Some insulation questions

[RevRico]

Well, this looks like the best place to ask. I want to add some insulation to both my smokers, but I don't want to be conventional. I've seen rockwool sheets, welding blankets, some crazy people using foam bats, but I have insulating cement.

Well, I have 150lbs of AP Green Insulating Cement, basically mortar for firebricks.

How crazy, stupid, or pointless, would be it be to put a 1 inch layer along the bottom of my cook chambers? Maybe even wrap the inside if I can get it to stick well enough.

My thought behind this is the extra mass combined with the insulating properties, should compensate for temperature swings, air leaks, or door openings, at least a little bit. Maybe help even the temperatures out across the cook chamber like a baffle does.

According to the MSDS, it's really only dangerous in dry powder form, and once it sets and cures, there shouldn't be a contamination risk from off gassing, but I am concerned with it absorbing grease/drippings and becoming a mold source.

So what does anyone think?

I already have the stuff, and it didn't cost me a dime, so it wouldn't cost anything more than some time to experiment some.

[Dirtytires]

Absolutely no experience with it but my gut says "bad idea." Sometimes free is just a recipe for disaster and I think this is one of those times.

Take a look at the the top 20 pits on the market today. How many of them use mortar in them?

[RevRico]

Any cinderblock pit, a lot of in grounds I've seen, not to mention all the people that use fire bricks for extra mass and heat retention. This would essentially be just a very large, custom fit fire brick.

I know in the big box stores thick metal and properly sealed seams are a rarity, that doesn't make them a bad idea does it?

Either way I'm going to do some experimenting, probably with the New Braunfels rotisserie offset because it's already dialed in, but I'm thinking it would help my compressor smoker more.

[Rodcrafter]

I don't know how well it would work. If I was going to use it on anything I would only use it in the FB. But even then I would have to be sure that it won't reduce the FB size to below the recommended size.

jm2cw