Smoker Project

[ankorklankor]

Just got my hands on a commercial stainless steel freezer that is about 25 cu ft inside,  it measures 25x27x70 inside.  Going to buy a smoke generator and turn it into a smoker.  My only unknown at the moment is what size heating element do I need.  I plan on a pid for control and fan to circulate, would like to stick to 110 Volts.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

David.

[weedenb]

Hi David,

Good luck with your project and great score on the SS freezer, it should work well. As far as the heat wattage required, that may take some trial and error. My smoker is approximately 50cuft and it took me several try's to get the heat where I wanted it. At first I did 1000w then 1500w and finally 2500w before I was happy. This is where the 110v vs. 220v comes in, most 110v household outlets are run on 15 amp circuits, if your lucky you might have 12ga wiring and 20 amp available. Power for heating elements (wattage) can also be expressed as Volts x Amps (VA). A 1500w element will pull about 13.6 amps (1500w/110v=13.63A) which is getting near the top end of most 110 circuits and will also require heavy gauge extension cords. A 220v circuit will require exactly half the amperage (1500w/220v= 6.8A. For me, 2500w would have required almost 23 amps at 110v.

In my case, 2500w is probably a bit more than needed but I can quickly get to any temp I need and its rock steady in any season. My heat element is just a simple 8" stove top burner which is readily available at any hardware store if it needs replacement. On a side note, you can also run a resistive heating element at a lower voltage than its rating just fine also. For example the same 2500w/220v element will produce 1250w at 110v (just don't go the other way and use a 110v rated element at 220v).

I would look into seeing what it would take to add a 20A-220v circuit in the area you are going to run the smoker. At the lower amperages required its no big deal to build a extension cord as long as you need using 4 conductor SO (you'll need a neutral wire for the Bradley unless you have the 220v version) cord which is available just about everywhere. With a nice SS cabinet, you can easily get into smoke cooking also provided you have enough heat available.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Robert........

[Mr Walleye]

David

Robert has some great advice for you. Here is a link to where I built a large smoker for a friend of mine which might give you some ideas. This one started life as a commercial fridge but is approximately the same size. The only change we made to the design was to move the element move centrally located (front to back) because this unit doesn't have a circulation fan and initially the temps were hotter at the back.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=16075.0

Mike