How thick does the baffle plate need to be?

[1961shasta]

I have a question, I am building a small reverse flow smoker, 12"x24", is 1/8th inch thick enough for the baffle plate? I making it portable and trying to keep the weight down. thanks in advance.

 

[mp4s]

That's pretty thin. You want it to radiate heat and help even out the temps and 1/8" isn't much of a heat sink...1/4" is pretty standard - some guys go heavier but it takes more fuel to warm it up.

 

[smokejumper]

You can split the difference and go 3/16" which is what I consider the minimum RF plate thickness.

 

[sparktexas]

1/8" for the plate may be fine considering the cook chamber is only 24" long. Not much length for the heat to travel. I have a 3/16" plate on my 42" long cook chamber. I do suggest you put a temporary adjustable plate at the end of the reverse flow plate in order to adjust the opening from bottom to top of cook chamber. Weld it in after you have found the spot that evens out your temps

 

[mwilds]

Wow, 1/8 inch that size. Glad i read this post. What thickness am I going to need for a CC that is 94 inches long?

 

[stainless]

1/8" will rust out faster too.  Keep that in mind.

 

[sparktexas]

Wow, 1/8 inch that size. Glad i read this post. What thickness am I going to need for a CC that is 94 inches long?

1/4" should be fine. The main thing to remember is a reverse flow is pushing the heat all the way across that plate from the firebox. Too thin of a plate with a long distance to travel will cause all the heat to radiate through the plate closer to the fire and by the time it gets to the end of the plate, there's not much heat left. I'm sure there's some scientific equation out there that could figure exact plate thickness but for now we just gotta rely on people's experience