High altitude smoker engineers needed

[fourthwind]

Ok so I am in the planning stages of building an offset or reverse flow smoker.. I live at 5400 feet, and could possible be using this up to 8000 feet. Question is with the reduced air pressure here, what should I do with the calculations for air intake size to the firebox, the opening between the firebox and smoke chamber, and the stack size. I would assume that the lower air pressure would require for all of these figures to be larger than what the calculaters say. Any engineer's input would be greatly appreciated. I want this to be right.

 

[got14u]

try this calculator. It has worked for me in the past I am at 5000ft
dang it , it won't let me upload it for ya....send me a email and I will reply back to ya
[email protected]

 

[silverwolf636]

I also believe you will have to recalibrate your thermometers at that altitude. LOL (4 yrs of college and I couldn't remember how to spell heigth so I put altitude. Now I'm feeling the affects of over 50)
--ray--
(0||||0)

 

[bbally]

The engineering answer is the Oxygen levels are the same at any altitude.

But the air pressure is a lot less, so the spacing between the Oxygen molecules in a lot less. Which reduces the oxidization power of the air being used to burn wood.

2.786 percent per thousand feet of elevation above sea level.

If you know the chamber size and the temp you want to be the normal idling cook temp I can run the calculation for you.