The Gibson, A pellet fridge project.
- Thread starter greyape
- Start date
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- Dec 26, 2015
- 52
- 13
Well looks like this stack is running pretty well, temps seem pretty solid and without aux fan, hopper is sipping on the pellets.
Guess a nice thing about a tightly mounted fan is it's a decent indicator of airflow. The fan was spinning fairly well, while completely off, so the draw from the stack is not insignificant.
From looking at the cook chamber, the angle of the smoker is obvious if you think about a heat deflector (during the first cook it was a real quick heat shield). Below is my new deflector setup, seems to be working pretty good as well.
Found a bolt on trailer jack that I will probably use for leveling the fridge. Will replace the wheel with a long foot for stability.
Guess a nice thing about a tightly mounted fan is it's a decent indicator of airflow. The fan was spinning fairly well, while completely off, so the draw from the stack is not insignificant.
From looking at the cook chamber, the angle of the smoker is obvious if you think about a heat deflector (during the first cook it was a real quick heat shield). Below is my new deflector setup, seems to be working pretty good as well.
Found a bolt on trailer jack that I will probably use for leveling the fridge. Will replace the wheel with a long foot for stability.
- Dec 26, 2015
- 52
- 13
Good news about the cook today. Ran it for 15hrs (had one stubborn butt that didn't want to cook) and no burn back. So either the increased draft through the unit, the lack of additional fan or leveling of the unit did the trick.
Really liking the exhaust as it stands. One interesting thing I have noticed with the side exhaust though. When I put something like a tray of beans, it significantly affects the temps above if that tray is at or a little above vent height. Temps increase exponentially due to the restriction of airflow around the sides. Didn't see that coming, but now that I know it is easily managed.
Really liking the exhaust as it stands. One interesting thing I have noticed with the side exhaust though. When I put something like a tray of beans, it significantly affects the temps above if that tray is at or a little above vent height. Temps increase exponentially due to the restriction of airflow around the sides. Didn't see that coming, but now that I know it is easily managed.
meatsweats86
Meat Mopper
Glad to hear it's working out. That would be a lot of time and money pissed away it didn't.
Where's the QVIEW????
Where's the QVIEW????
- Dec 26, 2015
- 52
- 13
Haha, well I did take a couple of risks with the exhaust but figured worse case the I could cover it up and go more traditional. I keep trying different things on every cook like moving drip trays seeing how everything affects everything else. Cook notes from today:
- I covered the fan / vent completely for a while on a cook today. Not a great idea! These things need the additional airflow through them or you may run into what I did today with a flame-out on the pit because the fridge holds heat so well. I haven't used the fan in a while, but I'll probably make an adjustable baffle for the air intake to find a happy medium between full open and full closed.
- Tried the stick of wood on the heat deflector instead of additional smoke via a smoke tube. Once I opened the vents up, and the smoker started running more it did smolder the wood, and seemed to produce a nice TBS. Looks like it would be less maintenance than a tube as well. Pic below is the stick after running for about 6 hours. Looks like one stick would run a long cook easy.
- Dec 26, 2015
- 52
- 13
Trying out a couple new things / trying to get the spikes out of the temp after opening the doors. Trying a water pan close to the fire to be a heat sink to try and prevent the overrun issues. Seriously, if smoke daddy would make some slight adjustments to the controller for these fridge smokers we would be in the win!
I did also get my trailer jack fitted to one end to raise it up on a slope, but have yet to get the foot designed to handle the load (especially when the door opens). Will update when that is complete.
I did also get my trailer jack fitted to one end to raise it up on a slope, but have yet to get the foot designed to handle the load (especially when the door opens). Will update when that is complete.
wvuarmyeng
Smoke Blower
- Nov 19, 2015
- 84
- 10
glad I'm following this build. I used my smoke daddy on a bigger build and now I'm going to move it to a fridge like yours. have you tried calling smoke daddy and talking with them? they would probably love the feedback. when I spoke with the owner I got a lot of good info
- Dec 26, 2015
- 52
- 13
I've made mention of it, but not specifically calling them. I don't know how much control they actually have over the development of the controller, and honestly custom fridges are probably too small a market section to really specifically market a controller at and make any money so I'm not surprised. I'm glad they at least offer the hoppers as no one else really does and with a few slight modifications they seem to still do really well.
I just picked a couple interesting options on mine that has made engineering different than most, but the challenge is part of the fun!
I just picked a couple interesting options on mine that has made engineering different than most, but the challenge is part of the fun!
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