I decided this weekend to get rid of the towel I put on top of the smoker to keep the temp up and do something more permanent. Got some of that aluminum foil style insulation with the bubbles like I've seen on the forum here. Also a gasket kit for the door.
Smoker is a Smoke Hollow 30" propane cabinet style. A single tube burner in bottom center.
I got this stuff called Reflectex, was $1.19 ft for the 24" wide roll. I bought 10'. Then the fiberglass gasket stuff for pellet stoves and such. I bought the gasket adhesive for that same gasket kit.
I used the same gasket adhesive (I assume high temp silicone) to adhere the reflectex to the sides of the smoker after I got all the panels cut with the openings needed. It took some help to hold everything on until I had all 4 sides on and wrapped with shipping stretch film to hold against the metal until the silicone dried.
I scraped everything down and wiped with alcohol before applying the gasket adhesive.
It's supposed to cure in 2 hours so after 2 hours I unwrapped it and wanted to get to smoking. I needed more adhesive and more cure time I think. Where I skimped on the adhesive (the last 2 panels, the damn tube of silicone blew a hole in the back) the reflectex is coming off. I'll be fixing that this week, it's only near the bottom.
The other thing I noticed after my first smoke with it, the middle of the insulation between the aluminum foil, is plastic bubble wrap. In the hot zone down near the burner, it melted the bubble wrap in the middle and all the air escaped the bubbles so now it's just flat foil against the metal smoker walls. It still helps, I did a 2 hour smoke to try it out. Today I'm doing a 4 hour rib smoke.
I don't see any melted plastic dripping out so I'm going to keep rolling with it. When I build my first smoker though I'm going to use mineral wool and have an inner wall and outer wall though. I don't think this aluminum foil bubble wrap is going to last long. Maybe they have some that is not plastic wrap bubbles but real foil bubbles...
Without a towel or moving blanket wrapped around the top of this smoker I struggle to get it to 225. With a little cloth insluation around the top I can hold up to 240, with these two mods I was holding 275 on low with the lower vents half open and the top vent just cracked. I think I could break 300° F now if I can get the Oxy/gas mix tuned in well enough.
The gasket kit is a no brainer, should of done that long ago.
Smoker is a Smoke Hollow 30" propane cabinet style. A single tube burner in bottom center.
I got this stuff called Reflectex, was $1.19 ft for the 24" wide roll. I bought 10'. Then the fiberglass gasket stuff for pellet stoves and such. I bought the gasket adhesive for that same gasket kit.
I used the same gasket adhesive (I assume high temp silicone) to adhere the reflectex to the sides of the smoker after I got all the panels cut with the openings needed. It took some help to hold everything on until I had all 4 sides on and wrapped with shipping stretch film to hold against the metal until the silicone dried.
I scraped everything down and wiped with alcohol before applying the gasket adhesive.
It's supposed to cure in 2 hours so after 2 hours I unwrapped it and wanted to get to smoking. I needed more adhesive and more cure time I think. Where I skimped on the adhesive (the last 2 panels, the damn tube of silicone blew a hole in the back) the reflectex is coming off. I'll be fixing that this week, it's only near the bottom.
The other thing I noticed after my first smoke with it, the middle of the insulation between the aluminum foil, is plastic bubble wrap. In the hot zone down near the burner, it melted the bubble wrap in the middle and all the air escaped the bubbles so now it's just flat foil against the metal smoker walls. It still helps, I did a 2 hour smoke to try it out. Today I'm doing a 4 hour rib smoke.
I don't see any melted plastic dripping out so I'm going to keep rolling with it. When I build my first smoker though I'm going to use mineral wool and have an inner wall and outer wall though. I don't think this aluminum foil bubble wrap is going to last long. Maybe they have some that is not plastic wrap bubbles but real foil bubbles...
Without a towel or moving blanket wrapped around the top of this smoker I struggle to get it to 225. With a little cloth insluation around the top I can hold up to 240, with these two mods I was holding 275 on low with the lower vents half open and the top vent just cracked. I think I could break 300° F now if I can get the Oxy/gas mix tuned in well enough.
The gasket kit is a no brainer, should of done that long ago.
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