New Fridge Build

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hornhunter

Newbie
Original poster
Dec 2, 2013
10
10
Hello everyone, I want to thank you all in advance for any advice and ideas you give me. I am new to the forum, and have spent the last 3 weeks using this awesome site for research as to how I want to do my build. The fridge I am using has some sentimental value, It was purchased by my great grandparents in what we are guessing was the early 70's, and has been passed down the line up until my uncle just recently decided he no longer wanted it. I immediately jumped at the opportunity, as I thought it would make the perfect smoker. Unfortunately, it was plastic on the inside, so I gutted it and went to a local fab shop and had them build me a smoke box to slide in the fridge. I left a 2 inch gap around smoke box in which I will insulate it with Roxul. I will heat it with a brinkman 1500 watt element. I will control it with the Auber Instruments 1800 watt PID. I also bought an AMNPS for my smoke generator. I have a smoke stack that I will put in the top center of the fridge, and will put a ball valve on the side for air flow. I have everything I need to put it together except the insulation. It is supposed to be here Friday, so hopefully I will make some headway over the weekend. I will update with photos as I make progress, I will have plenty of questions as I progress. Thank you and Happy Holidays!

 
Made some progress over the last couple days. Roxul showed up Friday, I insulated it and riveted the smoke box to the fridge. Cut the hole for my heating element, put the door back on ,and cut the hole for my smoke stack. The build is coming together nicely, after doing some research on other builds, I have decided to put a 3/4 d shaped silicone seal on the door, it should be here sometime this week. The door is going to be the biggest challenge of the project, I have a 1/2 gap between the door and the cabinet all the way around the door except the bottom outside corner of the door has a 1 inch gap. I can adjust the hinges some, but It looks like the door got twisted at some point. I will put the racks in it over the next couple days. Hopefully my door seal will be here by Thursday so I can season it and give it a test run over the weekend.




 
I can't tell from the photo but when the door is open all the way will it interfere with racking removal?  I had the smoker in my avatar for a long time and I had to tip my racks sideways to get them in and out of the smoker.  If it were me and the door does interfere I would shorten the racks and extend whatever type of rack support you plan to use on the door side to ensure that you can easily slide racks.

Build looks great by the way. 
 
I was able to get the racks in today. I still haven't decided what I want to do cover the heating element so no grease get on it. I made an additional rack that I thought about putting just above the heating element so I can set a drip pan on it. I also thought about using some of my leftover tread plate to make a drip shield. I have a 1 inch ball valve that i'm planning on using for air intake. Does anyone have recommendations as to where to put the air intake? I was thinking about putting it and the left side of the box in the middle about 4-6 from the bottom. I'm planning on putting my amnps on the bottom left part of the floor.

 
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