Opinions on smoke shelter

[Thor]

I have been checking out posts regarding a shelter for my OBS.  Lots of great ideas here, including the suncast ones.  How are the suncast mods working out for everyone? (Smoke vent, air intake, condensation issues?)  Cold here in Nebraska, very windy and strong storms.  One of advantage to building my own would be to make it wider to have a nice work surface to the left and storage for pucks, PID, towels, grillin supplies etc.  My idea is similar to many others I have seen on the board.  Basically a standard 2 door box with a plywood roof sloping back.

I am soliciting opinions on some design ideas

1. Air Intake.   Wind is one enemy here so how about a baffled air intake.  Maybe a 12" wide by 3" slot with a box cover on the outside and a couple of 1x3s on opposite sides on the inside of the box to act as a baffle to the wind.

2. Smoke venting.  I have a slightly used microwave/hood in original box I bought at a garage sale for $20 three years ago taking up room in the basement.  Never got around to replacing my existing one.  If I made the shelter tall enough it could insure great airflow in the cabinet.   Not sure I need a microwave with the smoker, but I guess it might come in useful just not sure how.  It would save the expense of adding some kind of powered vent.  White microwave, black OBS, very 80s.

3. Stability.   The shelter will be on a deck against the house.  The microwave would make it a little top heavy, but I would prefer not to anchor the unit to the house.  Prior to my most excellent OBS, I used my POS Brinkmann "Smoke King" and weighted it down with two 75lb tube sands on the bottom shelf that worked very well.  Can any engineers tell me if this would be sufficient to hold a 6 or 7' tall cabinet steady in a 50mph wind storm?

3. Materials.  I would like to use the vertical grooved house sheeting for the exterior so it matches the house as close as possible.  I would prefer not to have a huge overhang for the front roof, but I am not sure how else to keep the water out.  Rain falls horizontally up here.

4. Insulation.   Sounds like it might help with recovery, but if I add all this negative pressure airflow does it defeat the purpose of insulating?

5. Remote Monitoring.   I have a Maverick Redi Check single probe, but this thing could not transmit its way out of a paper cold smoke adapter.   (yes, i have changed the batteries).  I know the Maverick ET-73 is highly regarded on this board, but mine sucks.  Is the ET-73 better?

I will stop here, start happy hour and mull my ideas over.   Anybody know where you get vodka by the barrel ?  I hate putting all these 1.75L bottles out in the recycle bin every week.  The neighbors are going to talk.  After a few hours I will make a nice sloppy post properly introducing my self over at the introduction section. 

Thanks all.


 

[West Coast Kansan]

Thor, Had to LOL at some of your comments. Funny writer  :D Lil Smoker did a mod on the ET that seemed to help many member greatly. Mr Walleye may be the only human able to find a link again however.

The enclosure is not all that scientific.  Keys are making it big enough to hold what you want to put into it.  Vents as you describe at the top and the bottom of the smoke house may well be enough all alone.

It is hard to resist adding power something when it is available but just one caution I can think of is dont add so much the smoke house really is at negative pressure... just enough to help the smoke out if you want it out that bad... be carefull not to pull air out of the bradley however.

Air flows into the bradley thru the smoke generator and out the vents on the top by power of hot air (and the pesky wind you hate)... too much suck on the smoke house and you may pull more air thru the bradly faster than you want. 

The vents you describe should be large enough to vent the smoke house without effecting the bradley since there would not be any direct connection... just a caution I thought of...

For weight balance a beer fridge on the bottom with the bradley sitting on top or on the left side of it may be just the key to balancing the microwave / vent. 

[Smokey the Bear.]

I have my smoker in the shed and let it vent out thru the gaps in the roof. If you were to put it in a cabinet and add a vent then i would use a vent no larger than the size of the vent on the top. This should be just enough to let the smoke out of the cabinet but not pull it out prematurely. I hope that this is of some help to you.

[Mr Walleye]

WCK

Great to see ya back around the forum!  ;)

Thor

The mod on the ET73 is over on the recipe site... Here's a link...
http://susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?p=909#post909

Mike

[Thor]

Thanks for the replies.   

I started playing with the low and high settings on the microwave and that may just be to much power for a confined space and as you said, just creating wind that I want to avoid.   I IIRC Habanero Smoker has some post where he mentioned putting a power vent with a rheostat on it.  Several people expressed concerns about humidity buildup in the shelter with just letting the smoke vent through a pipe out to a flue/chimney cap.

One use for the micro I thought of was to boil water for refilling the dripbowl/pan.  But the power vent on it may just be to strong. 

I like the idea of the beer fridge, but I already have a full sized in the basement and that would be a tough sell to the Admiral.  But maybe I could add a TV and a Wii for the kids  :)

I have not given up on the idea of venting through the garage, but the only logical place for the vent is right by where to workbench/tool reside and I have to many home maintenance projects to work on to tie that area up for long smokes.

Habanero Smoker, reading many of your posts I really respect your judgment.  If you have a chance please comment on your setup/experience with the venting out of a cabinet.

This setup will likely face due south with no shade from south or west and it is very sunny up here when it is not raining horizontally.  So having some extra ventilation might come in handy for a cold smoke situation in the summer.