My 25$ smoke generator

[ifitsdeadsmokeit]

why wouldnt you use lead free solder like you use when sweating water lines?

 

[ledslinger29]

That didnt occur to me. Staring ocer

 

[ledslinger29]

Thanks for the writeup, smoked some cheese this weekend

 

[cam orgaard]

This looks great. I just built one too, but was having trouble getting the smoke to work once I put a hose on the output end. thought it was too much back pressure created. But by looking at your and the pump you are using, I think my issue is not having a good enough seal in my in the burning unit. Thanks for the pics. 

 

[goliath]

dcarch has a pretty advanced unit. not something just anybody is going to toss together

i have done the gauntlet of smoke gens and have settled with the mailbox mod with 2 AMNPS units in it. i have a large freezer build and do cold smoke bacon, sausage, butts... pretty much anything. i use 2 AMNPS units so i can have good smoke for 11 plus hours and not worry about baby sitting. i also used a cheap turkey roaster as there are no mail boxes available here where i live.

its all trial and error.

my 1st smoke gen was the venturi with the aquarium pump. would work for a few hours but after some creosote build up the chips, or sawdust wouldnt fall down. also the smoke pipe into the smoker would creosote up quite badley and needed cleaning regularly after long smokes.

even the smoke daddy talks about this problem and about the regular cleaning.

I AM SOLD ON THE AMNPS.

good luck

 

[link]

I have been wanting to make one of these for a bit and finally got the parts together so here it is.

 

 

[jarjarchef]

Looks good. Nice flow of smoke. Mine puts out too much. I have not tried to use it in some time, been busy at work.

 

[aceoky]

Very interesting and great job !

 

[jaredmausteller]

My neighbor is saying having that copper over the heat is bad and will poison you.....
What is your guys opinion on this???
I built a similar device and used copper for the air tube. He says I will be poisoning myself with the fumes from the copper...

 

[jaredmausteller]

My neighbor says using copper on a device like this is poisonous... I built one very similar and used copper tube for the air tube coming across the t fitting..... he says I will be poisoning myself from the fumes that will be getting let of from The copper tube...
What's your thoughts on this....???
I say if it's true then how can we drink moonshine from a copper still, or (not saying anyone would want to do this)drink hot water
from the tap (copper water lines), or be able to cook from copper pots and stuff...

 

[sigmo]

Being in the water treatment business, I am reasonably familiar with the EPA's "lead and copper rule", and the whole Flint, Michigan debacle.

Lead can leach from lead pipes and lead solder, and copper can leach from copper pipe or tube if the pH and corrosivity of the water are bad.


But in our case, for these smoke generators, we are not even dealing with corrosion or leaching. So it is simpler to understand.

All we need to do is keep copper or lead from vaporizing. If they don't vaporize, they cannot leave the surfaces and contaminate the air/smoke mixture.

So keeping the temperatures below those where the vapor pressures of the materials in question become high enough that they vaporize to a dangerous degree is all we have to do to be safe.

Fortunately, the temperatures at which lead and copper vaporize to a dangerous degree are rather high.

Can you put your hand on the copper pipes of these generators when they are running? I would guess so.

And the inner venturi tubes are constantly cooled by the air from the compressor or air pump. So we know they stay cool, as well.

I serously doubt that much copper or lead are vaporizing into the smoke/air stream in these designs.

Stll, why not use lead-free plumbing solder just to make handling the unit a bit safer. Most people are not very sensitive to copper. The MCL (maximum contaminant level) for copper in drinking water was set, in part, to accommodate people with Wilson's Disease.

The only thing that comes to mind as a route by which we could poison ourselves with these gadgets (with lead or copper) is if water vapor condenses on the lead or copper, corrodes it, then drips down onto the wood chips or pellets, carrying the dissolved lead or copper, and is then raised to a high temperature as the wood burns. That might vaporize some of that lead or copper.

That seems pretty far fetched. But I guess anything is possible.

