more heat

Your question reminds me of the Alton Brown Good Eats show that featured him in a make - believe "oven". It was actually a raquetball court. He was describing radiant heat and the the fact that the oven's walls would reflect the heat into whatever was cooking. He also stated that once the surface of the "oven" got tarnished then this effect would diminish because the crap on the surface would start absorbing heat rather then reflect it.

All that said if you are lining a pine box with foil you are not only going to increase the radiant heat but you are also sealing it from the outside. Not a bad thing but once it starts to get dirty it will loose efficiency quick.

If you have something like Slanted 88's solution for a smoker what I would do is go and get some insulation material and wrap it around the smoker on the outside. They sell rigid board like stuff for this. I am actually looking at Kaowool for my Caldera unit in between the doors. Expensive but I think I can turn my Caldera into a Stumps clone.

I would definatly insulate. We're 30 mins away from Canada ourselves so every bit helps.

-rob

Well as you will see on here, one can make a smoker out of just about anything. I even seen one made from a dishwasher, pretty cool. I live in Minnesota, and it get just as cold here. I used a big chief and had to wrap it in 6inch insulation to maintain themps. But in your case, being that yours is made out of wood, why not try the foil backed sheel insulation you find at home stores on the outside of the wood. Cut to fit and seal the edges with a high grade HVAC duct tape. The foil on the inside I do not believe would help at all. Just an idea.

hello foul__play. Can you make it smaller? If not you need more watts and or insulation. I'm wondering if you could use the rigid type insulation on the INSIDE! If yes, your problem would be solved. Plywood offers about .7 R and rigid is 4.0 R.

beard

My bad, YakeeRob is correct, you will get some radiant hear from the foil. But like he said, once coated, it will have the opposite effect. I think if you were to use the foil backed sheet insulation, you will have no problem at all in reaching and maintaining your temps. Maybe even use 2 layers, one overlapping the other. Post some pics of it so we can see what your working with.

Not sure if you use a water pan, but if you do, switch to playbox sand instead. It is a moist sand and will allow you higher and more consistent heat.