me an my buddy are going to build an 80 gallon smoker????

[s an m bbq]

me an my buddy are fixin to build an 80 gallon smoker with a 30 gallon fire box.....im geting a littel overwhelmed with all the fabrication thats takes place to make it happen...whats the most some one has spent????an im lookin at geting my steel from lowes or home depo???anyone have any ideas of where i could get my steel befor i go there an spend money that i dont need to????an last whats the longest its taken to build???

 

[tom37]

Welcome to the site S an M, first off please jump into the roll call section and post up a few of the general details about yourself and where you are located. This will get you the proper welcome from everyone.

Plus it will help us sugguest where to buy stuff.

NO dont buy metal from Home Depot or Lowes!!!!!

This link should help find metal.

There is no limit as to how much one can spend and also no time limit to complete a rig. My trailer will never be done, I will always want to change something.

 

[bamaboy]

Hello and welcome to SMF.I am just finishing up on a 80 gallon RF myself.I have been working as I can for a couple of months.I enjoyed the journey so far and hope to put some meat on it soon.where are you located?can you find a scrap dealer locally,or a scratch and dent metal supplier.the only way I would pay Lowe's/home cheapo prices is that was the very last and only option.good luck and ask around.

 

[s an m bbq]

how do i get to the roll call page???

 

[s an m bbq]

how do i get to the roll call page??

 

[arnie]

Welcome to SMF

Try this link for Roll Call

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/list/133

Here is a link for smoker calculations

http://webpages.charter.net/tomchism/BBQ CALC Forms/BBQ Smoker Calculators.htm

 

[s an m bbq]

so who makes a good  termometer... im goin to need one  for my smoker build an I really want a good one

 

[s an m bbq]

ok for some reason i cant download the calculator so can some tell what size i need to build my fire box im goin with a square box an i have an 80 gallon tank im goin to 2x4 steel for the smoke stacks and 1 1/4 for the fire box to the smoke box... any help pls

 

[s an m bbq]

i need some help with coming up with what i need to build my smoker with....my computer crashed a while back an for some reason i cant download the calculator so any help guy??? TOM has helped me out alot....i was thinking about useing 2x4 tubeing from the fire box to smoke chamber tom said i would need 7 to have the wright air flow so maybe not 2x4....so i need some help an some ideas pls 

 

[tom37]

Hey Raptor?????   Can ya help us out on this one man? Please.

I ran the numbers last night and had to improvise (adapt and overcome) and be creative to come up with numbers to enter for the calc.

Like I had to use the gal size box vs using the dimension boxs. Also for the stack since the calc only provides for a circle stack. I could be wrong here since I just converted it by sq inchs.

I came up with 42" of 2x4 stack

55 sq inchs on the fire to cook chamber opening, it seems like alot to me.

and 21 sq inchs on the air inlet to firebox.

 

[raptor700]

Iv'e been crunching the numbers, and can't say for sure!

If it's a RF design we could git-r-done

The 55 sq" is what's got me stumbled, doesn't seem correct! (I've been wrong before!)

I would go with the 4" "round stack" for sure!

 

[tom37]

Did you get the 55 sq in from the calc, or are you trying to figure where I got it from?

To get the area for the stack I simply entered the 2x4x42 in the    ummm I think it was the sq cook chamber size and it told me the area. then I wrote that number down and cleared the fields and started from scratch.

 

[s an m bbq]

4 inch is cool with me just dont know where i could find it???....tom not real sure what you are talking about with the 55 sq inch an the 22 sq inch break it down if you dont mind...

 

[bamaboy]

I mounted my firebox to my tank because of the odd size needed,I think its 5 x 12 between the fb and smoke chamber.The exhaust i used is two 3 inch pipes,Is this gonna be a RF smoker?

 

[s an m bbq]

man i really want my fire box to set behind the smoke chamber.. i dont really like the fire box on the side of the smoke chamber however  it is looking like it will be a lot of work to put the fire box on the back of the 80 gallon tank ....dono yet man....btw finish product looks great on your smoker

 

[bamaboy]

Thank you man,its up to you man,for me I like the box attached to the chamber.there is a lot of knowledge here,raptor and Tom will figure it out.I think you could use 2  6inch id pipes to connect the firebox to the chamber,dont know about the effects this will have on heating the chamber.

 

[s an m bbq]

man i hope so....3 weeks ago i thought all i needed was a 80 gallon tank and some kind of fire box...good god i was wrong

 

[s an m bbq]

what is it that everyone likes about the side mount..is there a big difference in the 2 two or does it matter???

 

[tom37]

Don't give up the rear tank idea. Anything is possible.

It will work as there are several here that have done it in the past. I am one, but I had no idea what I was doing when I built mine. I guess there is a chance that the calc is based on reverse flow and thats why the numbers are coming up funny.

The numbers I came up with are from using the calc entering 80 gal tank.

An 80 gal tank is 6160 cubic inchs. When you enter the firebox size (square) 19x19x19 you come up with a cucic inchs that is one third the cook area. Roughly. 19 square is slightly more then needed, just a tad.

Then it tells you that 342.95 cubic inchs is needed for the stack. And I believe that 2x4x42 is 336 cubic inchs.

So that should work for the stack, especially since you have it already.

Based on the calc figures for the 80 gal tank, it says you need 20.58 sq inchs of firebox intake.

And then shows 54.87 sq inchs for the firebox to cook area opening. Being said you would need an opening of 9x6 if you made it one rectangle hole.

These are by the calc that we all provided the link for.

BUT!!!!! If I do the math and take 1/3 the tank size for the firebox size, things come in closer to normal.

The firebox is just over 2020 cu inchs.

I am not sure why there is such a difference.

Can anyone please tell me how to find the cubic inchs of an 80 gallon tank? If its 6160 cu inchs then I have the rest of the numbers for the build and they are sounding way better.

 

[bamaboy]

Sorry guys,I guess i was thinking that it was a reverse flow.sounds like Tom has a handle on it.