Question about heat element placement.

[texbowhunter316]

Now try a dry run with no fan... see if the pellets keep going and produce a smoker full of smoke ....

JD, I ran it without the fan and it was smokin great and the temp shot straight up. Makes sense. The fan is pulling 43 degree air into the smoker.

 

[JckDanls 07]

Good deal... so if it were me I would not use the fan.. As It also rushes the smoke past the food to fast and therefor not as much sticking to it... my opinion ...

 

[texbowhunter316]

Good deal... so if it were me I would not use the fan.. As It also rushes the smoke past the food to fast and therefor not as much sticking to it... my opinion ...

I’m going to take your advice on the maiden smoke JD.
Smoke was also leaking around the door. So heat was getting out also. It still got up to 245. I’ll have to double the door seal or get a different kind.

 

[texbowhunter316]

After 4 hours smoke + 1 hour without to get to temp.

 

[bill1]

JD, I ran it without the fan and it was smokin great and the temp shot straight up. Makes sense. The fan is pulling 43 degree air into the smoker.

I don't think you want this. Natural draft (hot air wants to rise) is the way most smokers like this work...slight suction at the intake, slight pressure at the exhaust a couple feet higher than intake. Sounds like your fan is increasing the suction at your intake and then forcing added air flow out your exhaust. Most smokers like this use the fan just to make the natural airflow in the smoker take a little more circuitous route through the smoker so the smoke stays inside a little longer.

What is the cfm (flow rate in cubic feet per minute, or some other volumetric rate I can convert from) for this fan. I suspect it's way too high. And its placement down low is not quite right either.

 

[texbowhunter316]

I can’t find anywhere that it list the cfm’s Bill.
It does even out the temp throughout the chamber just keeps it lower.
I had great flow without it but it was 50 degrees hotter at the bottom level. I wanted it more even for sausage so it will work for that. I’ll just have to keep it off if I want to go hotter.
I’m now wondering if a rheostat would help here.

 

[bill1]

Maybe an adjustable inlet would be a good idea? You throttle off the air inlet to your smoker when you're running the "mixing fan". I'm trying to picture the bottom of your unit...could a $1.49 round pizza pan plate from Walmart work with a single screw, at maximum radius, so it can be swung over your square opening on the bottom? It shouldn't get that hot, but if it does you can mount a wooden knob towards the front, at ~90deg from where the axel screw is, so you have something to grab and swing with.

 

[texbowhunter316]

Something like that may work Bill. I just need a day off to do it.
Work is still crazy.

 

[texbowhunter316]

Trim wasn’t strong enough to hold the latches so I had to go with some of the 1 x’s
Tomorrow is sausage day. Should be about 80 lbs.
24 lbs andouille and pepper jack. The rest will be between old fashioned smoke and a new one for me, salt and pepper.
We shall see.

 

[texbowhunter316]

61 lbs in the smoker. Need more rods to hang more.

 

[JckDanls 07]

61 lbs in the smoker. Need more rods to hang more.

NICE

 

[texbowhunter316]

27.5 Andouille and pepper jack
12.5 salt and pepper
21 Cajun with cheddar

Before and after.

 

[texbowhunter316]

The andouille

 

[texbowhunter316]

This will be a work in progress for a while but I would like to thank everyone who helped me with input.
JD
Smokinedge
kbarnes
And Bill, your advice is greatly appreciated and I took it every time I could. Sometimes your ideas would spur me on to something similar but with things more available to me.
Thanks guys!!!!