Complete disaster

[Johnny]

 Yesterday I smoked some snack sticks in a new location, my heated shop. Figured this would be great out of the cold shed.. I vented my smoker by using a dryer vent which went about 10' above the smoker, thru the ceiling and venting out the soffit.
As the day progressed things seemed to be taking forever, temp wasn't reaching what it was supposed to be, by this time i was ready for bed and sausage was only reading 140.. mind you this is only a 6lb batch in for 12 hrs at this point.
I think what ended up happening was i made a chimney that was drawing all my heat from the cabinet.
Any thoughts?

[watchdog56]

I think you are on there right track. My guess is your chimney is to long and by the time the smoke gets a chance to clear out it has already vaporized and the moisture is headed back down the chimney and starts to cool down your smoker. Was there black spots on your sausage? If so that is called black rain which is caused by to much moisture.

[Johnny]

No Black spots.. But I am thinking it is working like a wood stove, ( once the cabinet heated up it started to draw) And no doubt what you're telling me is true. only makes sence that moisture would drop back.. So Right no its against an outside wall and I'm thinking of going directly out (maybe drilling a 4" hole and putting a dryer vent on the siding). What would you do?

[Salmonsmoker]

If you have a positive connection between your smoker and exhaust stack, that's probably what happened. You need a break in the connection between the two. I have the starting collar from a gas water heater exhaust vent that breaks the positive connection so the stack doesn't suck all of the heat and smoke out of the box.

[Johnny]

Salmonsmoker All I used was a dryer vent (  the flexable stuff) and went straight up thru the attic. I didn't use any hard pipe. I think the easiest thing for me to do at this point would be to vent it straight out the wall behind it. Would maybe end up being 18" of duct into a dryer vent on the siding. Would I still need a positive connection break for this to work?

[watchdog56]

I have seen somewhere on this site where people have modified their smoker to exhaust out a wall but on the top of the smoker they had a flange with a space between the smoker and the stack. It might be under the feedback and help tab. I think that is what Salmonsmoker is talking about. Found it under new topics;

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=4666.0

[Johnny]

Thanks Watchdog, Using a rangehood seems like a good idea but what Im trying to figure out is the holes in the starting flange? Wouldn't smoke excape from this?

[jesse_sanders]

I'm a HVAC tech. You made a chimney.

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[Johnny]

My thoughts exactly! :)

[Johnny]

I just came across an old post from 2009, same issue as im having. I believe they ended up suspending a 4" pipe just off the top of the smoker ( to prevent sucking smoke and heat ) made a quick bend and installed an inline fan from an old desk top . Some guys are using rangehoods but im thinking of using a bathroom fan.. guess ill have to experiment and see what works!

[jesse_sanders]

If you use a bath fan find the lowest cfm you can. It will still probably be to much.

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[tskeeter]

Maybe Jesse will correct me, but my understanding is that the longer the vertical length of the vent pipe, the more strongly the vent will draw.  So, I think Johnny is on the right track.  The long vent pipe is causing the smoker to draw more strongly than it was designed for.  So the smoker never heats up.  I believe that Salmonsmoker's suggestion to add a water heater collar is the way to correct your problem.

[Johnny]

Guess ill have to install a starting collar, change the direction of the pipe and experiment by running the smoker for a few hours to see what works. Thanks for your knowledge and help guys!

[Salmonsmoker]

Salmonsmoker All I used was a dryer vent (  the flexable stuff) and went straight up thru the attic. I didn't use any hard pipe. I think the easiest thing for me to do at this point would be to vent it straight out the wall behind it. Would maybe end up being 18" of duct into a dryer vent on the siding. Would I still need a positive connection break for this to work?

Johnny, watchdog56 is right in his explanation. A side exit along the outside of your shop might work- still should have the connection break. Wind does funny things when it's disturbed by buildings, direction it's blowing from in relation to the smoke stack and can sometimes drive the exhaust back down the pipe. As an example, when installing a wood stove, the chimney has to be three feet higher than any object within ten feet of the chimney. Continuing slope of the roof, roof ridge, etc.) That could possibly affect the side wall exit.   If the draft becomes too strong, the air break between the unit and pipe allows free air to be drawn up the stack from the surrounding area rather than through your smoker. Convection will still pull the smoke into the exhaust. There really isn't any need for a fan powered range exhaust if there isn't any wind blowing around. Since you already have your vertical exhaust in place, the easiest would be to break the positive connection and see if that works. all you would need(assuming that your vent pipe is 4" dia.) is get a 6"X4" reducing coupling and lift it an inch off of the smoker exit.

[Johnny]

Thanks Salmonsmoker! I'm actually in the city now on business so ill stop into a home depot and pick up a starting collar. Ill give it a shot and let you know the outcome.
Appreciate the help!
Johnny.