Fan in Offset Smoker?

[toekneemac]

Has anyone ever placed a small fan in their smoking chamber opposite the fire box?  To create more of a convection type smoker?  Sine we smoke at low temps maybe the fan can handle it?  It would not be like a stoker/BBQ Guru, just more of a way to move the heat & smoke around, possible causing a better heat equality?  Has that been done?  Has anyone done something like this?  Or am I drifting too far away from traditional/authentic BBQ?  lol

 

[ecto1]

I would have to see how you would mount it.  I would think a fan on the opposite side of the fire box would push the heat ans smoke back towards the fire.  Maybe someone else has an opinion?

 

[toekneemac]

I would have to see how you would mount it.  I would think a fan on the opposite side of the fire box would push the heat ans smoke back towards the fire.  Maybe someone else has an opinion?

I was thinking of reversing it, or turning it around.  The IDEA is to pull the heat and smoke from  the fire box down to the far end and hopefully just circulate the heat & smoke causing, again, intheory, heat equality.

 

[shoneyboy]

I have seen them used on the fire box side to create a induced draft.....Kind of like a heater in a home......

 

[alelover]

I would think that it would need to be put on the exhaust to create a better air draw through the smoker. Sometimes you get heat spikes when adding wood and such. It would have to be able to handle higher heat than you think. A fan out of an actual oven could handle it but not a regular garden variety like a computer fan or something like that. Just my opinion. I didn't do any math or anything.

 

[chef jimmyj]

I looked into doing this...Small Computer type fans are only good to 175*F. I could not find a non-industrial fan that was low CFM and can handle the heat...JJ

 

[SmokinAl]

A guru fan will take the heat, but I think the smallest one they make is 5 cfm, which I think is more than you are looking for. Unless you connect it to a rheostat so you could turn it down & have it run real slow.

 

[toekneemac]

Awaiting my moderated initial reply.  And yes, a computer fan was in my reply.

That aside,  do you guys think that a fan, opposite the fire box, would help in heat equality, and possibly a better smoke?

 

[alelover]

Do you mean between the firebox and the smoke chamber? I'm having trouble visualizing.

 

[toekneemac]

Do you mean between the firebox and the smoke chamber? I'm having trouble visualizing.

No, at the farthest end of the smoke chamber, farthest from the fire box.  See, my issue was there was too much heat in the smoke chamber closest to the fire box, and not enough heat at the end farthest from the fire box.  I thought if I could draw some heat down with a fan, it would equalize the temp inside the smoke chamber.  It would be positioned at the end at the level of the tuning plates.  The point of the tuning plates is to funnel heat & smoke down to the farthest end of the smoking chamber.  That only worked so well, I thought a fan would make it better.

 

[alelover]

Sounds like your tuning plates need some tuning. You should be able to get even temps with just the plates. Are you running the exhaust wide open and using the intake only for temp control? Do you have some pics of your set up we can see?

 

[toekneemac]

Sounds like your tuning plates need some tuning. You should be able to get even temps with just the plates. Are you running the exhaust wide open and using the intake only for temp control? Do you have some pics of your set up we can see?

Sure, I may need some tuning plate tuning.  Someone already mentioned to me that I should remove one of them.  Yes, exhaust is wide open and intake only for temp control.  The tuning plates are porcelain tile.  Also, I did manage to decrease the inequality a bit by raising up my the level where the tuning plates are, allowing more heat into the chamber instead of wasted radiant heat off the fire box, but am looking to make it better.  I am about 25 degrees off.

 

[sprky]

I think I have pictured what you have in mind. I don't think its going to help you much if at all. now If you drew air from towards the top and returned it lower like at grate level it would circulate the air. Now with that said I don't know where you are going to find a small fan that can with stand the heat. You are going to want a fan that is rated to at least 400, in my opinion.  Convection ovens have the motor mounted out side just the fan blades in the heat. Just some food for thought here. 

 

[chef jimmyj]

A guru fan will take the heat, but I think the smallest one they make is 5 cfm, which I think is more than you are looking for. Unless you connect it to a rheostat so you could turn it down & have it run real slow.

I don't think this is made to go entirely into the smoke box, only blow fresh air at the Fire to stoke it...JJ

 

[toekneemac]

I think I have pictured what you have in mind. I don't think its going to help you much if at all. now If you drew air from towards the top and returned it lower like at grate level it would circulate the air. Now with that said I don't know where you are going to find a small fan that can with stand the heat. You are going to want a fan that is rated to at least 400, in my opinion.  Convection ovens have the motor mounted out side just the fan blades in the heat. Just some food for thought here. 

The point wasen't neccessarily to circulate the air, just to draw some heat down to where it was needed.  I thought simple air movement, as a side note, may/could help.  But the main goal was near perfect heat equality.  And the fan?  Just a thought.  It could even be mounted on the outside of the chamber drawing air in a drilled hole.  Just like a BBQ Guru, but working the opposite way.

