Just to make sure

breavis · Post by **breavis** » June 6th, 2020, 5:22 pm

Sometime soon I'm going to make a smoker if nothing crazy happens! I have a Chargriller with a smoker box I've used several times, but measuring it and comparing it to the pit calculator I don't think they are on the same page. I'm using this to make sure I understand the calculator for later on. The CC on the chargriller is 30Lx21W, FB is 17.5Lx15W, 3 inch pipe(chimney) and it has a round intake which has 4 openings you can work as needed. Best I can tell the openings are 1 inch. The calculator says the chimney is 100%(155cu. in. recommended is 154) firebox is 89%(3092 cu.in recommended 3463). The throat says 24.74 sq.in. meaning it should be 13.75L x 2.564 W but it measures 12L x 5W in a half moon shape. Does this mean the firebox is too small and the throat isn't cut the recommended size? Thanks for the help!

towtruck · Post by **towtruck** » June 6th, 2020, 6:11 pm

Commercial units like that are not going to have numbers that match the calculators.

Post by **Big T** » June 6th, 2020, 8:35 pm

Yes, it seems like they are compensating the FB being too small by making the throat too large. That's part of what makes the store bought units so hard to get them dialed in, not to mention the thin material that they're built from.

Dirtytires · Post by **Dirtytires** » June 7th, 2020, 11:58 am

They can save material and shipping weight by reducing the size of the firebox. Definitely not designed for efficiency.

breavis · Post by **breavis** » June 7th, 2020, 7:22 pm

Thanks for the help!

breavis · Post by **breavis** » June 29th, 2020, 4:37 pm

One question about firebox size-I see where it's not recommended to make the firebox over 115% but what percent would be minimum I.e. 95%?

Dirtytires · Post by **Dirtytires** » June 29th, 2020, 5:53 pm

mp4 · Post by **mp4** » June 29th, 2020, 9:16 pm

breavis wrote:One question about firebox size-I see where it's not recommended to make the firebox over 115% but what percent would be minimum I.e. 95%?

Generally 110% is the target. Just guessing, 100% is probably as small as I would ideally go.

breavis · Post by **breavis** » June 30th, 2020, 8:56 pm

Thanks! Also do you try to keep the chimney and intake percentage around 100% or more or less?

Post by **Big T** » June 30th, 2020, 9:19 pm

The intakes can be larger than recommended because you can close them down to the required size for your desired cooking temperature. As for the exhaust, I like to keep it as close to 100% as possible but I like for it to be tall enough to keep the smoke out of my eyes so I might have to add a little length to the stack. I also have a damper on top of my exhaust so I can close it down a little bit if needed.

breavis · Post by **breavis** » July 1st, 2020, 8:45 am

Thanks for the help!! I hope to start rounding up materials next week

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