help

[derek]

I have a propane smoker. It is the smokey mountains one from Wal Mart. I have had it for over a year and a half and use it atleast once a week religously. I have an eight-ten inch cast iron skillet that i use to hold my wood. I use hickory wood chunks each time. I don't soak the chunks and never have, and have never had any problem and it has yeaided GREAT results. Recently i have been having a problem where the wood catches on fre. if i don'c check on it ever 30 min or so, it could catch fire and the heat screams up really high. Is there any ideas that you may have that can help me prevent this problem from continuing. Any help would be great. One of the greatest things about this smoker is i can set it and forget it for hrs and only need to change the chunks once and a while. Any help would be great. Thanks.

 

[richtee]

Hia Derek! Stop by RollCall and intro yourself formally. This place likes that...think of it as meeting your date's parents...grin.

Now...who has messed with yur air intake lately? Shut 'er down a bit, and watch the smoke. Need the Thin Blue.

 

[fatback joe]

I was thinking the same thing as Rich. Air intake changed........does the door seal as good as it used to or is some air possibly sneaking in.

 

[derek]

Thanks guys, yes the seal of the door is not as good at all. I tried to counter that by closing the vent at the top. I never had flare ups btu my bark was really thick and seemed to burn a bit, or atleast dry out on the tips. The vent at top is open half way now and i still get good smoke but i tend to have flare ups. Is there any heat-resistant caulking or stip i can put around the door? Oh yea and i will go check in too. thanks again guys

 

[fatback joe]

You don't want to close the top vent. Open 100% is ideal to help avoid creosote/bitter smoker, stagnant, etc..........basically no good comes from having the smoke trapped inside.

Yeah, there are different gaskets out there, but I can't say I have personal experience with any of them.

Probably one of the homebuilders can chime in here.

Edit: something from here would probably do the trick, but as I mentioned, no first hand experience/recommendations. http://www.gasketsinc.com/

 

[richtee]

You can purchase that rope type stuff online and in alot of BBQ stores. And the top vent ain't gonna solve the trouble. It's STILL getting too much air from below and will still catch fire with that happening. Try alum. foil around the door as a temp. measure to limit airflow in.

 

[vlap]

Would some aluminum foil over the top of the cast iron skillet you have the wood chips in help?
I think with some holes poked in it smoke can escape but it would severly limit the airflow going to the chips themselves. It would seem this would allow them to smolder but never get enough oxygen to really flame up.
Worth a try?

 

[pigcicles]

Vlap that works fine. I would suggest doing that until you can come up with the answer to your door seal.