Wood chips keep catching on fire!

[woozle]

Yes, it is I, the new guy whose flower pot smoker tranformed into a hellish kiln the first time he tried to use it.  I re-wired the smouldering remains of the hot plate and tried again.  This time I used a drip pan and an aluminum frying pan instead of a pie pan to hold the chips, half soaked and half dry.

But they still caught on fire.  This time it didn't do any damage.  I am trying again as we speak with hickory chunks instead of chips, but I am pretty sure they will catch on fire too.

Do I need a cast iron frying pan as a wood chip/chunk holder?  Or should there be an air gap between the pan and the hot plate?

 

[chilefarmer]

Not knowing your smoker I can only relate to what I have. Smokehouse, gas burner with cast iron skillet. I use wood chunks dry. If the chunks are mostly used up , when opening the smoker for any length of time I may get a flareup. Most of the time not. CF

 

[tjohnson]

slow down the air flow thru your smoker

Yes, cast iron pan is best

 

[woozle]

So drilling those holes in the pot lid was a bad idea.  I wondered about that, heh.  Oh well, some cocks ought to fix that problem.
 

 

[daveomak]

Try the air gap or try a dimmer switch to regulate the heat to the hot plate....   Dave