exhaust fan

[dave01]

I've read about people using exhaust fans to vent their smokers out of garages or other buildings and was wondering how many cfm the fans are and does it make it hard to get the heat where you want it? Also was wondering if it causes the meat to dry out more than normal
Thanks

[Sailor]

I've read about people using exhaust fans to vent their smokers out of garages or other buildings and was wondering how many cfm the fans are and does it make it hard to get the heat where you want it? Also was wondering if it causes the meat to dry out more than normal
Thanks

While I have my 4 Rack OBS on the screened in patio I never had a need to vent it.  Then I built a smoker out of a proofer and it lives in the garage I had the problem of venting it outside.  Our exterior walls are HCB so cutting a hole was not something I wanted to do.  Going up thru the roof was also off the table.  Thought about getting an old stove vent hood but could not find anything cheap.  I went to Home Depot searching for a solution and found it.  Bought a cheap Home depot bucket and a cheap fart fan and some flex pipe for the fart fan.  Drilled a hole in the bucket so the fart van exhaust coupling could go out.  Mounted the fart fan in the bottom of the bucket and then attached the vent hose to the the exhaust fan.  Used a hose clamp to secure the vent pipe to the fan and use duct tape to plug up gaps in the hole that I cut.  Also used duct tape on the inside of the bucket to seal in the vent fan so wild air would not escape inside the bucket.  I run the flex pipe out the garage door and let her rip.  I have a block of wood that I let the garage door down so it will not crush the vent pipe.  I don't fit the bucket all on top of the smoker as I want it to draw outside air so the bucket sits part on top and part hanging over the edge.  I just want to collect the natural draw of the smoker and mix it with outside air.  It took a bit of tuning to find the sweet spot when placing the bucket so as not to force draw air through the smoker.  Very cheap way to vent the smoker.