Glass doors for wood fire smoker.

[trembling-pig2]

Well besides them getting dirty are there any negatives to using glass doors on a wood fired smoker. 6'x3' tank i want to box out the face and put flat doors and thought it would be cool to weld up some frames and use some high heat tempered glass. Any thoughts other than the obvious getting dirty issue?. 

 

[mballi3011]

As long that the glass can take the heat I guess it would be alright. But it will get smokey stains thje glass and I'm not sure that you can get it off very easily either.

 

[DanMcG]

I love the idea.

I've been cruisin the town dump looking at old oven doors for a new smoker build. I think being able to see what going on without opening the door is a big plus..

 

[kaveman]

they will smoke up,but they will clean up also.I have a pellet stove that has a glass in the door andit stands up to the heat.

 

[rbranstner]

I wonder if it needs to be some type of tempered glass? I just remember when my mom got her new oven and she did the self clean and the glass shattered. Now you are talking really high heat when you are doing a self clean so it isn't the same as what you would be smoking with but its just something to consider as I don't know anything about how glass reacts with heat.

 

[eman]

High temp oven glass would work .But you will have a minimal ammount of heat loss at the glass.

  The self cleaning feature on an oven ramps the temp up over 900° f.

I don't think that smoke chamber temps will near that.

 If you buy a scrapper that uses a single edge razor blade it cleans the heavy gunk off the glass and then a scrubbing sponge and elbow grease gets the film off.

 

[trembling-pig2]

The glass will be getting cut to my specs and sent out to be high heat tempered. I have a buddy with a fire place wood stove company so he's donating the glass and gasketing materials. We're building this for charity events so we want it to stand out. 

 

[trembling-pig2]

@eman - Do you think it would be enough of a loss to make  it not worth it? Just thought it would be cool to be able to look in. Help keep people at bay.  

 

[Bearcarver]

The biggest trouble I have found with the glass in my & my son's MES 40s is keeping the outside of the glass clean!.

If you keep after it, the inside can be cleaned easily with a number of products, while it is cool. If you neglect it for awhile, it is relatively easy to clean the inside with a razor blade.

But it is a real pain removing the drool that dried on the outside of the hot glass, once you are able to see the nice blue smoke surrounding the succulent pieces of meat inside the smoker.

Read that last sentence 3 times, and you'll see what I mean!

No I don't think the heat loss would be enough to keep me from doing it, like Eman said---"minimal".

Bear

 

[eman]

@eman - Do you think it would be enough of a loss to make  it not worth it? Just thought it would be cool to be able to look in. Help keep people at bay.  

I did a test w/ my mes 40 and using a blue point lazer thermo i could see a few degrees of heat loss. Not enough to make a difference.

I was thinking about suggesting making the windows double pane for insulation but  if the smoke gets between the layers and stains the glass, No way to clean it.

 Not only does it keep people at bay but more importantly it keeps the pit master from opening the pit to look, This is where your big heat loss comes from.
 

 

[Bearcarver]

@eman - Do you think it would be enough of a loss to make  it not worth it? Just thought it would be cool to be able to look in. Help keep people at bay.  

I did a test w/ my mes 40 and using a blue point lazer thermo i could see a few degrees of heat loss. Not enough to make a difference.

I was thinking about suggesting making the windows double pane for insulation but  if the smoke gets between the layers and stains the glass, No way to clean it.

 Not only does it keep people at bay but more importantly it keeps the pit master from opening the pit to look, This is where your big heat loss comes from.
 

I confess, that's the main reason I wanted the glass door!  

Bear

 

[trembling-pig2]

Well that's some cleaning i know your doing with at least a smirk on your face. 

 

[trembling-pig2]

I figure as long as i can keep from breaking them i should be good, just as long as i keep the droolers at a safe distance.

 

[Bearcarver]

I figure as long as i can keep from breaking them i should be good, just as long as i keep the droolers at a safe distance.

Yup, 

I don't know about you, but wiping my own drool is one thing, and wiping somebody else's is another.

Bear

LOL---I finally got a chance to use that little green guy!