How thick does the baffle plate need to be?

1961shasta

Fire Starter

Original poster

Mar 20, 2016

42

12

• Mar 22, 2016

• #1

I have a question, I am building a small reverse flow smoker, 12"x24", is 1/8th inch thick enough for the baffle plate? I making it portable and trying to keep the weight down. thanks in advance.

 

mp4s

Fire Starter

Jan 9, 2016

32

14

• Mar 22, 2016

• #2

That's pretty thin. You want it to radiate heat and help even out the temps and 1/8" isn't much of a heat sink...1/4" is pretty standard - some guys go heavier but it takes more fuel to warm it up.

 

smokejumper

Smoking Fanatic

Jun 11, 2013

547

54

Fullerton, CA

• Mar 25, 2016

• #3

You can split the difference and go 3/16" which is what I consider the minimum RF plate thickness.

 

sparktexas

Newbie

Feb 15, 2016

22

10

Central Texas

• Mar 25, 2016

• #4

1/8" for the plate may be fine considering the cook chamber is only 24" long. Not much length for the heat to travel. I have a 3/16" plate on my 42" long cook chamber. I do suggest you put a temporary adjustable plate at the end of the reverse flow plate in order to adjust the opening from bottom to top of cook chamber. Weld it in after you have found the spot that evens out your temps

 

mwilds

Newbie

Feb 27, 2016

9

10

Small town, Vermont

• Mar 25, 2016

• #5

Wow, 1/8 inch that size. Glad i read this post. What thickness am I going to need for a CC that is 94 inches long?

 

stainless

Fire Starter

Nov 19, 2007

64

21

• Mar 25, 2016

• #6

1/8" will rust out faster too.  Keep that in mind.

 

sparktexas

Newbie

Feb 15, 2016

22

10

Central Texas

• Mar 25, 2016

• #7

mwilds said:

Wow, 1/8 inch that size. Glad i read this post. What thickness am I going to need for a CC that is 94 inches long?

Click to expand...

1/4" should be fine. The main thing to remember is a reverse flow is pushing the heat all the way across that plate from the firebox. Too thin of a plate with a long distance to travel will cause all the heat to radiate through the plate closer to the fire and by the time it gets to the end of the plate, there's not much heat left. I'm sure there's some scientific equation out there that could figure exact plate thickness but for now we just gotta rely on people's experience