Fridge build

senorkevin said:

I was planning on removing the pvc covering on the racks. Still a no no?
Dont I need the insulation suck on the top of the smoker? Doesn't the insulation have glass in it? What if the glass falls onto the product?

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start with new racks.

even if you do go with a wood frame on the outside the length of bolt you would need does not make it worth it. The shelves are stable enough with just a few bolts to hold it. I had a similar shelving system temporarily and hated it. was too easy to have a rack full of anything slip and fall, especially when handling hot.

the wood frame on the outside is an ok idea, it would work, but no that well. The door wouldn't be re-usable because it would not fit the frame properly.

Also the paint on the outside of the frame would eventually peel off and release nasty toxins.

I had a single glass door Coke cooler I planned to make into a smoker. I got it gutted and everything before realizing that to do uit right was going to be far more time and money than I was willing to spend. It was far easier and cheaper to find the right vintage fridge and convert that.

Happy to help, you design it and watch the build, but its not going to be cheap or easy.

and if it is cheap and/or easy then its not very well built. IMHO. I believe in doing it right or not doing it at all.

Why not build one of these. Parts can be found nearly anywhere for a UDS or ugly drum smoker. You can get 100 pounds of pork in there and smoke for 24 hours on one load of charcoal and wood. Check out the UDS section of this website for some ideas. Very easy to do and very good smoker. No welding required.

you can stack 2 drums on top of each other and make a door on the side.

Cut the top off one and the bottom off the other one. Use the Bung on the lid of the op barrel as your stack, fits a threaded 2" steel pipe , attach a ball valve to use as a damper.

Use a piece of sheet metal as  strapping in the inside to hold the two together. You can bolt it all together. cut the panels out of the side and attach a small strip of 18g as edging to allows the panels cut out to be used as the doors. bolt or rivet hinges and latches on. You could even order some silicone door stripping for a sealed fit.

everything else fro airflow and design are kind of the same.

the cooler you gutted would work fine for cold smoking. easy and cheap to do.

You could just build a wood frame with a plywood interior and use what ever to make shelving racks and use the coolers original shelves.  put something like the amzn pellet smoker in it with something under it to keep it from scorching the wood under it, toss it on a baking pan with a couple bricks under it for example

sheet of plywood on the inside of the old door.