Eli's comin'

[DUAYNE B]

Thirtysome hours is pretty impressive Rick, that was on one batch of charcoal?

[Gizmo]

That's correct. Never opened the firebox door.
In my experience with this Guru, the fire wants to burn directly toward the blower inlet (makes sense) and often leaves unburned coals on either side - I figured the maze would help direct the burn through ALL the coals to make the most use of the entire load. This maze holds right at 20 pounds of briquets. I think the next burn will only be 4 inches deep instead of the whole 6 inches the maze allows. I'm thinking the "brakes" on the Guru might work a little better…. We'll see

[Gizmo]

Since I mentioned brakes … Here's a couple pics of an automatic blower gate I've been thinking about for a couple years. It goes inline between the blower and the firebox.

A pic of it closed….



A pic of it open.




The flapper is held open by the stream of air coming from the blower and doesn't open as far as this pic shows. The end of the flapper is about in line with the center of the pipe - it rides on the air column. This entire assembly is installed at a 45 degree angle so when the blower stops blowing air the flapper falls shut and prevents the fire from drafting air in through the fan. I was using "closed" and "1/8th open" settings on the guru supplied gate on this last burn so this flapper should work - hopefully better brakes.

[Mettle]

Sorry for the dumb question, but did you use the same amount of charcoal for both burns?

I know that with the same air control I can run my UDS at 225 with one basket and 375 with a different one. SAME air settings.

[Rodcrafter]

I like the auto feature Rick, I don't think you would have to go as steep as 45 just not straight would do. This way it wouldn't cause the air to directed out of line for where you want it to go by the weight of the door, but would still close the door when the fan stopped.

Just thinking.

[TuscaloosaQ]

Good Lord Rick the company's that make charcoal are going to file suit against you!!!!!!! Excellent job Rick!!!!!!

[Gizmo]

Thanks RC and TQ!

RC you've got a point there and I bet I end up "tweeking" the angle to find a "happy" angle where everything "balances"

TQ if I can get my annual briquette cost down to eight dollars then I believe my work here will be finished…. besides, Kingsford never sent me a Christmas card!

And Mettle that was the same fire basket and charcoal amount in both burns. Question: Is your 375F basket deeper than the 225 one?

[Mettle]

And Mettle that was the same fire basket and charcoal amount in both burns. Question: Is your 375F basket deeper than the 225 one?

No, just smaller diameter. People act/assume like you can get 100% efficiency from the oxygen that you introduce to the burn. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is my opinion, and only my opinion, that you could make the maze narrower and reduce the temperature at the same input.

[Gizmo]

So your 375F basket is smaller diameter than your 275 … man that is counterintuitive ….

Interesting you mention narrower because I did make my first mazes 3 briquettes deep and only one briquette wide (approx. 2 inches) and got the same temp range as this one. I've been approaching this as a total fire size problem that is limited by the total oxygen it has to work with. The burn patterns in an open fire basket came to about 4 inches wide at the blower inlet so I used that as the hall width in this maze.

[Gizmo]

Well he's done. As most of you know already if you're keeping up on your reading (powercook thread). He has my worst paint job to date - my powder-coater backed out of the job so I had to spit can it….




Side view of the service bay…. that's the autogate in the rectangular box plugged directly into the blower fan.

[Rodcrafter]

Rick, about the "auto-gate" that is different than what you were working on did you find one already made and choose it instead? Or is this a new design? Nice job in any case, I'm making something like this next.

[Gizmo]

RC if you look closely you'll notice this is the original design. It's just in an airtight scrap metal box with a clear cover. Look closely at the end of the pipe on the right-hand side inside the box and you can just make out the flapper open about 3/16 inch (fan was on) there's a red felt seal around the end edge of the pipe.

With this autogate I was able to pull the temp down from 314 to 215 in about 3 hours … which sounds like a long time but remember that before it would take all day - IF AT ALL, and during this time you burn nearly no fuel. I was afraid the guru/autogate would completely kill the fire but it didn't - stabilized at 215 and was still there this morning

With both the BP gate (bottom of CC) and this autogate I'm convinced I've got the fire completely surrounded

[Miketheforester]

That is a nice looking cooker.

[Gizmo]

Thanks MTF!

[Miketheforester]

I know it's not polite to ask, but how much does it weigh?

[The Czar]

Eli's a trim and slim machine....I bet he don't mind telling.,.

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

[Gizmo]

I haven't weighed him yet but I will and I'll post it.

[Rodcrafter]

Thanks Rick now I see how you trapped that air leaking. Love it!