Did a bunch of mods to my MB two door. Figured I would share what and why I did what I did in hopes it will help others with the same issues. Ok, so here go's.
It started out wile smoking baby backs this winter. Up here In NJ the winters are usually cold, wet and windy so first off keeping the smoker's temp stable is a bit tough with out babysitting it and throttling the gas valve. To help combat that I got some sheet metal and some foil fiberglass duct insulation and insulated it. The insulation I used is good to about 800 deg. The smoker will never see that kinda temp but what the hell. Now with the heat bleed threw problem salved on to the next problem, Heat and smoke leaking around the door, Welp the old oven door gasket trick took care of that. 2 problems down. Those two issues were salved for smoking on cold and wet days but,, Now on to the the next problem, this occured wile smoking a shoulder that was to go for about 10 hours. I was about 5 hours in and had to shoot over to the liquor store. This would only take about 20 min,I know I know!! "you should never leave your fire unattended" Justified though ,I was out of beer. When I returned, wile waking by with my goodies noticed the temp was 186 in the box,,,Fire blew out. Well that just pissed me off. This was never going to happen to me again. So, Went on ebay got a standard make and brake 2 terminal 0-500deg oven probe control, My finger is pointing to the mounted temp sensing bulb in the pic, went on amazon for a replacement brinkmen smoker heater element, cut, and wired in the oven control, cut slits in the burner shielding and bent tabs to hold a metal disk about 1" over the burner so the flames would not come in direct contact with the heater element , Viola!! blow out problem salved. When I need to go out wile in the middle of a smoke, Pow !!Propane off Electric On. Last one on the hit list was the vent, I do not like rear vents!! Just cheap in my opinion So, I sealed it up and put in a dampered collar with a stack head on top.
Oh ya, the chicken was what I was smoking on the day I took the pics. Just used electric for that smoke, temp stayed at 230 + or - 5
I hope this helps someone.
It started out wile smoking baby backs this winter. Up here In NJ the winters are usually cold, wet and windy so first off keeping the smoker's temp stable is a bit tough with out babysitting it and throttling the gas valve. To help combat that I got some sheet metal and some foil fiberglass duct insulation and insulated it. The insulation I used is good to about 800 deg. The smoker will never see that kinda temp but what the hell. Now with the heat bleed threw problem salved on to the next problem, Heat and smoke leaking around the door, Welp the old oven door gasket trick took care of that. 2 problems down. Those two issues were salved for smoking on cold and wet days but,, Now on to the the next problem, this occured wile smoking a shoulder that was to go for about 10 hours. I was about 5 hours in and had to shoot over to the liquor store. This would only take about 20 min,I know I know!! "you should never leave your fire unattended" Justified though ,I was out of beer. When I returned, wile waking by with my goodies noticed the temp was 186 in the box,,,Fire blew out. Well that just pissed me off. This was never going to happen to me again. So, Went on ebay got a standard make and brake 2 terminal 0-500deg oven probe control, My finger is pointing to the mounted temp sensing bulb in the pic, went on amazon for a replacement brinkmen smoker heater element, cut, and wired in the oven control, cut slits in the burner shielding and bent tabs to hold a metal disk about 1" over the burner so the flames would not come in direct contact with the heater element , Viola!! blow out problem salved. When I need to go out wile in the middle of a smoke, Pow !!Propane off Electric On. Last one on the hit list was the vent, I do not like rear vents!! Just cheap in my opinion So, I sealed it up and put in a dampered collar with a stack head on top.
Oh ya, the chicken was what I was smoking on the day I took the pics. Just used electric for that smoke, temp stayed at 230 + or - 5
I hope this helps someone.
