My first smoker build

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nick v

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Oct 10, 2013
101
12
Northern ky
Hey guys! I acquired an old diesel tank a while back and decided to fab me up a reverse flow smoker. The tank is 125 gallons I do beli
GALLERY]
eve. Here is what I've gotten done so far. Please give any feedback because I could use the help.
 
I'm a little worried about my cook chamber thickness. It's only 1/8" and from what I've read that's less than desirable. Do you guys think it will be okay since I will have a 3/16" rf plate inside to help hold the heat? Also, will a good burn get rid of that diesel fuel smell? I'm about to cut the door next and I'm a little worried about warping. Thanks guys.
 
I sent that last message before I saw your post "Alaska". Hopefully burning it will work.
 
You would be hard pressed to find a home outside of the city that doesn't have one of those tanks sitting outside... Personally and it's only my opinion but I wouldn't use it because that fuel tends to be saturated into the metal like the pores on your skin... I may be wrong in my assumption since there seems to be more propane tanks being used on here than anything else but I think by the intense heat applied during the burn out it must solve the problem. I don't think that tank will be able to handle a burn like they suggest. I have an 80 gal air compressor tank for my first build.. Opinions vary and I believe you will be getting lots of feedback shortly... There are some smart fellas on this forum... Good luck I'm subscribing... Jerome
 
Thanks Jerome. Hopefully I can burn the smell out. When I was younger my family would burn all of their garbage in a 55 gal steel drum that wasn't any thicker, maybe thinner, than this tank and they lasted a while. My main concern with the thickness is heat retention, or lack thereof. I am a little worried about the smell as well because steel is porous and diesel has such a strong smell. I'll let you know how it turns out. Hopefully this week I will be burning it out. Deer season had kept me occupied these past couple of weeks so I haven't gotten much done.
 
Not sure how much worse the diesel smell is than the mercaptan they put in the propane tanks, but if I had not seen others burn it out, I would have worried that would never come out. I think you'll be fine if you light a fire in the tank itself.
 
Started cutting the door out today. The door stayed pretty rigid but the rest of the tank is a
little flimsy. Hopefully when I weld in the rf plate and the cook grate supports it will remedy my problem. I'm really worried about the thickness of this tank. I hope I'm not doing all of this work for a sub par smoker because of the thin cook chamber walls.

 
Got the hinges on and the door is working! I've still got some tweaking to do but it's coming along. Any ideas from anyone on cook chamber placement height and rf plate height?
 
It's about 6" I think from the top of my FB to CC opening to the bottom lip of the door.
 
Got my door finished, the rf plate supports, and the frame for my cooking grate done today. Put a fire in it to burn out that diesel smell. Hopefully it worked. I'll let you know tomorrow with pictures of the work I finished today. Still need to figure out what distance I need to leave at the end of my rf plate for proper smoke flow. Any ideas??

 
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