Offset Reverse Flow and Vertical Center Feed

[Fishless Mickey]

130 gal tank. 3/16 or 1/4 thick. Nice and stout.

I came across the tank in the picture here recently. I really like the vertical center feed style of cooking for its fuel economy and minimal adjustment needs. Set it and forget it. I also like the offset reverse flow stick burners for the awesome flavor they put in meat. I figured, why not do both. This cooker will have a warmer over the insulated fire box with a 6" connecting pipe. The top of the FB will be separated from the WC by an insulated 2" gap. I could use the WC for vertical cooking too. The main CC will have a center feed FB under it. The baffle (or tuning) plates will be three pieces. It should be one versatile little cooker. Well, maybe not that little. It will be mounted on a TQ & Tyler style trailer. Plans to follow soon.

[Rodcrafter]

Sweet

[Fishless Mickey]

Here is the sketch. I'm not the greatest artist. After some feedback from RC offline, I'm not going to insulate the offset firebox top. There will be a 1" air gap between the WC and the FB top. Do any of you have experience with this kind of FB to WC design? My goal is to be able to keep the WC around 170 with the 6" square interconnecting port fully closed. With it opened, I hope to be able to adjust smoking temps from 190 to 350. The main cook chamber will have a welded baffle (or shadow) plate above the center feed FB and two removable plates (one on each side of the center plate). With all three plate in place it will be offset reverse flow. With them out (and all the openings on the WC side if the cooker sealed air tight) I should be able to vertical center feed cook. I am very open to any suggestions.

[Rodcrafter]

Nice sketch!

[Big T]

It's going to be a beast !

[Fishless Mickey]

Things are rolling pretty good now. Most of my steel is cut, tank it cut, trailer is framed out and on some wheels. Here is a pic of the trailer with the tank sitting backwards on it. Kinda looks small from this angle. I'll post updates as the build progresses.

[Smokeone]

Heck of a start you got there.

[Rodcrafter]

[Fishless Mickey]

All kinds of projects have popped up. Progress on this cooker has been crawling along. I dropped the center feed idea. To much unnecessary work. I got a new torch set, auto darkening helmet and a bunch of other cool welding equipment for Christmas. Hopefully things will pick up soon on this build. I got the WC framed and the main CC door on. I don't have a latest pic but the FB outer sheet (1/8") is tacked on too. The FB will be insulated. My buddy RC let me use this monstrous base frame to hold the cooker still while I work on it.

Used but new to me torch set. Works great!

[Big T]

Nice score on the torch set and other Christmas gifts!

[Clover Ridge Smokers]

[Rodcrafter]

Monstrous? That was the smallest thing I had that your truck could haul home. lol


Making memories.

[Fishless Mickey]

Thanks Big T.

[Puff]

Mickey, that looks really good. Seems like the square frame has gain some significant popularity. The original picture confused me about the position of the tank. Shes a big one.... DC...stay away from that one

[Fishless Mickey]

Thanks fellas. My poor little Tacoma could barely handle that base and the cooker on it. I am really liking the squared doors. They take more work but they sure look neat, make it easier to seal the door; and increase the cooking space by as much as you'd want. I like opening the door sideways too rather than a counter weight over the top. All things I picked up from you folks and this awesome forum.

[The Czar]

I like em big

[Rodcrafter]

Well ok DC

[Fishless Mickey]

I have a question for you guys. My understanding of the logic behind reverse flow is the baffle plate enable transfer of the heat along the full length of the CC. That makes great sense for chambers that are longer than they are wide or tall. My CC is nearly as tall as it is wide and long. It's a "squattier" tank than most I see here. I am wondering if I'll have smoke/heat contact issues due to short circuiting straight to the stack (note the curve of the end bell point right to the stack at the top). Thinking of heat/smoke as a liquid pouring thru the smoker like it was upside down helps me to see this might be a problem for me. I am thinking of adding an adjustable (at first) deflector baffle (red arrow below). Am I overthinking this?

[Big T]

I thought about doing the same thing on my last build but I didn't. I recently saw a post where someone put one in their RF and said solved several problems they were having. I'd say it's definitely worth a shot. jm2cw

[Puff]

I visualize one of those aerodynamic car commercials they had 10-15 yrs ago where the smoke was flying thru the air flow over the car.

I know NOTHING ABOUT THIS...but, it appears to me that the seemingly rapid flow of the hot air will probably just "S" turn quickly around the plates. You may need to find a spot that is measurably different. Not sure if that is something that our kind of thermometers could measure

I've starred at my stack for a very long time when cooking and visualize the volume of air that passes thru( like filling a hot air balloon). It seems very substantial but again, just dreaming not measuring.

[Rodcrafter]

I don't have any real experience with this same scenario but I would venture to say that would cause enough turbulence to get the benefit your looking for.
jm2cw

[Tom_Heath]

Alot of cookers use a small convection fan to stir the air. The large cook chamber rigs that is. Such as old hickory and southern pride. It doesn't have to be a big fan. You just can't introduce outside air. It will merely turbulantize the inner air as it passes thru the area of goodness.

I can't say if the extra plate would work or not. Just sharing a thought.

[Puff]

Are fans available that operate at 300 degrees? And if so, would they be very costly? Over my pay grade now.

[Tom_Heath]

Yes and No.

Yes they have high temp fans and Frank could comment on cost for a convection fan.

Or

Mount a standard fan with a little distance from the heart and extend the shaft thru the wall and mount the blade.

That's the cheap way.

[Fishless Mickey]

Thanks you for the feedback. The convection fan idea is very inticing. I did some "research" and it looks like I could even power a fan with the heat from the FB. I think I'll start with a deflector baffle and do some testing. If needed, I could drill some holes and weld short pieces of pipe (to keep the grease out) on top of them into to main BP to fine tune any cooler temp areas. I could put small shadow plates over those tuning ports to spread the heat out. The convection fan can be added down the road if necessary. I'd prefer to keep it as simple as possible without sacrificing quality. It's funny that I'm struggling to solve problems that haven't happened.