Cook chamber volume question

[Hogpit]

Hello everyone

I have built around 12 smokers in the last year and a half and all have been designed based on Feldons pit calculator, I am very thankful for this calculator as i could not imagine my business venture would have got this far if I had of started from scratch.

That said, I do have a question in regards to the CC volume.

All of my builds so far have worked on the CC volume being calculated based on the diameter and length of the CC chamber which includes the space below the RF plate.

I have modified the design of a 36" cook chamber to allow for a 4th rack.

Should i be punching the volume of the diagram on the left into Feldons calculator or the diagram on the right?
The reason i ask is because the customer wants a cook chamber length of around 120", the above diagrams is working on a CC length of 78". Once i update the drawings the throat will be around 50% bigger.

[Hogpit]

After posting this I started to redesign the smoker to the customers specs and it dawned on me that the throat size is not known until other specs are first entered into the calculator. This would affirm the first diagram is the correct one to use for the CC volume?

Running in circles is so much fun!

[ajfoxy]

Hogpit quoted:

Running in circles is so much fun!

been there, done that...

[Pete Mazz]

The area under the BP should be included in the CC volume

[Rodcrafter]

We have a bunch of awesome calculators on the top of the page if you're using a computer. I'm not sure what the plates are on the bottom of your drawing is this an additional air duct running the length of the CC?

[Big T]

[emoji115]yeah that


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[Hogpit]

I'm not sure what the plates are on the bottom of your drawing is this an additional air duct running the length of the CC?

Yes the channel at the bottom is the air duct, I want to get maximum cook racks into the chamber without increasing the diameter.

[Dirtytires]

Are you saying you increased the size of the cooking chamber by putting the baffle plate under the pipe? If that is so, I would think that area should also be included in the total cook chamber volume when determine the firebox and other values. I would be worried about the baffle plate not being wide enough in the chamber to distribute the heat to the outside edges properly.

It might be less work to consider squaring off the doors instead of going under the pipe. You would only have 3 racks but they would all be bigger giving you (at least) the same cooking surface area. I’ll bet more even heat also.

Your idea is interesting tho. Have you applied it before on one of your builds?

[Rodcrafter]

I agree with you DT this additional volume would have to be included into the calculations for the rest of the build.