Responding to a PM from thesoulman
I posted this a while back but it got lost in the great purge of 2009.
These are some mods I did to my 7 in 1.
Ok this is going to sound radical but here goes.
By far the best Mod I did to the 7 in 1 was when I took out the water pan. Which looks like steel but is really aluminum. I carefully bashed a great big dent in one side of it. It bent really easily for me and now when I put that dent in front of the little door opening there is lots more room to add wood or charcoal.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d132/GnuBeeFlyer/Pan%20Smash/WaterPanSmash001.jpg
That dent is way bigger than it looks in the picture.
I got more heat out of it by buying the smoker blanket that Cabelas sells for it. It costs about $40 if I remember correctly.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat602009-cat20120&id=0029245517374a&navCount=1&podId=002924 5&parentId=cat20120&masterpathid=&navAction=push&c atalogCode=IK&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat601 233&hasJS=true
It works like a charm . I needed far less charcoal or propane when that blanket is on and insulating the smoker. I had to drill 4 holes and change the position of the smoker handles so the blanket would fit but that was a 5 minute fix. I filled the 4 old holes with stainless steel rivets.
My biggest problem was on hot days when you are using just the propane. The burner is too big. It needs to be turned down so much that the slightest breeze will blow out the flame. I made a portable windproof enclosure to solve that. ( During last summers campfire ban I had to use propane. The conservation officer didn’t want us to even use charcoal . Propane was ok though. )
I love the 7 in 1, I just wish it was a 22 inch so racks of ribs would fit better.
Lump burns hotter than briquettes so if your having heat problems switch to lump.
I haven’t had problems with the charcoal choking off the air supply, perhaps because I have enough room to stick a probe in there and move the ashes away from the channels. Made possible by that dent I put in the water pan.
I hope this answers thesoulman's questions and anybody else with a 7in1.
I posted this a while back but it got lost in the great purge of 2009.
These are some mods I did to my 7 in 1.
Ok this is going to sound radical but here goes.
By far the best Mod I did to the 7 in 1 was when I took out the water pan. Which looks like steel but is really aluminum. I carefully bashed a great big dent in one side of it. It bent really easily for me and now when I put that dent in front of the little door opening there is lots more room to add wood or charcoal.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d132/GnuBeeFlyer/Pan%20Smash/WaterPanSmash001.jpg
That dent is way bigger than it looks in the picture.
I got more heat out of it by buying the smoker blanket that Cabelas sells for it. It costs about $40 if I remember correctly.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat602009-cat20120&id=0029245517374a&navCount=1&podId=002924 5&parentId=cat20120&masterpathid=&navAction=push&c atalogCode=IK&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat601 233&hasJS=true
It works like a charm . I needed far less charcoal or propane when that blanket is on and insulating the smoker. I had to drill 4 holes and change the position of the smoker handles so the blanket would fit but that was a 5 minute fix. I filled the 4 old holes with stainless steel rivets.
My biggest problem was on hot days when you are using just the propane. The burner is too big. It needs to be turned down so much that the slightest breeze will blow out the flame. I made a portable windproof enclosure to solve that. ( During last summers campfire ban I had to use propane. The conservation officer didn’t want us to even use charcoal . Propane was ok though. )
I love the 7 in 1, I just wish it was a 22 inch so racks of ribs would fit better.
Lump burns hotter than briquettes so if your having heat problems switch to lump.
I haven’t had problems with the charcoal choking off the air supply, perhaps because I have enough room to stick a probe in there and move the ashes away from the channels. Made possible by that dent I put in the water pan.
I hope this answers thesoulman's questions and anybody else with a 7in1.
