Help, starting all over. Thanksgiving in jeopardy.

[watermelonslim]

Sounds like a lot of work to try to burn the house down. I had a buddy burn his down with a spark from a grinder.


David

Yeah, I'm pretty worried about it. Really though, is it all that much different from sitting out on a wooden patio deck, with a wooden roof?

The floor is concrete, it's not like I'm putting it on the carpet or anything like that.

 

[jarjarchef]

What if you built a frame out of the aluminum frame piece for screen porch and attach the cement board to the top, back and side. Then lean a piece of cement board in the front. This way you can create an air gap between the wall and the heat shield.

 

[davidhef88]

Personally , I would just put it outside where it belongs. If you have to go through all that it obviously wasn't designed to be an indoor cooker.


David

 

[watermelonslim]

What if you built a frame out of the aluminum frame piece for screen porch and attach the cement board to the top, back and side. Then lean a piece of cement board in the front. This way you can create an air gap between the wall and the heat shield.

Great idea. I think I'll give this a shot. Thanks!

 

[chef jimmyj]

I must be Desensitized because I have worked for Years with Wood Fired Grills in Restaurants. These were set on a Concrete floor, 6" from Tiled Cement Board walls and frequently threw 1-2 foot grease Flames into the air. There was a hood for Exhaust, Fresh Air entering the room and a Fire extinguishing system...

WatermellonSlim...Will have a Wood/Charcoal Fired Smoker (No Flair-ups)...Set on a Concrete floor...More than 2 feet from Walls surrounded by Cement Board...Dual Exhaust fans...Fresh Air entering the room...And a Fire Extinguisher...I don't want to get into a Pissing Match but...What's The Difference???

I would take it easy on the " Jack "!...JJ

 

[watermelonslim]

I got it all sorted out guys.

First, I took the shelves off the front and side of the char griller. This gave me considerably more room. I turned it facing another direction, which I had previously thought it wouldn't fit this way. Now the wall closest to the fire box (still a couple feet away) has no electrical outlets, internal wiring, or anything else.

I then hung the welding blankets on all the walls (the welding blankets that I have been duct taping all around the smoker when doing cold weather cooks). They're just loosely hung, nails in the top.

I built a cement board "box" around the side fire box. What I did was took a cinder block, one of the 8 x 8 ones with a groove in the top, and put that on the cement floor. I then cut a cement board sheet in half, and stuck that half in the groove of the cinder block. I then sat 2 big, heavy, cement bricks (I think they're actually supposed to be cinder block toppers) on top of the cinder block, on the sides of the cement board. This "sandwich" holds the cement board up.

I did this on the front, back, and side of the fire box. I then laid another piece over the top of them to cover the fire box.

There is about an 8 or 9 inch gap between these pieces and the fire box, and about an 8 in gap below them to the concrete floor (they sit on 8 inch cinder blocks, which are on the concrete floor, but the cinder blocks are only 1 per side and hollow, so there is skit a lot of air space).

After that, I took 3 full sheets of cement board and put them up in front of 3 the walls.

I used the same technique, sat a couple cinder blocks on the floor, sat the cement board into the groove, sandwiched it in with the big heavy cement topper bricks.

These ones have about a 3 inch gap to the shelving and counter tops behind them, and then about 1.5 or 2 feet to the wall. They have about a 9 or 10 gap the other way, to the smoker.

I didn't put any up over the 3rd wall because it's so far away. It's about 2.5 or 3 feet away, and has a welding blanket hung over it. This also means I can access 1 of the counter tops.

I think the cement board around the fire box would have been enough. Just fur added insurance, I put a second cement board "enclosure" around the whole smoker (3 sides of it anyway, left the front so I could access it). I'm thinking it should be fine.

Next spring I want to do a more permanent installation of a custom built smoker.

 

[jarjarchef]

Wow sounds like a bomb shelter........

You must post pictures of this. I must say I am very intrigued..........


I think you should be fine. Just keep an eye out for hot spots......

 

[pote05]

IMG_0298.jpg

• pote05
• Nov 5, 2012

IMG_0297.jpg

• pote05
• Nov 5, 2012

This is how I did my MES 40 and it works great, no fans.. No smoke in the room at all, unless I open door... Why do that..

 

[watermelonslim]

Well everything went well. No fires, no carbon monoxide poisoning, no near disasters.

In fact, this was by far the best cook I've ever had.

Previously when I'd do thanksgiving turkeys it's taken a long time (hours) to get the char griller up to temperature, and by that I mean around 235. And it never held it for long. It would burn through several chimneys and baskets of lump during the cook, and the temperature would fluctuate. This was mostly due to the cold and wind we have out here thus time of year.

This time, I had the char griller up to 235 in less than 10 minutes, and a little over 300 shortly after that. This was the first time I've ever been worried about too much heat in the smoker this time of year.

My 12 pounder was done in about 4 hours.

I simply loaded the charcoal basket 3/4 full with lump made from mesquite, threw a nice hunk of cherry wood on top (was part of a split log), lit a chimney, dumped it into the empty space in the charcoal basket, and let the stoker take over from there.

When it finished, I still had half a basket of lump (lit) left over in the fire box. Previously it would take several full baskets to finish the job, with the stoker alarm waking me up several times throughout the night when the temperature drops. Not this time. Only took half a basket, and held the temperature all night. Outside the temperature was in the low to mid 30s, and windy.

The fans did a great job of venting the smoke too. I did leave the garage door open about 2 inches to provide air intake, with the 2 fans blowing out of the other wall. The inside of my house remained smoke free.

I was kind of paranoid before I started though. Yesterday I bought a bunch of smoke detectors with carbon monoxide alarms, just in case. No signs of trouble.

That cement board worked great. The walls in the room were not hot. And I think the cement board around the fire box held a lot of heat in the fire box that would normally have escaped.

I did have some trouble initially with the stoker. My wireless bridge is a piece of crap and the stoker couldn't be used with it. So I had to rig up a hard wired solution, which was pretty difficult since the house is sealed off so well. I wound up using a flat Ethernet cable to go under 1 of the doors, and running Ethernet all the way to my router. Good thing I had some on hand.

I'm looking forward to setting up something more permanent next spring or summer. I'm thinking cement board on the walls, tile over that, custom built smoker that fits better, remove some countertops and replace with a brining fridge (but leave some countertops), and either get a new wireless bridge or that new stoker that has wifi.

I certainly can't complain about how it's setup right now though.

I just have to figure out what to smoke for Christmas now.

 

[jarjarchef]

Sorry I missed the update.... I am glad it all worked out for you.... Cant wait to see the smoke room build this summer...

At this time I am in a mad scramble to get the replacement for my Char-griller built before it falls apart. Mine stays outside and I was stupid and never bounght a cover for it..... othersize a room like your would be great for it...