I'm no expert on electric set ups either but according to Pete 1 watt = 3.4 BTU's and the typical vertical requires 1.5 BTU's per cubic inch. He's way smarter than I am when it comes to this type of stuff so I would take his word for it if I was building an electric vertical smoker.
Those numbers are for getting to 350-400 degrees. If you just want it for cold smoking at 150-165 or so you would probably be OK but I would talk to the folks who sell the unit. If it's insulated even better.
If it's tourist season, how come I can't shoot 'em?
Yea I'm no electrical guru. I love the pellet hopper but it just seems to small. We can run sometimes 100lbs + of sticks and logs. Would this post be better in the electrical smoker section? I was deviating on using 2 1500 watt elements and shutting one off once it gets to heat. I beleieve I need a small fan to keep Heat even with the shelves and adjusting the exhaust should help too. This was my first build and was kinda rushed so I figured I'd have some issues
I was wondering what temperature do you operate? Is there a fan for convection? How thick is the metal on the inside? What insulation is between the inner and outer walls.
Making memories!
Current Smokers: Backyard RF Offset and Hybrid RF Offset trailer rig with Cowboy cooker and fish fryer, always room for more........
we used the pellet hopper that had a built in fan. I used Rockwool and the metal is 14g I think I need to add some more insulationin the bottom I measured wrong and built the inner box a tad to big and couldn't get it as insulated as I wanted to but still holds temps ok. just had a hard time getting the temps to be stable. we want to run around 170-180 when we are doing sticks and bologna. the pellet hopper is going to be repurposed on another build in an old fridge. the cook area is a lot smaller and we will use it for hot smokes.
I'm sure Frank would be "the guy" to know the most about using a convection fan in this rig for the purpose o steadying the temps. I believe that is the best thing for it.
jm2cw
Current Smokers: Backyard RF Offset and Hybrid RF Offset trailer rig with Cowboy cooker and fish fryer, always room for more........