Extending the Oklahoma joe chimney stack question

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ollygee

Newbie
Original poster
Jun 21, 2017
8
10
Hi all, great forum!
I've been doing a lot of reading about getting more heat through my joe highland, as the other night it felt like I loose a lot out the firebox end, so I decided the stack might not be drawing enough.
After running the sizes of the highland through the smoker builder calculator I make the stack 200mm narrower than it should be.
Has this been discussed before?
My idea is to extend it slightly to save me building a whole new chimney stack, would this work to draw air through making the smoker making it hotter and more efficient?
I know building a bigger fire is often the answer, but getting more draw seems like a better approach.
Thanks for your time
 
Hi all, great forum!
I've been doing a lot of reading about getting more heat through my joe highland, as the other night it felt like I loose a lot out the firebox end, so I decided the stack might not be drawing enough.
After running the sizes of the highland through the smoker builder calculator I make the stack 200mm narrower than it should be.
Has this been discussed before?
My idea is to extend it slightly to save me building a whole new chimney stack, would this work to draw air through making the smoker making it hotter and more efficient?
I know building a bigger fire is often the answer, but getting more draw seems like a better approach.
Thanks for your time
I'm under the understanding that offset smokers like to breathe, moving a lot of air.

Hopefully Dave or somebody can better answer your question.
 
Increasing the length of an already too small diameter exhaust usually results in stalled smoke because it cools as it climbs. In my opinion you would be better off increasing the diameter of the exhaust to let the cooker breathe. I cut the 3" off my son-in-laws and added a 4" plus tuning plates and reduced the opening into the firebox the results were amazing.

I hope this helps.

Here are some pics of what I did.




 
That's some great feedback Kam! 

What things did you find once upgrading the stack in that way? 
 
Out of the box the cooker was a happy at 200° or happy at 300°+ cooker no real in between. My son-in-law wanted more stable like 225°/250° I plugged the numbers into the Pit Calculator and started bringing the cooker into spec with what I knew would work. With the exhaust and plates along with reducing the opening the cooker now can be maintained at decent temps. She likes 250°/275° on a minimal coal base.
 
That's good to hear, that's what I'm shooting for on mine.

I run the lavalock baffles and they even it out in the same manner as well as reducing the intake to the main cooking chamber.

Would chopping the existing elbow and welding the bigger 4'' gauge pipe have the same effect, or would you advise 4'' from the cooker including the elbow?

Also, is the pipe you fitted the same height as the stock one on the Ok JOE ? 
 
Increasing from a small opening will not help much you will need to eliminate the restriction. I cannot recall what size was original but the 4" is 24" tall.
 
This is great info kam, did you bore out the existing hole or move it closer to the grate level
 
Hi Kam, looks like I can get 45 degree 4'' bends, would a sweeping pipe help even more with the flow? 
 
Yes it will help. It will flow well regardless on that size cooker. If you cut the one 45° as close as you can on the chamber mating side and still be able to weld out it would look better in my opinion getting the exhaust closer to the cooker.
 
 
Increasing the length of an already too small diameter exhaust usually results in stalled smoke because it cools as it climbs. In my opinion you would be better off increasing the diameter of the exhaust to let the cooker breathe. I cut the 3" off my son-in-laws and added a 4" plus tuning plates and reduced the opening into the firebox the results were amazing.

I hope this helps.

Here are some pics of what I did.




Wonderful baffle plate mod.
 
Increasing from a small opening will not help much you will need to eliminate the restriction. I cannot recall what size was original but the 4" is 24" tall.
Regarding the 4" smoke stack for the OKJH using a 4" stack it should be almost 14.5" in length the 24" stack is causing to much air flow. Which in the end causing you to burn a lot more fuel/ wood charcoal etc.
something to think about.
 
Last edited:
I have no issues with the 4" exhaust I placed on the OK Joe it works quite fine at 24" tall. Reduce the intake and watch her idle with minimal fuel usage it is all in balancing the cooker.
 
No worries just given you a little insight, you can choke down the fire anyway you want too but, when a
chimney that is too short may produce insufficient draft (drawing of air). When a chimney that is too long may cause the air to cool before it exits, reducing effective draft and worse, dripping of exhaust materials onto food!
Happy Smokin'
 
So you bought a crappy OKJ from China that'ts metal bonded together?
I didn't buy anything ammaturesmoker. As I said in an earlier post in this thread the cooker is my son-in-laws not mine I just modified it so it could breathe and perform as it should. This is an early model OK Joe the chamber is 3/16".
 
Well, I believe my piece of crap ok joe is making some pretty good BBQ. And maybe you can save the money for me and by a 1200 smoker for me.
Me or ammaturesmoker? I have no issues with OK Joe cookers yankee2bbq I merely offered ollygee my knowledge on how to modify the cooker based on the problems he is having.
 
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