Landfill: What say you?:
processhead Have you worked with or researched any combination temperature and humidity controllers that you recommend? So many out there and quite a price range.
I have not done much research, but am generally aware that the controls are out there and getting more affordable.
What I have not seen are good plug and play humidity sources that are affordable and have good control capability for our processing applications.
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processhead Have you worked with or researched any combination temperature and humidity controllers that you recommend? So many out there and quite a price range.
Chef Done the build on the “Sausage Maker” combination temperature and humidity controller setup before. Getting hard to find metal lined refers to convert these days. Sausage Maker, Pricey but reliable. I will be in their Buffalo NY store in a few days. Will send pics and specs if you want. They do sell all the parts for the build as needed. Cheers
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Chef Done the build on the “Sausage Maker” combination temperature and humidity controller setup before. Getting hard to find metal lined refers to convert these days. Sausage Maker, Pricey but reliable. I will be in their Buffalo NY store in a few days. Will send pics and specs if you want. They do sell all the parts for the build as needed. Cheers
JoeB Yes, please send pictures. I’ll be lining with sheet aluminum whatever unit I use.
Thanks
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Chef Done the build on the “Sausage Maker” combination temperature and humidity controller setup before. Getting hard to find metal lined refers to convert these days. Sausage Maker, Pricey but reliable. I will be in their Buffalo NY store in a few days. Will send pics and specs if you want. They do sell all the parts for the build as needed. Cheers
JoeB said in Electric Smoker OR Landfill: What say you?:
Chef Done the build on the “Sausage Maker” combination temperature and humidity controller setup before. Getting hard to find metal lined refers to convert these days. Sausage Maker, Pricey but reliable. I will be in their Buffalo NY store in a few days. Will send pics and specs if you want. They do sell all the parts for the build as needed. Cheers
I would be interested in seeing what they offer too. Thanks for offering pics and specs.
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JoeB Yes, please send pictures. I’ll be lining with sheet aluminum whatever unit I use.
Thanks
Chef Please to share your proposed method to line a refer with aluminum. What are you using to seal the vertical and horizonal meeting Planes?
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Just a short progress report. The original plastic shelves on the door are gone and replaced with sheet metal. I used aluminum trim coil that I cut and fit to the same dimensions as the plastic shelf. The trim coil was not wide enough to do with a single piece of material so I cut two pieces that overlap and used contact cement to attach them together. You have to look hard to see the joint.
I hung the door back on the cabinet to convince myself I am making progress. lol
Paul
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A lot of good work their
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Just a short progress report. The original plastic shelves on the door are gone and replaced with sheet metal. I used aluminum trim coil that I cut and fit to the same dimensions as the plastic shelf. The trim coil was not wide enough to do with a single piece of material so I cut two pieces that overlap and used contact cement to attach them together. You have to look hard to see the joint.
I hung the door back on the cabinet to convince myself I am making progress. lolprocesshead Thanks for the update! Like many others here, I’m watching this build intently.
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Just a short progress report. The original plastic shelves on the door are gone and replaced with sheet metal. I used aluminum trim coil that I cut and fit to the same dimensions as the plastic shelf. The trim coil was not wide enough to do with a single piece of material so I cut two pieces that overlap and used contact cement to attach them together. You have to look hard to see the joint.
I hung the door back on the cabinet to convince myself I am making progress. lolprocesshead thanks again for an update on the progress.
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Just a short progress report. The original plastic shelves on the door are gone and replaced with sheet metal. I used aluminum trim coil that I cut and fit to the same dimensions as the plastic shelf. The trim coil was not wide enough to do with a single piece of material so I cut two pieces that overlap and used contact cement to attach them together. You have to look hard to see the joint.
I hung the door back on the cabinet to convince myself I am making progress. lolprocesshead it’s looking good man.
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Making great progress keep going
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Just a short progress report. The original plastic shelves on the door are gone and replaced with sheet metal. I used aluminum trim coil that I cut and fit to the same dimensions as the plastic shelf. The trim coil was not wide enough to do with a single piece of material so I cut two pieces that overlap and used contact cement to attach them together. You have to look hard to see the joint.
I hung the door back on the cabinet to convince myself I am making progress. lolprocesshead looks great. Thanks for updating us.
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If it still cools then a curing chamber would be my other thought, but you’ll need a lot more stuff to do that! My first attempt at a curing chamber is at the dump or maybe now part of a Chinese-made toy. The humidity control is a pain especially for us in the south…
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Pivodog said in Electric Smoker OR Landfill: What say you?:
Smoker!! Is it all metal inside?
Metal insides. I replaced the plastic shelf on the door with a flat metal panel.
There is some plastic trim pieces that are going to be removed/replaced as well. -
samspade said in Electric Smoker OR Landfill: What say you?:
Making great progress keep going
Thanks for the encouragement!
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Pivodog said in Electric Smoker OR Landfill: What say you?:
Paul, you could also add an external smokebox so that it could used as a cold smoker.
At this point my plans are to use an A-mazing pellet smoke generator in an external metal enclosure.
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