Enclosure

Started by jon515, May 10, 2015, 10:05:57 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Print
Go Down Pages1
User actions

jon515

May 10, 2015, 10:05:57 AM
I was thinking about getting one of the plastic cabinets from Walmart with two shelves and building an enclosure for my smoker.  Does anyone have any tips for ventilation or just tips in general?

Thank you.

cathouse willy

#1
May 10, 2015, 04:58:32 PM
when you shop for a shed look for one that will hold your smoker and a cold smoke attachment.Even if you haven't planned
on cold smoking it's almost a sure bet that you will in the future.I have my obs and cold smoke device in a rubber maid vertical shed like this one http://www.rubbermaid.com/en-US/shop-products/outdoor-living/vertical-sheds/vertical-storage-shed This one is just large enough to hold the cold smoke setup. As far as venting goes theres lots of vents you can use. I didn't add anything to vent my cabinet and it works well.I just leave a door slightly ajar. I didn't have the heart to cut holes in my new expensive shed.Hope this helps
Bill

beefmann

#2
May 11, 2015, 07:26:46 AM
i have modified the top of  mine .. here are  a  few  pics


upside down battery box bought at walmart, and  dryer vent caps  bought at home depot . where the  dryer  vent caps are ai  did cut  holes in the  sides of the battery  box.. also cut a  hole in the  top of the shed the  size of the  box  then  siliconed wound the  edge.


a 4 inch pvc union sitting ontop of the  top  vent of the smoker that  extends into the  battery  box to aide in the smoke  going  out through the  box and  not  comming  out the  front

tskeeter

#3
May 11, 2015, 11:23:20 AM
Jon, I found that I needed nearly 500 square inches of intake for makeup air before I could get my six rack to draft properly with the shed door closed, after I installed it in a plastic shed.  The louvered vent covers I used have insect screen on them, so a 6 X 16 inch cover, 96 square inches, yielded about 42 square inches of screen free ventilation space.  So, my 500 square inches of screened air intake is the equivalent of about 210 square inches of unscreened space. 

jon515

#4
May 13, 2015, 12:49:06 PM
tskeeter, do you have pictures?  I think I understand, but to be sure  do, did you have to add additional vents toward the bottom to create a updraft to get the venting?  I was thinking about putting a small fan at the top to pull the smoke out, I found a solar powered fan on Amazon I thought about trying.

tskeeter

#5
May 13, 2015, 03:26:20 PM
No, sorry, I don't have pictures.  Been waiting to get one more improvement made before I post pictures of the smoker shed. 

I installed vents in a variety of places on my shed.  Above the doors, through the lower section of the doors, about twice ankle height, and at the top of the side walls.  I think having the ability to get air in is more important than whether the air comes in high on the shed, or low.  The most of of my air intake, about 400+ square inches of it, is above shoulder height.  The vent covers I used are the inexpensive covers that you might see used to cover soffit vents on houses.  I think the 6 X 16 vent covers were less than $4 each.

I don't think you need a fan to improve the draft of your smoker if you have enough make up air available.  My smoker sits on a stand that has the bottom of the smoker about waist high, for convenient access.  I put a 36 inch section of vent pipe on the vent of the smoker, to carry the smoke out through the roof of the shed.  (I've removed that damper assembly from the vent of my smoker.)  Then I capped the vent pipe with a round vent cap that has louvers stamped in it and insect screen installed inside the vent cap.  The smoker draws plenty well without any assistance.  I don't know anything about air flow through duct work, and the like, but I did wonder if adding a 36 inch vent stack to the smoker actually made the smoker draft more strongly.

A thought on vent caps.  My first vent cap was pretty open.  It was one of the ones that looks a bit like an iron cross when viewed from the top.  I found this vent cap allowed wind blown rain to run down the vent pipe and into the smoker.  That's why I changed to the more expensive round vent cap.  The insect screen inside the vent cap is less about preventing insect access that it is about trapping rain drops that might get blown into the vent cap.  Since the vent cap is about twice as big in diameter as the vent pipe, there is a fair sized flange supporting the louvered section of the cap.  I drilled four weep holes in the flange section to allow any rain trapped by the insect screen to drain away.

By the way, if I had it to do over again, I don't think I would vent the smoker through the roof of the shed.  I'd route the vent out through the wall and then extend the vent higher.  The reason for this is that it would be a lot easier to make a hole in a wall weather tight than it was to make a hole in the roof weather tight.  Especially if you can make the hole in the wall on the down wind side from prevailing winds or if the hole in the wall can be protected to some extent by an overhang on the house. 
Print
Go Up Pages1
User actions