First Smoker Build - What am I doing wrong?

[noodles919]

First time building my own smoker. Not sure if picture is on here. Air compressor as firebox. 4 inch pipe from box to smokehouse. 3 inch pipe on side as damper. Soon as I close door to firebox fire dies. What am I doing wrong?

 

[SMOKEOCD]

You need a way to adjust how much air gets into the firebox. Run a fan at the 3” opening and see if it’s any better. Maybe a cheap variable speed fan can solve your problem. Otherwise I’d turn the dome into a door that swings open for full control of the fire.

 

[noodles919]

I did have a box fan at the damper. Had it on all 3 speeds and no difference.

 

[SMOKEOCD]

It has to be airflow . Close the lid, cut off air, fire dies. Is your fire on some sort of grate to allow air flow underneath?
I’m just going by mistakes I’ve made in the past.

 

[noodles919]

You need a way to adjust how much air gets into the firebox. Run a fan at the 3” opening and see if it’s any better. Maybe a cheap variable speed fan can solve your problem. Otherwise I’d turn the dome into a door that swings open for full control of the fire.

Yes I have 2-3 inches under my grates in my firebox. I thought that was my problem but issue still exists.

 

[radioguy]

The air inlets opening is too small. My guess is make it 4 times larger. Guessing without measurements. Air inlet should be at or below your fire. Please give us dimensions, lengths. A few most pictures will help too.

RG

 

[JckDanls 07]

What do you have for exhaust on the smokehouse? Unless the picture is deceiving... That intake on the FB looks to be smaller than 3"..... and. I agree with the intake should be at or below the grate

 

[1MoreFord]

Exhaust stack looks small too. What size is it?

Also you have it restricted by the rain cap / pest guard / diffuser.

It's better to oversize both intake and exhaust since you can control them on the fly with dampers. Can't make them bigger without metal surgery.

 

[smokerjim]

Just guessing but maybe you need more of an upward angle on the pipe leaving the fire chamber, did you try and run it without the smoke stack cover,

 

[BigW.]

Can you prop the firebox door open an inch or so and keep the fire going? Might work for the time being until a redesign of air inlet is done.

 

[JBW450]

As stated in above posts the air inlet is too small and I agree needs to be under the grate (or at least below the level of the fire grate.

 

[SmokinEdge]

First thing I see is you are conflating two methods. You are trying to run a off set firebox into a large smokehouse. The air inlet is to small and exhaust is to small.

In a typical smokehouse setup you run a 6-8” exhaust from firebox to smokehouse, the pipe is inclined and the fire is unabated on air. The exhaust is in the neighborhood of two 8”x14” vents located on opposite sides at the tops of the gables.

Your problem is airflow both in and out.