First 250 Reverse FLow

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trips66

Fire Starter
Original poster
May 16, 2010
33
10
Illinois
Alright folks. So after talking with several of you over the past few months, gathering a little over 3/4's of the materials and finding sometime to work on it with my buddy, I have finally started my 250 gallon propane tank reverse flow. Now unfortunately I am not the most handy of people and i know even less about metal work, however my buddy(who knows about the same as I) and I are going to construct this smoker with the knowledge and tools at our disposal. We were able to cut the side off of the tank a couple of weeks ago using a cutting torch. The edge are the best but with the grinder it should work out pretty well. And then this past weekend we spent a day working on the doors get them cut hinged and sealed. My plan is loosely based at the moment on Unclebeefs 250 build. However, if anyone knows of any issues related with his or their own I am open to suggestion. Still trying to get the hang of uploading the photos so they are a bit out of order. This is the first time we have welded except for practicing before hand. The trailer is from an old pop up camper.

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Wow! Ambitious!  Keep the pix and updates coming!  Looks like you're doing a great job for a couple of amateurs! 
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Looks good, I really like the size of the tank you have choosen.

Thank You for sharing.
 
Alright so i tried to post this an hour ago and i guess my computer froze. Anyway i know that it has been a while since i have posted anything but the past couple of weekends have been hectic. We had a labor day function last weekend and we have drill this weekend. However i am planning on getting back to the shop next weekend and getting some work done on the smoker. We did get the tank cleaned up a bit with a sanding disc and an angle grinder and i will try to post those picutes up later tonight. it really looks alot better with all the paint and rust off of it. Our next step we are working on will be to finally bring the smoker and firebox together as one. I havent posted a pic of it yet but the firebox is an old homemade wood stove i picked up for cheap. The dimensions are 33H, 24W, and 39D. The issue that i am running into at the moement is how to construct the legs for the smoker. I know that it may seem as easy as looking at other siimilar plans and working off of those but the problem is that most of those builds have the firebox hanging of the back end and therefore they do not need to raise the smoker to high up. Unfortunately the trailer we got(which is an old pop up camper trailer) sits low to the ground anyway and i know that if we dropped the firebox off the back end at some point it would bottom out. So now i have to figure out how to construct the legs to where the bottom of the smoker chamber sits off of the deck by 23 inches. Anyone with any suggetions are welcome to chime in.
 
Maybe you can raise it to your 23 inchs which sould still leave the fire box hanging off the back a little. Can you weld or bolt the box to the frame and then you would only have to worry about the leg or legs for the front.
 
Sorry to have not said it better, but i guess i tried to hurry the post since i had already tried posting it once. That is basically what i am planning on doing. However i am worried about those front legs being to long (around 23 inches) and wondering if i should try to construct some type of triangular legs to give it another base. I had also thought of crossing two pieces of angle iron underneath the smoker and almost make the legs seem more like a cradle. Thanks
 
Alright folks. We really made some major headway yesterday even after we were delayed for 2 hours in the morning due to rain. After a couple of slight mods to the firebox to allow for a flat surface for both the tank and firebox, we cut out the firebox to tank opening. Our next and very stressful step was putting the firebox and tank together exactly where we wanted them, because it was time to start welding them together. After about 30 minutes of hmmms and haaas, we were happy with how we had it placed and started tacking it down.  Another bit of moving and wiggling and we started fully welding the firebox to the tank. Next were the legs which we worked on as it started to get dark and we decided at that point that we would not stop until the smoker was on the trailer. We fnished up around 11:30 last night, and here is what we have. I am sorry to not have that  many picture but between forgetting to take pics and the camera not taking to great of pictures, this is what i have . Andyes i realize that the tank isnt perfectly level. We had a slight issue making the firebox square to the tank. If it would have been leve,l the gaps around the tank would have been un-weldable. So now this will just help with our grease drain.

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Is there an update on this build?  It looks like a great one.

I think the 'unlevel' fire box might do well for you. You could level the cook chamber with the tongue stand, a couple of guys have mentioned that is how they control heat and airflow in other builds.
 
Is there an update on this build?  It looks like a great one.

I think the 'unlevel' fire box might do well for you. You could level the cook chamber with the tongue stand, a couple of guys have mentioned that is how they control heat and airflow in other builds.
It has to be finished by now!

Your right, A level smoker is key when their this large.
 
 
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