New Dyna-Glo vertical offset smoker

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Put a sheet of wax paper over the red high temperature sealer when it is wet.  You can close the door to form a tight seal without the sealer sticking.  After a day or so, peel the wax paper off and you are off to the races.  Good luck.  
 
I just assembled mine a week ago and did a dry run/season on Saturday. I used RTV where ever I thought necessary, still waiting for the nomex to come in this Saturday.
 
I'm having that issue on my firebox.  Once I put the gasket on there door wouldn't shut all the way.  The smoker box closed fine for me.
 
Anyone have trouble with the doors closing properly after puttin on the nomex lavalock?
No problem closing the firebox door but the smoke chamber door has me using a lot of push to latch it.  I may have to move the latch forward a little to make closing easier.
 
I just got mine.... And I am having a heck of a time getting this thing to maintain a temperature. It goes down I add charcoal (I am seasoning so no wood yet) and it spikes up really high like 300 high. I have the chimney get open all the way and the fire box vent closes. Seems like no matter what o do the vents have no effect on temp. Also could I be adding too much charcoal at a time (15 pieces?)
 
I recently got one also, and I am having the same problem with temperature spikes even when the intake damper is fully closed.  I have not sealed mine yet, and I have some leaks, but I assume that would not be causing the temperature to be higher?  Am I correct in thinking this, or could not sealing it be causing temperature spikes?
 






A few modifications I did before using this for the first time.... 1. Painted the firebox with high-heat spray-paint, inside and out. 2. Had casters welded to the feet. 3. Had a local metal fabricator cut a piece of sheet steel that I then bolted through the bodies of both boxes to deflect the heat down towards the bottom, which will hopefully prevent anything on the bottom racks from burning up. and 4. Sealed all the places where heat and smoke are likely to escape... fire-box to smoker-body, any bolt-holes that penetrated either box, and around the chimney bottom.  When I fire it up to season it, I will note where any smoke escapes from the doors and apply nomex strips accordingly. I'll know in the next few days how the mods work out!
 
Folks,

Need some help.  I just got this smoker and am having temperature issues.  First off during installation I sealed where the firebox attaches to the  smoking chamber with high temp silicone and I sealed all the seams of the firebox.  I also added a gasket to both doors.  

During my initial seasoning and again another time to practice with temps I can't get this sucker down below 400 degrees!  This is with the intake vent fully closed and the exhaust open.  I am using Royal Oak lump charcoal and chunks of hickory.  

I was able to get it to settle at around 250 once I put in a full pan of water on bottom rack and that was also with a quarter of the charcoal left after hours of burning.  

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Dan
 
Are you depending ONLY on the temperature gauge that was supplied with the smoker? I have heard that a lot of them are defective at worst, and not totally reliable at best. I was lucky, and the one that came with mine was within 2-3 degrees when inserted in boiling water, but it's a good idea to measure the temperature in another part of the smoker besides the door... all of the heat from the fire box has a direct line to the gauge in the door, unless you have some kind of baffle/deflector installed between the fire box and smoking compartment. Hickory burns VERY hot!  An electronic temperature probe that measures the oven temperature also... besides just the food temperature... is also a good idea, so that you can approximate the average temp. of the box from two different sources/areas.  Your grill may not be running quite as hot as indicated by only the one temp. gauge.... good luck!
 
Knowing how unreliable these temperature gauges are that come with smoker I was monitoring the temps with my Maverick.  I had the smoker probe mid cabinet and 1/4 of the way down from the ceiling.  I was not aware to the fact that hickory burned hotter.  This is my first go around with a charcoal/wood smoker.   I am also using lump charcoal.  But i didn't expect the temps to shoot up as high as they did.
 
"After all the mods I ran it and it held 225 for about 4 hours with a full basket."
4  hours at 225 that ain't bad.....Can you describe how you loaded the firebox?  Do you use a variation of the minion method?  Do you put the lit in a corner or on topAbout how many lit to unlit ass        
 
Heat management on this thing is tricky. I've had ok success doing this in hot weather:
1. Fill the charcoal box up as full as possible with Kingswood while leaving a donut style hole with no coals in the middle.
2. Pour 12 lit coals in the middle.
3. Leave the basket pulled out for about 10 minutes to let the coals catch and then close door. Leave all vents full open. Add dry wood chunks to coals.
4. Let smoke box get to 250 (measured) digitally at same level as as dial thermometer.
5. Load smoker with meat.
6. Put pan of hot water on lowest rack flush against right side of cabinet.
7. Temp should stabilize and hold in the 225-275 smoke zone for 2-3 hours.
8. When temp starts to trend downward (about 2+ hours) add 20 unlit coals and then 20 lit coals on top of that. This will get another 2 hours of stable smoking heat.

Assumes doors have been gasketed and joints/gaps RVT'd

Ribs have been my longest smoke at 5 hours. Not sure I have the patience for a shoulder on this unit....would be interested in hearing how others manage the heat.
 
My girls gave me one of these for fathers day about 2 years ago.  After modifying it by adding gaskets everywhere, it has been working great since.  I use it once a week through out the week except in winter.  

The biggest flaw in this smoker is that anything on the bottom 3 shelves closes to the fire box tend to burn and the FB gets hot.  The flames comes through.  Has anyone else found this to be true?  If so, has anyone figured out a fix?
 
I did notice a gap between the fire box and smoke box and had thought about sealing that myself. I guess I was so excited to start smoking I didn't even think of modifying it. This weekend looks to be cold here in the mitten but Sunday looks to be my window to smoke it will be a balmy 42 outdoors. Would love to see pictures of your mods.
I ha ve had mine for about 2 1/2 years.  I had the leak between the cooking chamber and the FB also.  I took it apart and put in gaskets.  I also put gaskets on both doors and changed the thermostat. 

The only thing I haven't addressed is putting a damper in the CC where the FB opening is.  I find that I burn anything on the the bottom 3 trays closest to the opening.  If you don't need those trays you should be fine.  I make beef jerky with mine so I need every grate.  I only put jerky on the far half of the bottom 3 trays.  I finally ordered a new vertical smoker for jerky.  Not sure what to do with my Dyno glo. 

One last thing.  I found this site immediately after i bought the smoker.  This site is invaluable.  I like the charcoal box in teh fire box.  I ordered that in my new smoker.  It's easy to set up a fire with charcoal and put chunks of wood throughout it so the smoke from the wood is ongoing.  

Good luck with it and reach out with any questions.  
 
 
Just installed a heat-deflector baffle.
Had a random piece of sheet metal lying on my work bench.

Took the tin-snips to it, drilled some smoke holes too.

Secured it in place with three pop-rivets.



Can't wait to see if it helps with that pesky hot-spot on the right side of the lowest 2 racks.

--FR
The only thing I would mention is any other deflectors that I've seen were on a angle downward.  Don't know if that will make a difference.  How did it work for you?
 
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