Help! First run and smoke does not seam to be filling the cabinet

[Mr Walleye]

I think the key comment he made was "I seam to have a lot of smoke exiting around the smoke generator adaptor plate." which is a clear sign the tower is not drawing the smoke in from the cold smoke attachment. I think the rest of the guys have you going in the right direction. On my large home built smoker I have a top vent only, the smoke generator vents provide adequate intake air to create the draft to keep the smoke from backing up through the generator. I would close your bottom vents.

Hawkeye has another interesting thought as well regarding the propane burner itself. Is the burner and/or the burner's fresh air supply open to the interior of the smoker?

Mike

[NePaSmoKer]

HawkeyeSmokes - There is some openings on the bottom for the burner to draw air for the flame.  And the door does not have a seal.

Kevin - I might be expecting more smoke that what it is producing.  I was getting more smoke with my original set up with wood chips in the cast iron box that was over the burner.  The down side to my original set up was I had to open the door every hour to add more wood chips.  I wanted to go with this Bradley set up reduce my maintenance, keep from opening the door, and do cold smoking.

NePaSmoker - Why are you suggesting I remove the liquid from the pan?


Mark

With water in the pan the puck slide will generate enough heat to warm the water, thus create a small amount of steam which will hold the smoke down. Leave the pan there to catch the pucks without the water. The spent pucks will still smoke and add that much more smoke to the smoker.

[KevinG]

I think the key comment he made was "I seam to have a lot of smoke exiting around the smoke generator adaptor plate." which is a clear sign the tower is not drawing the smoke in from the cold smoke attachment. I think the rest of the guys have you going in the right direction. On my large home built smoker I have a top vent only, the smoke generator vents provide adequate intake air to create the draft to keep the smoke from backing up through the generator. I would close your bottom vents.

Hawkeye has another interesting thought as well regarding the propane burner itself. Is the burner and/or the burner's fresh air supply open to the interior of the smoker?

Mike

Yea, but they all leak at that point. I can't imagine it billowing out there and none getting in the cabinet unless it's totally disconnected.

[NePaSmoKer]

I use the longer smoke tube, works better for a natural draw.

[KevinG]

I use the longer smoke tube, works better for a natural draw.

That makes sense, mine is longer too.

[HawkeyeSmokes]

Mark, my thought about the extra opening and door seal would be that the draft to the smoke generator is to weak. It's going to draw from the path of least resistance.

I think adding a seal to the door should help some. Don't have a good suggestion about the bottom openings. You need to maintain an air supply for the gas burner.

The longer tube like Nepas posted sounds it might help also.

[Mr Walleye]

When you closed the bottom vents what was the result?

I have to admit I do exactly what NePas is suggesting. I have mine setup in a permanent cold smoke setup in my heated garage. I have found in a normal Bradley setup the tower heating element is right beside the puck burner and appears to assist in burning the pucks. When you setup in a cold smoke the smoke generator no longer has the assistance of the main heating element. I have found that by leaving the bowl empty provides more smoke.

Mike

[NePaSmoKer]

Another thing is my plate to the bradley has like a magnet around it to seal.

Mike has you covered too.

[Mr Walleye]

I think the key comment he made was "I seam to have a lot of smoke exiting around the smoke generator adaptor plate." which is a clear sign the tower is not drawing the smoke in from the cold smoke attachment. I think the rest of the guys have you going in the right direction. On my large home built smoker I have a top vent only, the smoke generator vents provide adequate intake air to create the draft to keep the smoke from backing up through the generator. I would close your bottom vents.

Hawkeye has another interesting thought as well regarding the propane burner itself. Is the burner and/or the burner's fresh air supply open to the interior of the smoker?

Mike

Yea, but they all leak at that point. I can't imagine it billowing out there and none getting in the cabinet unless it's totally disconnected.

The idea is to draw the air in at that point and not exhaust it there. To do that you require enough draw to pull the smoke out the top of the smoker. Any smoke that backs up into the smoke generator is a bad thing as it will build up smoke residue creating problems down the road.

Mike

[KevinG]

Yep, that's why I originally thought it was inside & he needed a fan to help draw it out. It definitely seems like a flow problem, either lack of draw or too sharp an angle on the bend making it want to sit there instead of move into the chamber.

[HawkeyeSmokes]

I think the key comment he made was "I seam to have a lot of smoke exiting around the smoke generator adaptor plate." which is a clear sign the tower is not drawing the smoke in from the cold smoke attachment. I think the rest of the guys have you going in the right direction. On my large home built smoker I have a top vent only, the smoke generator vents provide adequate intake air to create the draft to keep the smoke from backing up through the generator. I would close your bottom vents.

Hawkeye has another interesting thought as well regarding the propane burner itself. Is the burner and/or the burner's fresh air supply open to the interior of the smoker?

Mike

Yea, but they all leak at that point. I can't imagine it billowing out there and none getting in the cabinet unless it's totally disconnected.

The idea is to draw the air in at that point and not exhaust it there. To do that you require enough draw to pull the smoke out the top of the smoker. Any smoke that backs up into the smoke generator is a bad thing as it will build up smoke residue creating problems down the road.

Mike

That's my feelings to Mike.

Using a longer tube should help some, but I think he needs to close up some of those other opening so more of the draft is going through the smoke generator.

[HawkeyeSmokes]

Yep, that's why I originally thought it was inside & he needed a fan to help draw it out. It definitely seems like a flow problem, either lack of draw or too sharp an angle on the bend making it want to sit there instead of move into the chamber.

I don't think the fan is going to work. Mark is having trouble maintaining heat now and a fan will only make is worse.

[Mr Walleye]

Mark

Are you running the propane burner while you are doing these tests?

Mike

[NePaSmoKer]

I think the key comment he made was "I seam to have a lot of smoke exiting around the smoke generator adaptor plate." which is a clear sign the tower is not drawing the smoke in from the cold smoke attachment. I think the rest of the guys have you going in the right direction. On my large home built smoker I have a top vent only, the smoke generator vents provide adequate intake air to create the draft to keep the smoke from backing up through the generator. I would close your bottom vents.

Hawkeye has another interesting thought as well regarding the propane burner itself. Is the burner and/or the burner's fresh air supply open to the interior of the smoker?

Mike

Yea, but they all leak at that point. I can't imagine it billowing out there and none getting in the cabinet unless it's totally disconnected.

The idea is to draw the air in at that point and not exhaust it there. To do that you require enough draw to pull the smoke out the top of the smoker. Any smoke that backs up into the smoke generator is a bad thing as it will build up smoke residue creating problems down the road.

Mike

I was thinking the same about the elbow.

[HawkeyeSmokes]

Mike, he did have the heat on for this.