Electric smoker mod.

[jon virago]

I had an electric smoker, but Christmas Eve it would not work. I would like to rip the element out of it and use charcoal. Never used charcoal to smoke before. I have added a few pictures of the smoker. I was going to place the charcoal on a pan at the bottom of the smoker. Then put the same smoke box in with chips, and put some chunks on the charcoal. Is it worth trying? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Stasher1]

If the element is shot and you don't want to replace it, I don't see any reason not to convert it to charcoal.

It's hard to tell from the pics, but you may need to add some dampers/vents to the body of the smoker in the vicinity of the charcoal pan to allow air to the charcoal and to control the temps, along with a charcoal pan constructed in a manner as to allow the ash to separate from the charcoal to prevent smothering.

I've never done it before, but it doesn't seem like it would be all that difficult or expensive.