I picked up an operational 1000-S Warmer/Holding cabinet with the plan to turn it into a low temp (<200 degree F) smoker/dehydrator for salmon, jerky and sausages.
Gutted the original electric and wired in an Auber SMD200 and it's doing a great job of holding target temp in the cabinet. The issue I'm having is the temp difference from top to bottom. PID control probe is located in the middle of the cabinet. I have a separate dual probe thermometer reading temps on top shelf and bottom shelf for testing purposes. Top is 15 to 20 degrees over target temp and bottom is 10 to 15 lower. AltoShaam uses their "Halo Heat" technology to heat the cabinet which is basically heating cable wrapped around the sides/bottom/top of the cabinet. So I don't really have a particular "hot spot" like you might right above a stove/oven element but more of a circulation issue where the warm air is rising and cooler air is settling at the bottom. I think I need to add a fan of some sort to circulate that air. I'm thinking maybe a convection fan like the one (https://smokedaddyinc.com/product/convection-fan/) or a 120v muffin van like this (). The convection sucks air into the middle and out the sides, and the muffin fan pulls from the rear and pushes out the front. Does anyone have any experience or recommendations for one or the other? The next issue I have to figure out is placement. I want to circulate the warm air and not necessarily blow directly on the food. Hoping some of you guys have solved this issue on your builds and can help guide me a little before I start punching holes all over my baby!
Gutted the original electric and wired in an Auber SMD200 and it's doing a great job of holding target temp in the cabinet. The issue I'm having is the temp difference from top to bottom. PID control probe is located in the middle of the cabinet. I have a separate dual probe thermometer reading temps on top shelf and bottom shelf for testing purposes. Top is 15 to 20 degrees over target temp and bottom is 10 to 15 lower. AltoShaam uses their "Halo Heat" technology to heat the cabinet which is basically heating cable wrapped around the sides/bottom/top of the cabinet. So I don't really have a particular "hot spot" like you might right above a stove/oven element but more of a circulation issue where the warm air is rising and cooler air is settling at the bottom. I think I need to add a fan of some sort to circulate that air. I'm thinking maybe a convection fan like the one (https://smokedaddyinc.com/product/convection-fan/) or a 120v muffin van like this (). The convection sucks air into the middle and out the sides, and the muffin fan pulls from the rear and pushes out the front. Does anyone have any experience or recommendations for one or the other? The next issue I have to figure out is placement. I want to circulate the warm air and not necessarily blow directly on the food. Hoping some of you guys have solved this issue on your builds and can help guide me a little before I start punching holes all over my baby!
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