 

[the fng]

Joined this forum just to put in my two cents. I had seen these fans called A thermo-electric ECOFANS on a Lee Valley Tools catalog that I get, and I think it might be just what you are looking for. They run from $95 to $159 with them but maybe you can find it cheaper? On youtube there is a video on a nice one being used. They create their own electricity from a heat source they are placed on like a wood burning stove. Just something to add to the conversation i guess.

 

[berninga87]

This is an interesting Idea. I can see a few different possibilities depending where it's mounted. If it's at the end of the exhaust, all I think it will do is just force more air flow throughout and probably stoke your fire and drive temps up. If you mounted it underneath the tuning plates about half way through the smoke chamber, it would definitely pull more air from the firebox, but it will be very very hot air, and most likely burn up a fan not designed for high heat. Either way it's all a matter of air flow. The inside of a working smoker also is an environment on its own and the flow from intake to exhaust in my opinion is important especially for flavor. If there is fast moving air in the smoke chamber It may now allow smoke to flavor properly.

Also I was wondering about the tuning plates, I just have one, more of a deflector shield really in my SNP. It's made of sheet metal and is about 16 inches long and I just curved it enough to cover the intake. I have a water pan I put directly above it on the grate too to help keep a little cooler on that end. I was going to post a picture but cant find it at the moment, It's in this thread http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/111377/hello-from-wi. Anyways it works great, I can hold within 10-15 degrees from end to end. I dont really know how the ceramic behaves in a hot environment, but I think maybe its possible that it is getting hot and radiating heat upward which could be causing your difficulty. Before you get too in depth with the fan I would really experiment with a few variations on the tuning plates and see if that helps first. 

Have fun!

 

[toekneemac]

Now this is interesting.  I'll check it out.  thanks

Joined this forum just to put in my two cents. I had seen these fans called A thermo-electric ECOFANS on a Lee Valley Tools catalog that I get, and I think it might be just what you are looking for. They run from $95 to $159 with them but maybe you can find it cheaper? On youtube there is a video on a nice one being used. They create their own electricity from a heat source they are placed on like a wood burning stove. Just something to add to the conversation i guess.

 

[toekneemac]

Berninga87,  thanks for the input.  First, the fan I was looking for was a slow mover, just enough to pull hot air to the far end of the smoker.  2)  I heard that ceramic was an insulator.  If so, wouldn't it prevent radiant heat and just guide the flow of hot air?  3)  I removed all tuning plate mod except for the baffle, but it is not really doing much.  Everything worked great.  Now, I am in trouble if I want to load up every square inch of the smoker, as the temps are different.  I am going to raise my tuning plate level and just use a 16 in X 24in sheet metal as a tuning plate.  My problem was that I wasn't allowing enough hot air into the smoke chamber.  It just wasn't going into the chamber.  4)  My dial thermometers mounted in the smoker door are not accurate in their present location. (grate level about 4 in's from either end) So, I disregard them and stick with the internal, digital thermometers.  I would recomend to everybody to either disregard theirs or only use them as a reference.  5)  The way I had things set up before, I think a fan would have been the best method to achieve equality.  Under my soon to be set up, a fan isn't neccessary.  The old time hilljacks didn't need one, and neither do I!  LOL
 

This is an interesting Idea. I can see a few different possibilities depending where it's mounted. If it's at the end of the exhaust, all I think it will do is just force more air flow throughout and probably stoke your fire and drive temps up. If you mounted it underneath the tuning plates about half way through the smoke chamber, it would definitely pull more air from the firebox, but it will be very very hot air, and most likely burn up a fan not designed for high heat. Either way it's all a matter of air flow. The inside of a working smoker also is an environment on its own and the flow from intake to exhaust in my opinion is important especially for flavor. If there is fast moving air in the smoke chamber It may now allow smoke to flavor properly.

Also I was wondering about the tuning plates, I just have one, more of a deflector shield really in my SNP. It's made of sheet metal and is about 16 inches long and I just curved it enough to cover the intake. I have a water pan I put directly above it on the grate too to help keep a little cooler on that end. I was going to post a picture but cant find it at the moment, It's in this thread http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/111377/hello-from-wi. Anyways it works great, I can hold within 10-15 degrees from end to end. I dont really know how the ceramic behaves in a hot environment, but I think maybe its possible that it is getting hot and radiating heat upward which could be causing your difficulty. Before you get too in depth with the fan I would really experiment with a few variations on the tuning plates and see if that helps first. 

Have fun!

 

[chef jimmyj]

I think the fan is an interesting idea after all everytime people replace an old oven or upgrade their kitchen a Convection Oven is on the top of the list...The idea is to even out the Oven temps and cause a faster heat exchange with the food.The same may hold true for a Smoker...As far as Smoke flavor, I'm not sure what difference there will be. Without a fan random particulate smoke attaches to the meat, with a fan more particles are moving around and can bump into and attach to the meat unless the fan is positioned to blow the smoke away from the meat...The problem I see with the Ecofan is the electricity is generated be a Heat Differencial between the very hot base sitting on the stove and the cooler top of the fan about 9" above the surface. I don't think there would be enough of a differencial in an enclosed space like a Smoker...Maybe it would work on top of the first baffle/tuning plate closest to the fire box...JJ