I have a number of tanks laying around and will eventually build an RF smoker out of one of the 120 gallon ones but want to build a little patio model as my training wheels. Only our two youngest are still home and during the academic year it is just Nancy and me so I am going to build a RF smoker out of a small stainless steel propane tank I've got.
The tank came off a commercial truck and is 35" long with very low domed ends and it is 16" in diameter. The thing might as well be a cylinder for computational purposes.
I downloaded the smoker ratio spreadsheet and ran my proposed number but before I go further I seem to remember a thread or two here stating that the computed data needs some tweaking for smaller smokers. Can someone point me on the road to baby RF heaven?
The cooker chamber is 2354 CU, using the 1/3 volume rule firebox would be roughly 800 CU but I'm wondering if a hot enough fire can be easily lit and sustained in such a small space. I can always control the heat and smoke with intake and exhaust dampers if I build a bigger firebox.
Does the volume of the firebox include space for an ash drawer, grate etc or is that the volume above the grate?
I expect that I'll make the intake and the opening to the fire box a bit larger than the calculator shows. Since they'll be damped I am thinking that the bigger openings will let me get it up to temp quicker. The tank is quite thick for it's size-somewhere between 5/16 and 3/8" as near as I can tell from feeling though an big plug opening in one end.
Since it gets quite cold during the winter and the farm is pretty open to the wind I'll insulate the fire box and I'm considering trowelng refractory cement on the smoke chamber interior below the cross plate.
Thanks in advance for helping.
Lance
The tank came off a commercial truck and is 35" long with very low domed ends and it is 16" in diameter. The thing might as well be a cylinder for computational purposes.
I downloaded the smoker ratio spreadsheet and ran my proposed number but before I go further I seem to remember a thread or two here stating that the computed data needs some tweaking for smaller smokers. Can someone point me on the road to baby RF heaven?
The cooker chamber is 2354 CU, using the 1/3 volume rule firebox would be roughly 800 CU but I'm wondering if a hot enough fire can be easily lit and sustained in such a small space. I can always control the heat and smoke with intake and exhaust dampers if I build a bigger firebox.
Does the volume of the firebox include space for an ash drawer, grate etc or is that the volume above the grate?
I expect that I'll make the intake and the opening to the fire box a bit larger than the calculator shows. Since they'll be damped I am thinking that the bigger openings will let me get it up to temp quicker. The tank is quite thick for it's size-somewhere between 5/16 and 3/8" as near as I can tell from feeling though an big plug opening in one end.
Since it gets quite cold during the winter and the farm is pretty open to the wind I'll insulate the fire box and I'm considering trowelng refractory cement on the smoke chamber interior below the cross plate.
Thanks in advance for helping.
Lance
