Master Forge Dual Door Smoker - flue and dampers?

Boxracing said:

 [color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]Just bought a Master Forge Double Door Smoker from Lowes.[/color]

After borrowing my father-in-law's electric smoker to hot smoke 4 lbs of salmon for Thankgiving for 30 people (no pressure for my first attempt, eh?) I had so much fun that  I got a smoker for myself for my birthday.

I have a question about how to use the Flue and the Dampers at the bottom of this unit.   Not sure what works best to built heat?   I was thinking the more oxygen the unit got the higher the temp, but I saw no change....

• It seemed when the dampers on the bottom were open - the heat was escaping from there? The vents will affect your temps as long as you are not using a wind break all around the smoker, close to the smoker. Open the temp will be lower, closed higher. I didn't think the vents were doing much other then letting smoke out. Another member here was seeing the opposite. I did some playing around and found the vents did affect the temps, if I didn't have my wind break up. I then played around further and found if the wind break was back away from the smoker 1 -2 feet they affected temp as well.  Most of the time I run my bottom vents  3/4 too not quite full closed. I found I get a better burn on my smoking wood allowing some air in threw the bottom vents. 
• The Flue at the top didn't seem to affect the temperature of the unit with the flue open or closed either? I run the top vent 1/2 too full open. never run it full closed, as you need flow threw the smoker, too prevent stale smoke and let the heat flow.
• The guage read 165 deg for 3 hours with the smoker at full throttle. My guess is the thermometer in the door is off. I'll bet your temps were higher. Mine is off by over 50 degrees and very erratic. Another thought is the safety was activated. way too correct the activated safety is to shut the smoker fully off, shut the LPG tank fully off, disconnect the regulator, wait 30 sec or so and reconnect regulator. Turn on LPG tank slowly, wait 30 sec or so for gas too equalize. depress the igniter and open the valve on the smoker, release the igniter when the burner lights. 

I will get a digital thermometer soon to read the inside of the box, but still looking to understand the flue and damper settings....Good plan as the stock is most likely off

Any help here?? if ya still have questions feel free to ask or send me a PM

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