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I am planning on altering my smoker setup.

At present I have an adapted desk height filing cabinet which I use, both to hot smoke, and to act as a smoke box for my cold smoker, which is a stainless steel tank about 4' x 2' x2'.

The new setup I plan is:




I am concerned about the flow of air for combustion. Is a (say) 4" air intake hole directly beneath the burner sufficient to ensure enough air and to act as a 'drain' for any unburnt gas? (butane being heavier than air)

Other issues are whether to go with the design at the bottom right for the smoke feed, has anyone else tried anything similar?
Any comments or other advice regarding this design will be much appreciated.

Phil

I guess nobody know about the gas issue.

Would anyone care to comment on the 'chimney arrangement' in the smoke-box feed-tube, pictured bottom right?

Phil

I have used a ceramic gas heater to slow cook in my water smoker and found I had to leave the whole base open to get a sufficient supply of oxygen to the heater, if that helps...

Dave

Thanks Dave, I'm thinking of putting a large hole directly under the burner now. Having looked at it again, I can have the venturi? outside the box. I'm undecided whether to go with the alternative chimney design.

Phil

I think you may have to suck it and see... My gut reaction is that you need to assume an air intake the same diameter as the burner you are using, and allow a similar sized outlet, but that's just an instinct.

Dave

Thanks Dave

You need both combustion air and convection air...making sure that the gas has enough O2 to burn cleanly....there are other saftey features which you should think about seeing as the gas you are using is heavier then air...and the camber could fill up with said gas and a small spark could lead to a big explosion...I was informed of this by a member of another board who works for OSHA (Federal saftey outfit)....also if you speak with people in the know...combustion is a pain to deal with....

google Stedmark

Why not make a tray under neath your smoker so that you can slide the burner in and out that way you eliminate all the gas buildup prolems etc.You can then cut a hole in the bottom of your cabinet for your pan to drop into from the top. if you want to heat up the cabinet you can just remove the pan.

Many thanks for the replies. We have gone with a sort of combination of them and the bottom of the containeris now more holes than metal - not an easy job with stainless steel.

We'll be wall mounting it on Friday so I will post pics then.

Phil