Questions for my first build

[Taeger]

Hi all,

I have been watching this forum and build sticky for a while now and decided to start my own build. But before I do I have a few questions. I picked up a old 275 gallon kerosene tank for my build, but when the guy explained it to me it wasn’t that big. I don’t have room for that big of a smoker and really don’t want a trailer. I would like to cut the tank in half and have a flat bottom on the smoker. I have searched for something like this but everything seems to be round. Has anyone tried this and succeeded? What I am thinking is to have the FB be the entire length of the CC and that would put he rounded side on the top. My second question is, does the fact that is used to be a kerosene tank worry anyone else but me? If I burn it out will get be enough or should I have the interior sandblasted when I have the rest of it done? Thanks for the help!! Can’t wait to get it started.

Andrew

 

[daveomak]

You could have a kerosene smell and taste in the food for a long time, until it totally gets burned out...

 

[Taeger]

So if I had the inside sand blasted, would that help get the smell/taste out? I really don’t want to be cooking meat with a tainted smell/taste. My other option would be to keep burning it until the smell is out? Do you have an opinion on how hot or long I should do that for?

 

[kmmamm]

Sand blasting alone will not get it there...suggest finding a friend with a steam cleaner and see if he (or she) will let you give it a nice hot, soapy bath. Then find another friend with some dry hedge posts they would like burned...and offer to burn them in your tank that should rid any lingering remnants of fuel odor. You may want to then have the tank sand blasted so you can build with clean steel, however some folks prefer to wait until after the build to sandblast (if at all).

 

[Taeger]

When you say steam clean are you talking about a pressure washer that is heated?

 

[kmmamm]

Yes sir..."steam cleaner" is sort of a generic term applied to what is technically a high pressure hot water cleaner. The old one I have puts water out around 200-210F @ 900-1100psi. With a fan nozzle, it looks and sounds like steam. Use a commercial degreaser and rinse well, you probably will see some light surface rust once it has dried. If you are still looking for xmas gifts for your spouse, check out the Hotsy (don't misspell that one) web site for all sorts of handy cleaners.

 

[Taeger]

Awesome, I will start looking around! I’ll also take a look at the above web site and not have the wife around haha. Thanks for all the help, can’t wait to get started