[squealers]

wow, I am going to go to bed less stupid tonight... I have never heard of this concept for coals... very interesting.

[AZBBQGRILLS]

This is the concept. The side assembly that you see has three components. Top component is the chute, a holding bay for unlit charcoal. The second component is the firebox and the final component is the ash box. The lids are all sealed air tight. You start with a chimney full of lit charcoal and dump it into the chute then you poor the remainder of the unlit coals on top. and seal the lid to the chute. The reason for the sealed door on top of the chute is to keep the unlit coals on top from igniting. The air valve on the ash box keep the lower coals lit. I also feel that the heat transfer is too small. I side assembly bolt on in the event it failed. We could remove it and start again. Hope that explains it.

[squealers]

Yes... I get it now... very ingenious!
with a large hole for the heat to get to your main chamber it should work much better!
I guess you can also put some wood chunk mixed with the coal to add flavor.
It sounds like a great way to get a good night of sleep during contest:)

[AZBBQGRILLS]

Yes that is the purpose SLEEP. Well I have started the redesign and should be able to try it out today. I increased the size of the fire box and thickened the wall. I also increased the opening into the smoker from 2.5" x 5" to 3.5" x 9.5". I could go larger by another inch. I should have a post up today on how the temp held. Is there a formula or chart that that would show how many BTUs you get per charcoal. I have used the Mesquite Lump and the Mesquite burns very hot. I am going to try some of this first then do a 10 pound bag of charcoal. Cheers

[AZBBQGRILLS]

Did not get as far as I thought and heading out of town for a week  I got the new fire box built it measures 12 x 10 at 10 inches in height. I have increased the air flow and increased the opening into the smoker box. Your guess is as good as mine. Worst case it fails and I put a offset fire box on the rear and let her ride.

[squealers]

sounds good David,

the way I see it is heat rise so it probably wants to go up your coal shoot but without any air opening at the top it won't or shouldn't anyway. But if the draw on the side is not big enough heat won't go to the main chamber in hurry.
I had to add an extra chimney on my rig after I added my upright chamber... mostly because when I run both chambers  or when my main chamber is really full of meat I feel need more air flow... so far it has made a great difference.

let us know how it goes once your back!
cheers

[PAT YOUNG]

DAVID, the comparison on charcoal at the naked wiz site might have btu's !

[AZBBQGRILLS]

The smoker was brought to life today. After increasing the size of the firebox and increasing the inlet I fired it up. The temp increased but not as much as I expected. I was averaging 150 -175. Next I added another exhaust stack and BAM the smoker fired up to 375. I was reading a pamphlet on design principals of wood burning stoves and was discussing the issues with a colleague and through our conversation we both decided that another exhaust stack needed to be added. I added a 3.5 inch outlet. The temp rose rapidly to 275 in approximately 20 minutes. I burned 20LBS of mequite lump charcoal for 5 five hours maintaining a temp of 275 or better. The next objective is to steady the temp how it goes. I also found a excel spread sheet that has some excellent formulas to help in design of a smoker ie fire box size, inlet size, exhaust size and smoking chamber excellent reference. If interested I can post it here.

[barknchickens]

David, I would be interested in seeing that spread
sheet. Always looking for more info with building
smokers.         Chuck

[Elwood]

Any new pics of the mods you made?

[AZBBQGRILLS]

The only mod that was made was increasing the fire box size to 10L x 12W x 10H. The inlet the smoker was increased to 4 x 9 from 2 x 5. However, I would have to wonder if this was necessary. After adding the extra exhaust stake the performance increased drastically. All the air vents around the firebox that I added do not need to be there. The vent I placed on the door is the key. Ted has it and is running some charcoal through it. I ran about 8 pounds of charcoal through it the temp reached 200 and stayed steady. It will be interesting to see the results from Ted. I will get some pics soon. I could not up load the file send me an email and I when get it to you.

[squealers]

 David,

you could certainly make the inlet with an adjustable door if you think it's now a touch too big... I did that for my upright - a guillotine type door so that I can turn it off anytime I want or run it very low 160F holding temp and not worry about playing with my fire.

just a thought

[AZBBQGRILLS]

Yep I know the concept you are speaking of. With my vertical smoker with the firebox mounted beneath the cooking chamber I have a door that can be closed off. However, in this concept the air flow adjust the temp very . Which I find really nice as you can shut it down by limiting the amount of air flowing into the fire champer. I works very well. Now I need to experiment with it to record changes.  I will be building a double walll insulated smoker next. I am just trying to work throught the design process. The bottom seems to be the difficult part. How to trap and drain the grease.

[AZBBQGRILLS]

Ted fired it up on the coldest night he could. From what I was told it was fired up at 615pm and ran until mid night. The temp stayed at 260 through out the burn. The concept works. Now to refine it.

[KidCurry]

Wonder how well she would work up here when it's 16 out.   Below 30 is the over night norm this time of year.    probably burn a bit more fuel.

Sounds like you heading in the right direction!