Side box RF pellet wonder?

lazylabs · Post by **lazylabs** » January 6th, 2013, 2:20 pm

So this is a repeat of a first post that I believe was lost.....???

I built a pellet smoker that has two fireboxes in the cook chamber. It is 3'x6' and was built for smoking whole hogs. I now end up just firing up one firebox and using half of it to do ribs/shoulders/briskets ...... So it has no "center" partition and heating all of it and with a burner on one end I get uneven temps as you transition to the other end. It sorta works to move stuff around and then use the other end for warming.

So rather than fire up the monster size all the time I am wanting to build something around the 200 gal size maybe a little smaller. I am really thinking about going with a side firefox, reverse flow setup, sort of standard stuff but use pellets. I will probably just go with a traeger controller since that is what I used on my first build. I haven't seen any other sidebox, RF designs using pellets.... bad idea?

YouTube · Post by **Frank_Cox** » January 6th, 2013, 3:00 pm

I just think no one has tried it. I will tell you this, for a side firebox design you are heating the air and the combustion products which are then moving through cook chamber. I do not believe you would have enough btu's to bring the cook chamber and the firebox to temp. a standard pellet smoker style burner set up is only 19,000 to 36,000 btu's depending on the speed of the auger motor and the size and style of the auger etc.
a generally accepted value of BTU's / pound of seasoned wood (of course this varies depending on species, moisture content, and any number of things) is 10,870 BTU's/h

so this being said one 1/4 split is maybe 4 pounds??? (I did not weigh it- I'm guessing lol) that is 40,000 BTU's/h...
for a 250 gallon propane tank set up I am guessing you would need maybe a 90,000 btu burner? this is all off the top of my head but i would think it is perty close.
Hmmmm, let me see what kinda crazy idea I can come up with now......

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The Czar · Post by **The Czar** » January 6th, 2013, 3:03 pm

....that's a good one....we shall let one of the more smarter

people chime in!!!

Gizmo · Post by **Gizmo** » January 6th, 2013, 3:20 pm

Jus eliminate the firebox and put the drive unit straight into the CC under the baffle.... smokin johnny is done that way .... an dfrom what BIll tells me - it's real stingy on pellets too ....

lazylabs · Post by **lazylabs** » January 6th, 2013, 4:18 pm

The cooker I have now has the fire in the cook chamber and I don't think it gets even enough heat. I can however run a single burner in a 3'x6' chamber and it will get to 400 degrees. I am using a traeger controller but a bigger auger and a more forced style burn box. The last one I built used the fan out of a house heating pellet stove to feed a 1" pipe of forced air into the burn box. It would also be much easier to clean up with a seperate fire box.

YouTube · Post by **Frank_Cox** » January 6th, 2013, 4:37 pm

could you post some pics? It may be a simple mod to make yours cook more even.

YouTube · Post by **Frank_Cox** » January 6th, 2013, 4:37 pm

I would also like to see your burner set up

lazylabs · Post by **lazylabs** » January 6th, 2013, 5:43 pm

I'll go get some pics in a bit. I have about 50lbs of elk meat on the counter getting ground for burger and then fire up the smoker for salami next week....ummmm

lazylabs · Post by **lazylabs** » January 6th, 2013, 6:30 pm

Smoker pics, you can see both fireboxes here, 4" square tube with the auger in one side, 45 deg burner plate inside with 25 or so 1/8" holes drilled in a grill pattern. 1" blackpipe air feed in the bottom. In another pic you can see the fan and both auger motors.

YouTube · Post by **Frank_Cox** » January 6th, 2013, 6:39 pm

so are you using the factory style 1 rpm auger motors and the sliding board style tube to feed the pellets to the burn pots?
Is the burner plate a solid plate from end to end with the holes drilled in it?

Post by **Tom_Heath** » January 6th, 2013, 9:54 pm

I see a smokerbuilder brainstorm in the works.

lazylabs · Post by **lazylabs** » January 6th, 2013, 11:50 pm

They are 1 rpm motors but the flight(auger pitch) is different than traeger and almost full auger tube dia as opposed to a lose screw in a traeger................ie forced fed

lazylabs · Post by **lazylabs** » January 7th, 2013, 7:55 pm

This is a picture of the auger flight I used

YouTube · Post by **Frank_Cox** » January 7th, 2013, 8:04 pm

Awesome pic! Do you have a source for them?

lazylabs · Post by **lazylabs** » January 7th, 2013, 8:44 pm

Augers Unlimited, 6103801660. I called about 20 places before I found a place that would sell me a "little bit" and I have about 10 feet left after building my grill. I think that minimum order was 20 feet. I got 1.75 dia 2" pitch, 3/4 id out of A36 steel.

YouTube · Post by **Frank_Cox** » January 7th, 2013, 8:47 pm

Kool, Thanks!

lazylabs · Post by **lazylabs** » January 8th, 2013, 6:59 pm

How much do you want? I can spare a bit....

So I guess since no one has had examples of the side box smoker failing to work I might have to give it a try.

YouTube · Post by **Frank_Cox** » January 8th, 2013, 8:01 pm

I am going to order some soon. what did you use for your tube?
I think it will work fine if it has enough burner.

lazylabs · Post by **lazylabs** » January 8th, 2013, 8:07 pm

I used 2" pipe. It has quite a bit of room to move around but it has never failed to feed or get clogged up.

YouTube · Post by **Frank_Cox** » January 8th, 2013, 8:10 pm

awesome!

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