 

[jaredmausteller]

I told him that the Temps for gasses to leach out are pretty high with copper (and I did spring for the lead free solder,lol)... he's using the old theory that smoking from a brass or copper pipe will give you lock jaw....
The t fitting that the copper pipe goes through doesn't get over 90 degrees.... still holdable by bare hands... like you said also the cold air from the compressor cools the copper down a little so the copper tube temp is probably lower yet....
Just kind of funny how some people are just set in thier ways and how some actually research before popping off at the mouth...hahahaha

 

[sigmo]

That can be minimized by drawing smoke from below the burn. Basically that's my smoker design. In my design, the creosote is condensed and collected in a separate bottle.

dcarch

I would love to know more about that design! this is all fascinating, and I have been thinking of building a little smoke generator of this type so any design ideas are greatly appreciated!

I told him that the Temps for gasses to leach out are pretty high with copper (and I did spring for the lead free solder,lol)... he's using the old theory that smoking from a brass or copper pipe will give you lock jaw....
The t fitting that the copper pipe goes through doesn't get over 90 degrees.... still holdable by bare hands... like you said also the cold air from the compressor cools the copper down a little so the copper tube temp is probably lower yet....
Just kind of funny how some people are just set in thier ways and how some actually research before popping off at the mouth...hahahaha

Yes. I agree.

But I am always open to any explanations of how or why something like this could be hazardous. There's no sense ignoring good thoughts on the matter.

I just think that the temperatures involved mean that any copper or other metal vapors will be extremely low, and since we're not scraping or abrading things, production of dust particles will also be non-existent. And if things are designed right, no corrosive water condensation should form and then drip back down onto the burning wood, so that potential route shouldn't be an issue, either. But there could be something I'm not thinking of!


I'd like to come up with a system that allows me to hold a lot of the combustion variables constant so that I can smoke in any weather and get consistent results. This type of smoke generator might be part of a system like that.

 

[jaredmausteller]

I'd like to see the creosote catcher...

I love this little cooker setup...
It's 58 degrees out today with a slight breeze and it's holding a temp right around 54 degrees...
From what Ive seen with these little cookers is you can control your heat via the air being introduced.... if it's not hot enough, turn your air up just a little.... it will get the chip burn hotter and you can get you box temp right where you want it... if it starts to rise a little too much just turn the air down and give it a minute...
I've only smoked with it about 2 times so far but it's so controlable.... I'm really diggin the setup...

 

[jaredmausteller]

I'm open to explanations as well... but all hes got is the copper will give you lockjaw/and or make you sick.....lol

 

[dcarch]

 

I would love to know more about that design! this is all fascinating, and I have been thinking of building a little smoke generator of this type so any design ideas are greatly appreciated!
Yes. I agree.
 

Do a search "dcarch" here.

I have posted my design sometime ago.

dcarch

 

[Wayne Single Shot]

I made one a few weeks ago as well but for use with my ProQ Excel. It produces wonderful smoke but I'm only getting burning around the air holes. The creosote is condensing inside the pot (probaly a good thing from a flavour point of view) but it sticks the chips together so they don't drop down.

Inside there is a "chute" at about 45 degrees to help the chips to slide but it turns into one big sticky mess.

Any suggestions?

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• cannondale4321
• Sep 9, 2013

I've been looking at these builds on youtube; the Europeans seem to mostly having the venture towards the bottom. I don't know what issues they may have with creosote, since they all talk languages I don't understand. I was wanting to build one with the low nozzle design to fit to my Big Chief smoker and not have to put the smoker on a stand. Still researching and wishing I spoke a few other languages.

 

[SonnyE]

My neighbor says using copper on a device like this is poisonous... I built one very similar and used copper tube for the air tube coming across the t fitting..... he says I will be poisoning myself from the fumes that will be getting let of from The copper tube...
What's your thoughts on this....???
I say if it's true then how can we drink moonshine from a copper still, or (not saying anyone would want to do this)drink hot water
from the tap (copper water lines), or be able to cook from copper pots and stuff...

Your neighbor watches too much of The Chew. Babbling brooks with slanted views.
I get occasional blurbs from my wife about my adventures in my shop. Particularly my casting bullets.
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My only concern was the cocktail shaker, but saw reading through it's stainless steel.
All the rest is very elementary to me.
But I'm torn. I like this big one.
But I'm thinking the accessories might be nice to have.
You know, an ash paddle, use the strainer as a base to set the chamber in, fill the measure with some Fireball Whiskey to sip out by the smoker....

:rolleyes: