One more mailbox MOD....Works GREAT!!

[radioguy]

I got a Smoke Hollow 30166E at a close out deal a few months back.  I bought this one for the convenience of an electric, small cooks, jerky.  There is really no air flow in this cabinet, there is no air intake aside from holes in the base and leakage around the door.  The top has  a very small vent less than 1/4" diameter. 

I had some 3" exhaust pipe in the shop and matching hole saw so I went to work. 

Smoke Hollow MOD 1_2.jpg

• radioguy
• Feb 22, 2014

3"air intake on cabinet lower left side

Smoke Hollow MOD1.jpg

• radioguy
• Feb 22, 2014

3" exhaust / stack on cabinet top rear right

Smoke Hollow MOD3.jpg

• radioguy
• Feb 22, 2014

Made flanges from some #10 sheet, tacked pipe to flanges and sealed with some high temp sealant

Smoke Hollow MOD2.jpg

• radioguy
• Feb 22, 2014

Fabricated a butterfly valve for the air intake so I could close off cabinet if I needed it and control air.

A few sheet metal screws and more red sealant under the flange.

Smoke Hollow MOD5.jpg

• radioguy
• Feb 22, 2014

Sealed inside as well.  Had to bend the bottom grate out of the way.  It's attached by bolts in each corner.  

Still thinking of an easy way to make this bottom grate easily removable for cleaning. 

Smoke Hollow MOD4.jpg

• radioguy
• Feb 22, 2014

Top stack with sliding "door" 

Smoke Hollow MOD7.jpg

• radioguy
• Feb 22, 2014

$7 Walmart mailbox for my AMNPS from Todd.

Smoke Hollow MOD6.jpg

• radioguy
• Feb 22, 2014

All put together!

IMG_20140111_161433.jpg

• radioguy
• Jan 17, 2014

First jerky run!!  Cracked pepper / garlic turned out great!   But this smoker is TOO small only can do 5-6 lbs at a time.  

Made heat deflector out of an old sheet pan.  Cut and turned up one side and brazed the corners. 

You can see it just above the bottom grate.  I put about 15 3/4" holes in this pan to allow air / heat circulation. 

I still want to work on door seal as it leaks a bit.  Maybe will add some felt / ribbon gasket. 

So far I've done jerky, beef ribs and a few butts.  All with good results, but I'm still learning.   The AMNPS from Todd runs great

good smoke and long burns. I run the intakes wide open and close down the top vent to about 20% open.  This helps retain heat

and gives me a good TBS. 

Thanks to all of you who have posted your mailbox mods and shared your experiences!!!

RG 

 

[kc5tpy]

Hello RG.  Good looking job.  Well done.  Keep Smokin!

Danny

 

[themule69]

Looks good. Thinks for sharing.

Happy smoken.

David

 

[mchar69]

That is EXACTLY what my friend is looking for!
Thank you so much.

How are you regulating the box temps,

and dealing with meat temps? 

 

[radioguy]

Mchar,

I use a maverick 732 thermo. The door thermo on my unit is pretty good checked it with boil test.

RG

 

[goliath]

nice job !!!!
your vents with the butterfly valve and sliding door looks EXACTLY like the ones we put on my fridge build. nice to have the equipment and material around to make the stuff up..... also sure helps to have the skills ... or buddies THAT LOVE SMOKED MEATS  to bring it all together. you will love your new mods ...  I DID

Goliath  :o)

 

[radioguy]

This little box has been working great and putting out some great food.
I did a few simple mods that will help even more.

Added heat diffuser, made out of old baking pan, it sits about 4" above heating element and rests on existing rack hardware.
This really helped even out temps.

Smoke Hollow MOD10.jpg

• radioguy
• Jan 23, 2015

Installed 1/2" nomex gasket around door. From day one this was leaking pretty good.

Smoke Hollow MOD12.jpg

• radioguy
• Jan 23, 2015

Added additional door catches. Had to remove magnetic catches to install the gasket.

Smoke Hollow MOD11.jpg

• radioguy
• Jan 23, 2015

Added 16g steel sheet on bottom of cabinet. This cabinet is pretty thin stuff, very hot near the element. I made this
to slide out for easy cleaning.

Smoke Hollow MOD8.jpg

• radioguy
• Jan 23, 2015

 

[gary s]

Nice looking Mod,s

Gary

 

[bmaddox]

Great job. Those mods look like they came from the factory (unlike my mods that look cobbled together).

 

[gary s]

I looked again, nice job, does the flag pop up when its ready ?

Gary

 

[radioguy]

Guys thanks for the comments.

Gary still working on the mailbox flag!

Smoke On!

RG

 

[usaftrevor87]

Pardon my ignorance (1st post), but how does the intake & exhaust help with an electric smoker?
Is it just for circulation purposes to keep heat even?
I am actually bout to buy my first smoker (probably this model) & was researching it and found this post. Thanks for the awesome info!

 

[gary s]

For the smoke and heat gotta have both intake and exhaust for the Smoke tray and you don't want stale smoke

Gary

 

[bmaddox]

The heat in the smoker will create a "chimney" drawing in cold air from the bottom and forcing hot air out the top. This flow of air will keep the smoke circulating. As Gary said, you don't want stale smoke.

 

[daveomak]

RG, morning...... I just realized your smoker was an analog unit... I thought it was a digital.... I deleted my thoughts.....

Looks good to me.....


Dave

 

[radioguy]

USA,

Gary and bmaddox are correct. You want to have good air movement for smoke and heat flow. Vent moisture too, this smoker does great cold smoking and low temp jerky.

Dave I am planning a PID set up after the "frypan" controller dies.

RG

 

[daveomak]

USA,

Gary and bmaddox are correct. You want to have good air movement for smoke and heat flow. Vent moisture too, this smoker does great cold smoking and low temp jerky.

Dave I am planning a PID set up after the "frypan" controller dies.

RG

That would work very well....... I can't see a bi-metal therm quitting too soon....

 

[radioguy]

That would work very well....... I can't see a bi-metal therm quitting too soon....

I see the element going out first. The main problem is with how it cooks. Temp setting has to be set higher at beginning and as cook progresses it has to be lowered to maintain constant temp. PID is more set n forget.

RG