Insulating a Plywood smokehouse with Hot Tub foam

[Cameron Calandra]

Hello all;

My father and i are building a smokehouse made from scrap wood, stones, and materials we can scavenge from various sources and workplaces.

I recently came across two scrapped hot tub covers fron my workplace, so i took them home and tore them apart. The interior is a sort of styrofoam material, although im not sure exactly what the chemical composition of it is.

We were able to insulate the entire inside walls with said foam, cutting it to size. My concern is with the heat-styrofoam starts melting at 212 degrees farenheit and burning at 464. I dont want to poison my father and anyone else who eats our food.

Has anyone used styrofoam in construction of their smokehouses, or what is a good insulation alternative that is cheap? And what is the typical heat for a hot smoking?

Attaching pictures for reference:

 

[daveomak]

I would remove the foam and use fiberglass batts.... no paper backing stuff....

 

[tardissmoker]

Better yet use Roxul or another rock wool insulation. 100% fireproof. That's what I used and why!

 

[dward51]

Roxul can be found at most home depot and lowe's (or similar) stores. The smokehouse will burn to ashes before that insulation would. When you say "Styrofoam" is it the white stuff that looks like thousands of little tiny white beads stuck together or some other type (color) of foam?

Actually that is a big smokehouse. What sort of "smoking" do you intend to do in there? Are you going for lower temp smokes like sausages, hams, etc... or hot smokes at 225* range? It makes a difference. There has been many an old school smokehouse that size that was built without a lick of insulation, although insulation makes it more efficient at holding heat. But that matters less at lower temp smokes. It is going to take one hell of a heat source to get that sucker up to 225* for hot smoking anyway.

 

[Cameron Calandra]

We designed the house with both options in mind-there will be pits for hot smoke, and there is a buried can with a pipe leading into the tower that will be used for cold smoke.

Thanks for the advice, we’ll try out the roxul