- Oct 23, 2010
- 18
- 12
I have ran two cooks on it so far, and I am curious if anyone can help diagnosis issues or if it is just learning the new smoker.
A few details, all of the ratios work out with the online calculators, roughly a 80 gallon CC. I also have a warming box that the heat can flow through (I have internal dampers). The exhaust is 3" diameter and about 38" long, and the firebox is a 18" cube. Everything is 1/4" steel except the RF plate, that is 1/2".
I am able to get it to run around 250, but I have to have the inlet, and both outlets completely open. I don't think I can get any higher temperature than that. I originally planned on no warming box for all of the dimensions, so I am thankful that it is there to provide some extra exhaust flow. When I close the warming box exhaust, the temperature drops a good bit.
I can think of two potential issues, I'm not burning with a good bed of coals, the logs are always burning. Or my chimney needs to be a larger diameter.
As a side note, I am not surprised by how much wood this thing consumes, but I did think once warmed up it would maintain temperatures better. The temperature at the grate can vary a great deal. I figured with all of the thermal mass it would be rock steady.
Any thoughts?
Thanks