Water in the unit equals low heat

[theboz]

Greetings fellow smokers, I‘m having a bit of a time with my new Char-Broil propane smoker that’s starting to irritate me, I got a good deal on this much bigger smoker $120.00 new. I have been using an Old Smokey electric with very tasty results. The water in the smoker is giving me fits, I have read loads of comments on the forum and I haven’t seen this question.
Before I put the meats into the smoker I place wood and hot water in the provide pan, when the water starts steaming I get loads of water dripping out of the unit at all the junctions seams. The unit will not reach 200 degrees until all the water is all gone, is this normal when using a water smoker?
I was thinking of drilling some holes on the side of the pan so more heat will enter the smoking chamber, now it has to go through the wall to wall water pan.

Thank you for your time
TheBoz

 

[gnubee]

I have never had water drip out of my MES or My Gasser. The moisture just remains invisible doing its thing. It almost sounds like your water is boiling away creating the problem.

 

[smokin' dick]

One of the products of combustion of Propane gas is water vapor so that is part of your situation. As to the water pan itself, I have a WSM and stopped using water in the pan because of the mess and the PITA of paying attention to the amount of water in the pan. Now I put a clay pot bottom inside the water pan and foil them together for easy cleanup. Some folks use sand in the pan and then foil that. Both ways work great and will give you the heat sink of the water without the mess and drippage. Good luck.

 

[tndawg]

I'm a little confused about your set-up. Are you putting the wood chips and water in the same pan?

I'm new here too, so I won't be a bunch of help, but I have a Brinkmann vertical propane unit that looks very similar to yours. I have no problem what-so-ever getting up to temp. I know that doesn't help you much, other than to know that your situation doesn't sound normal.

 

[fastfusion]

I have a Vertical Electric. I put hot tap water in the H20 pan. That way your smoker doesn’t have to work as hard to get the temps up. That's what i do. I fire mine up with the chips and hot water in there, get some TBS going and drop in whatever youre cooking.

 

[pineywoods]

I use water in the pan of my GOSM but I know some people fill theres with sand

 

[gnubee]

Yeah it sounds like you should maybe axe the water and use sand for a heat sink instead.

 

[mballi3011]

I have a GOSM like piney and I always fill the water pans with water and other concoctions. It doesn't mess with my temps though.

 

[theboz]

Thanks for all the input I’ll have to try the sand instead of water yes absolutely the water is boiling out, as was stated “this is a PITA.”
One clarification about the water pan, the pan is 14” square and covers the bottom just above the flame it has a circular ring indent that the water goes in - ¾ of a gallon, smack in the center above the flame another indent for the wood.

Thanks again for your time
TheBoz

 

[hellday]

I have the same smoker as you do and that was a issue i had as well. The way i got around it was made a extra rack because they only give you 3 and place a aluminum throw away pan on the bottom rack with water or juice or whatever you want in it. A 2 inch deep 13 x 9 pan will last me about 10 to 12 hours at 225 degrees. The only thing i use the pan above the flame for is my wood chunks or chips. Hope this helps

 

[theboz]

The rack sounds like a plan and I'm going to use it.

Thank you
TheBoz

 

[alx]

I use sand on longer smokes.As water evaporates it no longer has as much ability to work as heat sink.The sand is almost like a pizza stone.