Did I make a boo-boo?

[roushy]

So I think I may have made a boo-boo but want to post about it to get some thoughts.  I bought a barrel from a guy near buy that sells them.  Sold me a barrel with the expoxy coating on it but said all the barrels had product in a bag in it so no product ever hit the inside of the barrel.  I took it hope and tried to sand out the barrel's expoxy coating with little luck.  I then tried a grinding wheel.... not much more luck.  So I used a chemical expoxy release and sprayed it in the barrel and then used the grinder and it worked (used safety protection of course).  Once everything was removed and it was down to the bare metal I used a heavy pressure hose and washed out the inside, then used TSP and scrubbed the inside of the barrel and then rinsed it out 2 more times. 

Has anyone else used such a chemical to get rid of epoxy?  Should I have not used it and screwed up my project?  The barrel is already mounted and has everything ready for seasoning.  It looks spotless but now I have concerns.

~ Roushy.

 

[ribwizzard]

Not that product, but I do know that those chemicals will get into the steel.

I suggest you burn that thing good and hot ( higher temp than you will be cooking at) maybe for a whole weekend BEFORE you coat with any oil, rinse it good and burn it again.       Then you can always cook something and feed it to your neighbors and see what happens. Just kidding.

 

[roushy]

Would using a propane weed burner do the trick?  Its already mounted so burning it with logs would only do a little area

Roushy

 

[bruno994]

I would think that a weedburner would do the trick. 

 

[ribwizzard]

I think so, just burn it good,  and wash all residue off before you season it.

 

[roushy]

I actually called a chemical engineer buddy of mine and he agreed that as long as I throw a lot of heat at it, it should burn all the left over residue.  Close one...  I was nervous I trashed my entire build!

Thanks guys!

Roushy

 

[mballi3011]

My thoughts are if you didn't spend to much money on it I might think about getting another barrel just to be safe.

 

[roushy]

Well the rig is complete and painted.  I was actually going to season it tomorrow but instead I am going to burn it out once a day over the next 3 days.  So, I looked at the can I was using and pulled the MSDS of it.  Looks like it uses Dichloromethane as the solvent.  I did some research on it and I was surprised to find out the uses.  It was used as an insecticide for a while and still used to decaffinate coffee.  See the link below.  Crazy to think how harmful chemicals are used all over the place.  And people wonder why cancer and other issues arrise.  The good news is that DCM has a low combustible temp and is highly volitile so a little flame should remove what I haven't already cleaned out with the pressure washer.

http://www.ehow.com/list_7787554_science-projects-removal-caffeine-drinks.html

 

[ribwizzard]

Are you going to post a pic of the smoker?

 

[roushy]

Oh yeah. I didn't take any since it was painted.  I'll try to snap some tonight. 

 

[roushy]

Here is a photo after I moved it out to its final space.  I did a burnout with a propane torch and sprayed some hydrogen peroxide in it and then quickly washed it out and did another burnout.  The HP will break down any leftover methylene chloride after the burnout.  I snapped a quick photo before I came in for the night.

Thoughts?

4.JPG

• roushy
• Oct 10, 2012

 

[davidhef88]

Wow. That thing looks great. Nice build!! I would have went a little longer with the front legs. Lol.


David

 

[roushy]

Haha.  My back yard is sloped so I needed some buffer to keep it level.  I plan on putting some sort of legs where I can change the height to level it.  My last smoker was level in my garage but was slanted in the same spot.  Screwed up my water pans and made the drippings move all over the place.

 

[davidhef88]

If you can build something that nice you sure should be able to make some type of adjuster for when you move it around. Maybe even mount some type of level on it. Once again nice job!


David

 

[roushy]

I bought a trailer jack that I was ging to bolt or weld in place but it was too big for the setup.  I am trying to find something smalller that I can simply cut off the legs and bolt the smaller jack to the setup so then I can run on any slope the earth can bring :).

Seasoning it tomorrow after I do my final burnout with the propane torch tonight.  I'll send post more photos and information on how the configuration runs.