Converting Brinkmann Barrel Smoker to electric

[howieb4]

Hello. I have a Brinkmann Barrel(?) Smoker that I was lucky enough to buy from Home Depot the day after Brinkmann declared bankruptcy. I've used it only a couple times since new. I'm more of a cold smoking guy and use my Little Chief more than anything. My neighbor was giving away his old Brinkmann smoker and with it was a brand new in the box Electric Converter kit. So here is my question...can I use the electric element in my Barrel Smoker? It clearly says on the directions that it needs to be used on an open bottom smoker, which clearly my smoker is not. I was thinking maybe shooting a few 1 1/2" diameter holes in the bottom of mine to maybe make it usable with the electric conversion kit. My Little Chief is on it's last leg and this may keep me in the cold smoking game. Maybe I could use some bolts and large washers to plug the holes if I ever would want to use my smoker with charcoal. You can see my smoker and the electric converter in the pics attached. Thanks on advance.

 

[bill1]

Charcoal needs air to burn and create heat. Electric filaments don't. In principle, charcoal smokers need more air entry area in the bottom than electric.
Instead, what Brinkmann is concerned about with that electric conversion unit is that the normal power cord coming out the bottom sees only outside (cool) air or else the insulation melts. The Brinkmann cheapies (called ECB's for El Cheapo Brinkmanns,) that this conversion kit is designed for, have an air gap at the very bottom between a round inner charcoal pan and the outer body. The cord goes through that gap, stays cool, and that is cool. (Many complain that there's too much air entering that way and the electric conversions can't get hot enough. The cure for that is to roll up a long wad of Al foil and plug that air gap all around EXCEPT for a few inches where the cord comes out.)
Instead, YOUR "high class" Brinkmann smoker (on wheels no less!) has a solid (hot!) bottom. So you'll just need one hole in the bottom for your power cord to go through. That will probably still be too hot for the cord so I recommend a short length of pipe for the cord to go through from the outside word until it gets to the underside of the conversion kit (but not touching it so that it could electrically short.) That pipe then acts as both a heat shield as well as a duct for cool air to flow up and keep the cord cool.
I'd suggest a hole about the size of a 1" electrical conduit. It will be easy to get a plug for it then if you ever want to reverse your conversion.
Just a heads-up...there's a lot more steel in YOUR charcoal Brinkmann than the El Cheapo's. And the electric elements are barely a kilowatt. So it will take a LONG time to heat this unit up. If you're only doing cold smoking that won't matter but I doubt you'll ever get to 250F or higher with this setup. For that you'd need a 240volt element like in most kitchen ovens.

 

[howieb4]

Bill, thanks for the detailed reply. I like your idea of using a pipe to protect the cord. I'll give the conversion a try and see how it works.