Project Fridge

[jjwdiver]

I just received this fridge for free and want to eventually start working on it to turn it into a smoker. I can't start yet as it's still somewhere else, but thought I'd throw some initial Qview into motion.

I'm looking for some initial suggestions on what YOU would do. Electric? Gas? Wood? what...






Well, what would you do?

 

[que-ball]

! went electric with mine, but plan to convert to propane in the near future. It will eliminate the 110' extension cord (which the hired neighbor kid mowed once already). I'm hoping it will also give me better temperature control.

 

[jjwdiver]

Tim,
do you have any pics you'd care to share? What kind of electric element setup, etc. If you dont want to post, feel free to pm to me


I see alot of qview with different setups, but no real specific pics or details or "I would have done it this way if I had to do over" details. I dont was to go ha-fass on this or have to re-do it and patch unnecessary holes I make.

 

[brohnson]

Here's my links to mine I just finished,
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=88979

This one shows where I got my element and its very easy to hold at a temp, and it gets my fridge up over 300 degrees easly.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=87750

If I had your fridge I'd use the motor area to put my element and box it in with new steel to set the element in, than I drill holes up trough the bottum of the fridge for my smoke holes. Make sure you remove the freezer box and all plactic parts so you dont get any fumes at all.

 

[travcoman45]

Well it ain't finished but she's crankin out product! Had orders ta fill this weekend, so will do the final touch's after that. But she works like a dream!



With beef sausage an a nice little 3 lb boneless ham.



Shows the control box, smoke generator an the cord holder.



The back a the control box with the smoke generator air pump mounted.
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Thats the tube comin from my smoke generator, the dryer element is under neath that rack.


The dryer heatin element.

 

[jjwdiver]

Very nice - this is the variety of info I've been wanting. Keep it coming as it may help others too.

My cookshack collects the drippings at the very botton and it runs to a hole wheich feeds into a drip pan underneath. Very handy, easy to clean...if I go electric I'd like to mimic that, but also keep the heat/smoke source out of the "fridge" area. Hmmmmm

 

[brohnson]

Keping the heat source out of the fridge will not drop your temp in the fridge at all just in case you need to add chips or whatever else. I can't wait to see how your build goes.

 

[jjwdiver]

Heck, I can't wait to start. This thing is sitting at one of my listings (owners said I can have it - just get it out!) I went there today to snap those pics and to remember what it looks like. I'll have to grab our moving truck and pick it up next week! (which means about 2 hours in the garage making room)

Lots of room in the compressor area! Just need to figure out how to get the smoke and heat into the main area without it looking like I hacked the crap out of it. I'm a bit A.R. and want it to not only smoke like my old Blazer, but also look like it can produce edible food. Like I mentioned, I sure like the CS and how it is set up, but not sure how to do this.

I might have to enlist my only friend that welds things - Terry in Preston (do you know him Meat Hunter?)

 

[brohnson]

I saw a guy do one like yours and he used a 3 inch hole saw and put a hole in both back corners of the fridge and he said that supplied plenty of smoke and it looed really good, and if 2's not enough you can always put a hole in each corner to get more smoke in the big chamer, plus by doing the corners no grease will fall in your chips or on your element as long as you have the element centered in the bottom chamber.

 

[jjwdiver]

Right on! Looks like I'll be going thru alot of paper and crayons trying to figure this one out.

 

[mulepackin]

If it were mine, I would make the bottom compartment into a smoke generation area, duct the smoke up into the upper chamber. I would keep a seperate heat source in the upper for the "cooking" heat and a different one below for the "smoking" heat.

 

[jjwdiver]

I think that idea may work pretty good as it would still allow my drip drain idea and not take up hardly any of the interior area. What would you suggest for a smoke generator underneath?

 

[travcoman45]

This en was built fer doin sausage, bacon, ham an cheese an such, all done at low temps.

Yer only limited by yer imagination an yer wallet!

 

[mulepackin]

Well I'm gonna steer ya toward what I know and similar to what mine is. I would figure out a way to totally enclose the bottom compartment, with a door of some type on the front. Then just a hot plate and chip pan smoke generator ducted to the upper compartment. Then an element or second hotplate above for heat. That way, you maintain your drain idea and don't have to open the main compartment door to add chips, so you won't loose heat. I always thought this would be a good idea. I have a remote smoke cabinet generator ducted in the side as well as a Smoke Daddy style generator on my freezer.

 

[mballi3011]

Man you guys are making me think about killing one of my refrigs and making one of theses things. You have all done a great job on your smokers.

 

[olecrosseyes]

That is a Great look'in ole' Binder! We had one of them and an ole Crosley out in the garage. The Crosley used to be in the house when I grew up.

Ok that's been a couple of weeks ago!

 

[jjwdiver]

I want to incorporate the bottom "door" and try to keep it fairly stock looking. Plus I want to find some use for the freezer door, which I think looks cool with the IH logo. Might have to use it on a cover for electronics or something like that.

I also want to find a use for the control knob at the top...there has to be something I can hook to it!

Still dont have that thing home yet - maybe next week!

 

[mulepackin]

I would sure think the whole freezer compartment would make a nice enclosure for your thermo controls and themometer. If you went with a rheostat style thermo control, you could use the control knob in place of the knob that comes with the thermo control. It's gonna look pretty cool when you get it done. I grew up with a lot of IH farm equipment and trucks. Still have a 9700 Cabover Semi. Nice way to honor some dependable, rugged, if not the most classy equipment.

 

[bob the noob]

I don't know which way you're going for heat, but it'd be fairly easy to make that a fire box below. You could just make a couple holes going up to let the heat/smoke go up, and make some sort of splatter shield to keep the grease out of them?

 

[jjwdiver]

Update on the project: Finally got the fridge home and started tearing into it. Pretty well unsulated, but not with stuff I wanted to keep. Not sure what it was, I put on a mask & gloves and removed it all.





Then I found it's "Born-on" date:


Next step: figure out a smoker box, smoke generator, etc...

I have a steel scuba tank that failed an inspection...maybe a smoke generator???


?