My Latest Project.........

[coyote]

I knew the Iceman would come through for us ! ;D.....The Iceman knows cool  8)



Coyote

[smokeitall]

Hey Walleye I read through the whole post and wow that is an awesome project, and pretty much what I have envisioned doing.  My only question is where do I get a lockwood proofer/warmer cabinet or something that same size?

[Mr Walleye]

Smokeitall

I was lucky and got this unit for free from a Chef here in town. Lockwood is just a brand name, there are others. You may want to talk to anybody you can think of that might be involved in any type of restaurant, donut shops, pizza places, hospitals, or institutions of any kind. A lot of commercial businesses use these types of units and when they replace them they usually just want rid of them. You may also want to check with any commercial appliance dealer as they may have a non-working model.

Mike

[smokeitall]

Walleye,

What would you think about using two Brinkmann 1500 watt heating elements?  They are a little bulky but I think I could still use a high temp blower and make an air channel similar to yours.  I have one already from an old smoker I junked and I could get another one for around $20.

Or I was also looking at the heating element on sausagemaker.com that is 220V 5000 watts and only 15"x4"x4" and is $60.00.  Do you thinkg this would be too much power (if there is such a thing  :))

Thanks,

[Mr Walleye]

Walleye,

What would you think about using two Brinkmann 1500 watt heating elements?  They are a little bulky but I think I could still use a high temp blower and make an air channel similar to yours.  I have one already from an old smoker I junked and I could get another one for around $20.

I don't see why they wouldn't work. The main reason I built the heating system the way I did was to try to keep any dripping grease away from them. I'm assuming these elements are 120 volt so you would have to power them individually which is what I did.

Or I was also looking at the heating element on sausagemaker.com that is 220V 5000 watts and only 15"x4"x4" and is $60.00.  Do you thinkg this would be too much power (if there is such a thing  :))

Thanks,

I looked at that one too! I was looking at the whole kit found here - http://www.sausagemaker.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1370 What I didn't like about this was it is vented and actually draws air into the smoker. Although if you only bought the element you could eliminate this in your design.

There is no reason it wouldn't work as well. Of course you would be running 220 to instead. As far as the size of the element goes, as long as you are going to control it with a PID it doesn't matter if you oversize it, it will just spend less time running.

Mike

[beefmann]

Walleye

you  may  consider two PIDS, One for  each heater.. and offset one of the heaters by ten degrees or  so this way once  the box temp is achived you will only  the nessaary heat and if you have a larger food load both  heaters will work toghter to keep the  box at temp you  can save energy by only running 1 heater... other then that it looks good.

just my  2 cents

[Mr Walleye]

Thanks Beefmann

She is ticking along pretty good right now so I will probably leave it as is for now, although mutiple PID's wood definitely look good.  ;)

Mike

[smokeitall]

Hey Mike,
I am starting to build my "big" smoker this next week.  I have my proofer cabinet (actually ended up with two, don't ask).  I checked on the insulation and it looks like fiberglass and in excellent condition. 

After using yours for 6 months or more now are there any things that you would have done different? 

I plan on purchasing a heating element that I found on ebay.  I have 220V in my garage and the element is rated at 5500 watts at 240V.  At 120V it is rated at around 1375 watts.  I plan on using the 220V.  I like your design a lot using a high temp fan and circulating over the elements.  I have to purchase another generator yet also.

For the controls I am going to use my PLC / Touch Screen set up.

The current door seal on the unit looks like it may be a grey silicone material, but I am not sure.  Do you think I can use this or should I get something similar to yours?

Any suggestions would be great.

[Mr Walleye]

Hi Smokeitall

Sounds like an awesome project! You'll have to keep us posted on your progress.

There is not a lot I would have done different. The one comment I would make is regarding the size of the heating elements. Mine works fine but I wouldn't go any smaller. I think your plan of going 220 is the right way to do. Your better off to have to much than too little for sure. Besides, it's being digitally controlled anyway so the element will just spend less time a full power.

I'll be interested in your PLC/Touch Screen setup for sure!

I would think your door seal will be fine. The unit was designed for heat so it shouldn't be a problem. On mine the door seal was in poor shape and had to be replaced.

I'll look  forward to your updates!  ;)

Mike

[Tenpoint5]

I have my proofer cabinet (actually ended up with two, don't ask).  I checked on the insulation and it looks like fiberglass and in excellent condition. 

Since you have TWO and only need ONE I'm guessing that the other one might just be out alongside the Garage. Now all I have to do is find out where that garage is and do a night time surveillance drive by. Snatch it up and leave some fresh bacon behind. Smoke wont be the wiser.  OOP's there I go thinking with my fingers again. Now Smoke will know my plan. I have searched all over for one of them Proffer/ tray warmers cant find any and Smoke finds 2. If your close Smoke maybe we can work a deal.

[smokeitall]

I live in St. Louis but I make it up to Southern Wisconsin every month or so.  Let me know where you are?

[Mr Walleye]

I have just re-wired my big smoker to 220 a couple of weekends ago and thought I would update the information in my post.

I used a 3000 watt oven element. This replaced two 1100 watt finned strip heater. The oven elements are cheap... about $25. Running empty, I can hit 200 degrees in about 20 minutes from cold. It really works very well with the added power.

I also wired in a second controller, TC and contactor which will operate as a high limit control. Because I have mine built into my heated garage I want it to be as safe as possible. Total cost for the additional controller and the contactor is about $50 so it is a fairly cheap safety device. By doing this, if my main PID or SSR or TC failed and allowed the element to run full throttle, once the temp hit the preset level on the second controller all power is shutdown by the contactor. I also changed out the non-programable controller I had and installed a programable one.

Here's one looking down showing the drip pan protection...




Here's another one showing a front view of the drip pan setup...




This is a little closer view of the same angle...






Here is one with the drip pan above the element removed.




The one thing the picture really doesn't show is the sheet pan under the element is spaced about 1 inch off the bottom of the smoker. I did this to allow some cooling effect to the bottom of the smoker.


Here is one of the wiring in the control box.




Here is one of the front of the control box with the second controller installed and running.




I can try to put together a wiring schematic if anybody is interested. It runs very well. I ran a few tests setting the high limit at 180 and fired it up. As soon as it hit 180 the contactor shut everything down just like it's supposed to.

Mike

[smokeitall]

Very nice work Mike, now if I can just find the time to finish mine up.
SIA

[NePaSmoKer]

Mike if you can put a drawing together for dummies  :D i could do mine like this.

[Tenpoint5]

Mike if you can put a drawing together for dummies  :D i could do mine like this.

I say we just send both of them up to Mike and have him fix them right up. Then he can send them back when he's done.